Importance of Dreams in Psychoanalysis

Scientific Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Psychology - Consulting, Therapy, Harvard University, course: Psychoanalysis, language: English, abstract: Dreams are a fascinating topic and can be interpreted from multiple angles, which can result in a multitude of interpretations. Freud believed dreams were formed by an intrapsychic conflict created by the Id¿s unconscious wants pushing in to the conscious process, and the Ego defending against Id¿s assail. Dreams are believed by many to be a way of working through conflicts from waking life that may be too difficult to be rationalized by the conscious process. Another major element of dreams is to ¿trick¿ the Id into believing that its wants have been fulfilled, due to the fact that imagery within dreams through the ¿Manifest¿ or ¿Latent¿ content may present the want the Id desires, which may not be directly or easily attainable in waking life.

Psychoanalysts view dreams and their interpretations as a significant part of therapy, for the reason that they may represent conflicts the mind is trying to make sense of, which may correlate with the tribulations currently being counseled by the analyst. Dream interpretations may present the object troubling the client to the analyst through their latent content, which may not have been noticed otherwise. These same interpretations may also aid the process of psychoanalysis and confirm the progression of analytic therapy, thus tell the psychotherapist s/he is on mark with their course of treatment. Dreams may also inform the analyst of certain personality or character traits due to a repeating pattern within dreams, or lack of certain patterns revealing more about the client, thus allowing the therapist to better shape the direction of analysis.