Dream Theories - Learn what Freud have to say about dreams.

Sigmund Freud (1865-1939) revolutionized the study of dreams with his work "The Interpretation Of Dreams". Freud began to analyze dreams in order to understand aspects of personality as they relate to pathology. He believed that nothing we did occurred by chance; every action and thought is motivated by our unconscious at some level. In order to live in a civilized society, we tend to repress our urges and impulses. But these urges and impulses have a way of coming to the surface in disguised forms. It has to be released.

Freud understood the symbolic nature of dreams and believed dreams were a direct connect to our unconscious. Because your guard is down during sleep, your unconscious has the opportunity to act out and express its hidden desires. Freud was preoccupied with sexual content in dreams. He believed that every long slender or elongated objects (knife, represented the phalllus, while any cavity or receptacle (bowl, caves, etc) denotes the female genitalia.

The 5 Stages of Personality Development:

Freud believed that there were 5 stages in the formation of your personality.

Personality Formation

1. Oral/Dependency If needs are not satisfied during this stage, one goes through life trying to meet them. Smoking, eating and drinking are seen as oral fixations. Recurring dreams and the feeling of incompleteness and unmet needs are common dreams.

2. Anal/ Potty Training If not handled properly or if child is traumatized, then one might become anal retentive, controlling, rigid or develop obsessive compulsive behaviors. Dreams of being out of control or trying to keep things in order are common.

3. Phallic

Personality is fully developed by this stage. This stage is classified by the Oedipus and Electra Complexes. The Oedipus represents a male child's love for his mother and the fear/jealousy towards his father. The Electra is the female version where the female child has anger toward her mother and exhibits "penis envy".

4. Latency

5. Genital

Freud believed that the motivating force of a dream, is wish fulfillment. Dreams may be a way to gratify oral fixations not fully met during the oral stage of Freud's personality formation. Or issues of power and control or struggles with love may manifest in dreams. Thoughts repressed during the day also have a way of being fulfilled in your dreams. Freud believed that every imagery and symbol that appears in a dream have a sexual connotation. Anxiety dreams were seen as a sign of repressed sexual impulses. In keeping with the Freudian school of thought, it may also be helpful to use free association as a way to derive the significance and meaning for a particular dream symbol.

Critique: There are many critics on Freud's take on dreams. Freud lived in a sexually repressed Victorian era. His preoccupation with sexual imagery may therefore been a product of the times, the culture or his own relationship/conflict with sex.