Merrill 1
Danielle Merrill
Professor Shedletsky
Intrapersonal Communication
12/9/12
Dream Theories
The question of whether or not dreams possess meaning in the real world has sparked
many a debate, especially over the past century. Some are skeptical and argue that dreams are
simply random, illogical and meaningless. Others claim that dreams are symbolic of true feelings
and used by the mind to solve problems in the waking world. Though I’m sure there are many
historical accounts of dream interpretation and theories from various cultures, I am going to
focus on the more recent history of dream interpretation, specifically concerning our
psychoanalytic fathers Freud and Jung. Jung’s theories are based off of Freud’s, but they are
different from each other in some important aspects. This paper will contrast the two theories
with more modern theoretical support for parts of both theories, as well as contain my own
personal input.
Sigmund Freud believes that “every dream is a fulfillment of repressed wishes” which are
usually of a sexual nature or a traumatic or significant childhood experience (Weitz 290). Carl
Jung on the other hand, believes that “the dream gives a true picture of the ‘subjective state’how we really feel about ourselves- which the conscious mind cannot or will not give” (Weitz
289). Jung proposes much more socially acceptable ideas and theories regarding dream
interpretations than does Freud. Though they both believe that dreams are the unconscious
expressing itself, they have opposite views of what the unconscious is. Freud believes that the
unconscious mind is a dark place in the sense that it is egotistical, primitive, and animalistic.
Merrill 2
Jung however sees it as a neutral entity that simply expresses a person’s thoughts and feelings
without the constraints of morality and fear of criticism. (Weitz)
Freud is controversial in that he has a theory containing symbolic disguises for specific
objects within dreams. Yet at the same time, he believes that dreams are entirely based on
personal, specific events that occur in an individual’s life. To me this seems rather contradictory,
to have a dream interpretation code for objects that is generalizable to all people, yet to say that
dreams are unique and personal. I think that dreams have individual, personal meaning, rather
than a generalized code that can be applied to all. After all, dreams are generated within the
individual mind, and therefore only have the capacity, understanding, and perspective of the
mind they are created in. It doesn’t make sense to say that one specific object symbolizes a
specific feeling or dilemma, because not everyone may have had that feeling or faced that
dilemma. We know of course that across humanity there is a vast range of variance regarding
lifestyle, culture, access to knowledge etc. and all of that has a major impact on individual
perspective. Why should dreams be any different?
It’s like reading a book in an English class. Students learn about the author’s symbolism
through scenery, characters, events and objects, but it can sometimes be complex and very
unapparent without guidance on how to identify it. I would imagine that to the author, the
symbols appear to be crystal clear, since it is based on his individual perspective. The uniquely
learned representations and associations the author places within the novel are based on personal
meaning and make perfect sense to that mind only. The key word in that sentence is perfect,
because it is possible to understand another’s symbolism, but likely that it will not be as clear, or
have as much meaning to another individual. Freud made an attempt at creating a universal
Merrill 3
interpretation code for the dreamer’s symbolism, different dreamers have different symbolic
representations.
Jung agrees with Freud that dreams are based on personal events, but he believes that the
unconscious mind is divided into two separate entities. One part of the unconscious is a universal
“collective” unconscious which contains instincts and feelings that are innate in every human.
The other piece, the “personal” unconscious, is made up of individual and uniquely learned
information and understanding. Jung’s theories however, are still based on an archetypical
symbolic code that he developed and believes originates in the collective unconscious. Jung
takes into account the person’s specific understanding of events (based on questioning in
therapeutic sessions) which Freud neglected, however he still created a generalizable code for
object interpretation. (Weitz)
This makes me questions Jung’s theories as much as Freud’s. Though parts of his theory
seem more plausible, I would say that it is no more logical than astrology. Astrology is a
generalizable set of traits that supposedly apply to everyone simply based on their birth date.
There are also many dream interpretation sites that if you check the URL, are from astrology
sites or psychic sites. And just like Freud and Jung’s symbols, in reality they can mean anything
because the concept itself is so vague that anyone can apply it to something in their specific life.
Astrology makes a complex thing, the personality, highly simplistic. Freud and Jung make dream
interpretation more simplistic than it really is.
In addition to having personalized individual meaning, I believe that the dreams people
have represent their feelings regarding either symbolized or direct scenarios that play out within
them. What I mean is that not all dreams are strange, at least not to the extent where they are
impossible in reality. I have many dreams about everyday events and how I react in them and
Merrill 4
how I react towards the people in them. Even if they aren’t probable, they are most certainly
possible. Some dreams are, of course, completely impossible in reality. But I think that they still
have meaning through personalized symbolism.
Jerry Jennings proposes a theory that argues dreams have direct meaning, rather than
hidden symbolic meaning. He criticizes Freud and Jung for ignoring the actual events in dreams
and focusing on symbolism of some sort. Jennings says that “while any dream image may have
multiple meanings and multiple determinations, it can also mean itself—that is, a self-evident
direct expression of that individual dreamer” (255). Taken into consideration, this self-evident
theory would make many dream interpretations much less complicated. I agree with Jennings
that in many dreams there is definitely the presence of direct meaning for objects, but the
summary and discussion of the dream presented in the article still concludes that objects in the
dream were symbolic of the dreamer’s feelings and issues with her own personality and everyday
life complications. Ignoring that fact, I do believe that not all objects in dreams are symbolic.
