Dream Interpretation in Psychoanalysis

Interpretation of dreams is the most exciting field of psychoanalysis. Many messages we receive require the interpretation of dream symbols or dreams themselves. The fascination dreams exert on us is surely a result of the belief that dreams convey messages outside ourselves, coming from spiritual entities or God himself, messages either showing us what is about to happen or warning against unpleasant future events.

* Dreams and the unconscious

First we should agree that this is not the context predictive, spiritual, that psychoanalysis approaches dreams in. Dream interpretation in psychoanalysis is a tool aiding in the discovery of psychic contents - latent ideas which represents repressed emotions and drives - within the unconscious mind, contents pathologically manifest in neurotic symptoms. Dreams interpretation is the royal path to unconscious, as Sigmund Freud holds.

It is also Freud who first opened the road to the use of dream interpretation/analysis as a means of psychic investigation.

This less spectacular aspect imposed by psychoanalysis should never be overlooked when visiting pages dedicated to dream interpretation on this site. Articles published here do have this constant trait: shared preoccupation for the technical approach of dreams, in the spirit of the psychoanalytic use of interpretation.

Recommendations

Dream Interpretation by Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud's
Dream Interpretation
Here are a few very useful reference works for anybody willing to study dreams - the term "study" being the best in this context:

icon Sigmund Freud is the author of a monumental work on dream interpretation, irreplaceable to this day: The Interpretation of Dreams . An abridged version of the book has also been produced, bearing the same title and addressing the wider public. You may follow these links to Amazon.com bookstore:

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* The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud... the Dream Interpretation
Dream Interpretation

icon The study of dreams can be historically pursued if you take our online course on dream-interpretation. Further information here. There is a downloadable PDF version of our online course on dream interpretation which may be purchased from here.

iconYou may learn more on dream interpretation in psychoanalysis by taking our initiation into psychoanalysis email course, module 4.