Dream Interpretation and Psychology

ED_620 Deb Carney

Summer 2010“What you resist

Persist”Carl Gustav Jung

The clinical work of dream interpretation, involves three things

First, you need a written text of the dream. It’s best if you write it down right after you wake up from the dream. But sometimes it’s possible to remember a dream—or a dream fragment—that you haven’t written down, and so your psychotherapist can write down what you say.

Second, you have to describe thoroughly and understand your psychological associations to the

various dream images. These associations must

come from your personal life, not from a “dictionary” of fixed meanings. Essentially, this amounts to asking, “When you think of this particular dream image, what other things come to mind?” Dreaming of Mrs. Smith from your childhood, for example, doesn’t necessarily “mean” anything, but what you thought about Mrs. Smith when you were a child—in essence, what her life, behaviors, and values suggested to you then—might have something to say about the problems you struggle with today.

Third, you have to discover the links between all these

associations.This process is a bit like those “connect the dots” puzzles that reveal a hidden picture. Psychologically, you simply need to understand what this net of associations from the dream is telling you specifically, at this precise time of your life, about your current problems and conflicts. Quite often, these associations are purely emotional; that is, you can take a particularly graphic dream image, examine your emotional reactions to it, look back into your past for times when you felt the same emotions, and then ask yourself in what way those situations from the past have any bearing on what is happening in your life now.

The Dream LadderAlthough dream dictionaries give meanings to dreams and various ways of dream

interpretations exist, dream psychology believes that the association between objects dreamt and their meanings is subjective. What is indicated by a particular dream

depends on what the dreamer associates the elements of his dream with. It is suggested to write down your dream and decipher what each of the constituents of the dream

convey. It is important to understand what you associate with a particular thing you’ve dreamed of. The thought or emotion that you get in relation to a certain color, object or

a person in your dream, can serve as a clue to interpret your dreams. After having a dream, you can write down what you can remember , identify your psychological

associations with the dream images and link all of them. More than what the elements of your dream symbolize, it is about what the elements mean to you.

By Manali Oak

.The Symbolic Language of Dreams

Jung stated that, “ all we need is assistance in seeing the dream

more clearly and more objectively.

Dreams are full of symbolic language and it is up to the dreamer to understand their own

personal dream symbols. All of us interpret symbols

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“Dreams do not necessarily assume a logical chronological order according to Jung. Dreams

cluster around a “nucleus of meaning”“We can do much

on our own to determine what our dreaming is all about, since the dreamer ultimately has the last word about the meaning of a dream. (Pascal, pg. 223)”

Dreams are thoughts, emotions and the images shaped by them, which are encountered when asleep. One has dreams during the rapid eye movement sleep.

Various theories on dream interpretations exist but the real purpose of dreams is still unknown. Dreams are closely associated with the human psychology. Research shows

that during an average lifespan, a human being spends about six years in dreaming which is around two hours every night

Rocky shore, ocean, sunset, cool feeling in the air, Blue, pink, purple, few clouds in the sky… Is the tide in or out?

The meaning that any symbol takes on in your particular dream, can only be determined by you.

Some theories say that dreams

involve one's repressed

emotions that are fantasized

during the sleep while other

theories suggest dreams to be an outcome of the

cleaning-up operations of

the brain.

Acquiring the ability to interpret your dreams is a powerful tool. In analyzing your dreams, you can learn

about your deep secrets and hidden feelings. Remember that no one is a better expert at interpreting your dreams than yourself. It is you who know best what the symbols

mean to you.

Every detail, even the minutest element in your dream is important and must be

considered when analyzing your dreams. Each symbol represents a feeling, a mood, a memory

or something from your unconscious. Look closely at the characters, animals, objects,

places, emotions, and even colors and numbers that are depicted in your dreams. Even the most trivial symbol can be significant. Your own personal experiences, memories and

circumstances, will serve to guide you through a meaningful and personalized interpretation.

  One curious feature of dreaming is the way that close friends or members of the same

family, particularly husband and wife or parents and children, will dream the same

dream without previously having told it to each other. Still more curious is the way that

children dream about their parents' problems, when these have been carefully hidden from

them. The dream is not usually a straightforward statement, but is symbolical

and often picturesque in manner.

Dreams often mean the opposite of what they seem to mean. The technical, psychoanalytic explanation for this is complicated, but it has to do with the fact that we often see our own desires as they are reflected (and mirror-reversed) through others. For example, if you dream that you’re embarrassed for being in public without clothes, it likely means that you have a deep unconscious need for some hidden aspect of your being to be shown to others in its “naked truth.”

Dreams are always “true”—it’s just that what they mean isn’t always what we think they mean. Sometimes a dream gives a warning of danger, but if you pay attention to the dream and change your ways the danger won’t necessarily happen. And most often a dream’s meaning will be metaphorical, not literal. For example, a woman may dream that her husband is having a sexual affair, but it would be a mistake to conclude that her husband is really having an affair. The dream is simply providing the woman graphic evidence that she somehow feels betrayed by her husband. Once she acknowledges that feeling, she can then start examining her life consciously—and honestly—to find out why she feels betrayed and what she needs to do about it.

Repetitive dreams indicate that you are continuing to miss the point about the meaning of the dream. If you don’t “wake up” to the unconscious meaning of the dream but instead persist in seeing it through your own wish-fulfillment needs, you will remain stuck in your own self-deception. The psychoanalytic concept of repetition can be difficult to understand.

Hebrews -dreams were a vision or prophecy from a god (keep in mind that we see monotheism emerging here) Hindus -dreams are prophetic, and the timing of the dream will indicate how soon the prophecy will come to pass Japanese -dreams are sought as visions to help answer questions that are plaguing the waking self. Usually the answers come from ancestral spirits. Muslims -dreams and astrology are closely related in this culture. True dreams come from god, false ones from the devil. Australian Aborigines -the spirits from underground rise and wander in the land of the living, and when they pass through a mortal being, a "greater vision" is momentarily acquired.. this would be what we call a dream North American Indians -hidden wished of the soul are addressed and fulfilled in dreams. Visions can also be sought after in the hopes of answering a question or resolving a conflict.

What should you record? Basically everything, uncensored, as you remember them... do not worry about proper English for this part. To be more specific write down:> dialogue or any words the number and types of people (friends, strangers, relatives) objects the mood of the dream (happy, sad, scary, etc.) settings themes events timing in the dream relations to the dream and you (are you an observer, participant, seeing yourself as player?)

The blood-thirsty aspect of the mythic Nightmare, however, can give a good clue about nightmares in general, for in psychodynamic terms nightmares are graphic depictions of raw, primitive emotions such as aggression and rage that have not been incorporated into the conscious psyche. Thus we tend to encounter these “ugly” aspects of our unconscious lives as terrifying dream images in whose presence we feel completely helpless.

Nightmares are quite common in childhood because this is a time of our emotional development when we all have to come to terms with, well, raw, primitive emotions such as aggression and rage. 

Traumatic nightmares can also occur as one of the many symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Repetitive, intrusive nightmares following a trauma often contain symbolic themes that mirror the original trauma and relate to threat to life, threat of abandonment or death, or loss of identity. Although exploration of these themes in psychotherapy can promote improved personal adjustment, the nightmares may continue to persist despite any symbolic interpretation.

Remember to “listen” to your dreams as they speak to you in the language of symbols.

archetypes - emotionally charged images and thoughts, that have universal meaning, irregardless of who expresses them according to Carl Jung.

Keep a journal and begin to understand what your dream symbols mean. Once y0u understand them you will begin to

put in place the pieces of the puzzle that each color, shape, person, element, or any other thing that plays out in the

theater of your mind shall become part of your story.

Thank you for listening and viewing

Referenceshttp://www.psychologycampus.com/dream

-psychology/http://www.psychologycampus.com/dream

-psychology/http://mythsdreamssymbols.com/http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/

200710/dreams-night-schoolhttp://www.guidetopsychology.com/dream

s.htm