Some simply are what they are, but no dream is entirely self evident.
Personally, I have dreams that are both strange and normal. I have referenced many in my
journal, a lot of them regarding everyday activities such as work and school. In many of my
dreams I do feel that objects are self evident. I go to work and do the normal things that I do
every shift, but I think that it is the weird or strange events that have meaning behind them, not
necessarily the objects. In one dream I was trying to fix the donut case, and someone had thrown
chocolate donuts in random trays, and on the floor everywhere. It was really frustrating that my
co-worker was not putting them in the correct spot, and then was not even attempting to fix them
during a non busy time. I then yelled at my co-worker who started crying, but I didn’t feel bad.
Merrill 5
That dream was definitely something I feel like doing a lot in reality, but I do not actually do this
because it is socially and morally unacceptable.
I have since thought about that dream through the context of various dream interpreting
perspectives. That dream could be described as an unconscious thought that I know my coworker sleeps with a lot of men and then throws them out, since the donut was specifically a
chocolate stick which is penis shaped, and they were everywhere. And yelling at her and not
feeling bad could have represented that I think she’s promiscuous and I don’t feel bad being
mean to her. It also could represent how I think she is hypocritical of other’s work, and gets
angry at people for being messy, when she is the sloppiest of anyone. Perhaps it had nothing to
do with my work at a donut shop at all. Many of my dreams focus on my ex boyfriend and issues
that I had with him. I used to work with his “best friend” who I know was promiscuous and I
have always wanted to yell at her for being hypocritical of others and then doing what she says is
bad when they do it. Or maybe it simply was just a dream of being at work and disliking when
things are not organized because I am a very organized person. Depending on which perspective
I use to interpret my dream, it can have greatly different meaning.
Regarding the feelings that people experience in dreams, Freud maintains that they are
the unconscious desire of the ID which is repressed by the Ego and Superego in everyday life.
He believes that “repressed elements, which [are] useful in reconstructing a past life, conditioned
by traumas which [have] caused the neurosis, should be sought in the dream and in associations”
(Longhin 210). I, however, believe that the feelings being expressed in dreams are not
necessarily unknown or hidden, but they are feelings that the person has actively chosen not to
express in the waking world because they are considered socially unacceptable or abnormal.
Merrill 6
They are feelings that are quite conscious and noticeable, but the person exercises self control in
reality, or lies, to keep them from being emoted.
I had a dream recently that my ex was hit by a car in front of campus. I was coming out
from a class and saw everyone gathered around, but no one was really doing anything and he was
just laying on the ground bleeding. I laughed when I saw who it was, but I was still worried in
the dream. I asked if he was okay and told him not to move, but I said it in a bossy way. When
the paramedics arrived no one knew who he was and he wasn’t in a state to give them
information, so I gave them some basic info and talked with the police officer. However, I was
annoyed and not being particularly pleasant. Basically I was sarcastic and rude the whole time
and I was annoyed that I was wasting my time taking care of an ungrateful backstabber like him.
That dream is a perfect example of something that I would consciously suppress in real
life. My attitude and disgust would definitely be kept a secret in such a situation, and I would
never laugh out loud at him being hit by a car, though I would be on the inside. In the waking
world, I definitely am aware of my negative feelings and general disgust towards him, but I have
to hide in except in front of my close friends. Dreams are sort of a way to vent and just act how I
feel, regardless of how sensible it is, with no consequences and without causing any controversy
in real life.
Freud believes that the ID is part of the unconscious and sort of stuck there because it is
blocked from entering the conscious realm by the Ego and Superego. He based his dream
analysis on this, making it more similar to a drive reduction theory, because people are
attempting to reduce their anxiety caused by suppressing the ID by expressing their desires in
dreams. According to Freud “The repressed wish is not forgotten. During sleep it reemerges and
takes the regressive course, creating a perception without objects, or rather a hallucination, and
Merrill 7
so tends to satisfy itself” (Longhin 210). Dreams are a time to distress by allowing everything
that was thought and felt during the day to come out raw, rather than be filtered and held back.
Like Freud, I think of dreams as a type of primitive, animal, reaction to what has
happened. And like Jung, I think of them as the brains way of fantasizing what might happen in
the future. Dreams are a way for the brain to sort out problems in ways that someone may have
just not thought of before. That is something that Freud misses in his analyses that is quite
important to the interpretation of dreams. Freud believes that “there is no theory of symbol
formation. Instead, in order to make use of dreams as a means of understanding thought and the
creation of meaning it is necessary to consider the dream as unconscious thinking” (Longhin
211). He does not advocate the link to the conscious thought process and the idea of dreams as a
way for the mind to solve current and future dilemmas.
Jung however does believe that dreams are used to solve problems in the waking world.
He thinks of dreams as a story unfolding, like the resolution process to something a person has
been thinking about. Jung “observed a correspondence between the unfolding of the dream plot
and the narrative phases of a classical ‘drama’ ” (Ruggeri). He proposes that dreams are a way of
mentally organizing and compartmentalizing daily events and therefore learning how to respond
to them in the future. A case study was conducted following patients through psychotherapy for
3 years. Focusing on dream analysis it concludes that people do indeed use the elements of their
dreams to sort out problems in their lives. Their dreams are sort of like a tool their minds use to
help them solve issues progressively over time. Some problems that seem to linger, are
represented by repetitive dreams, though they did not necessarily have the same outcome, just
highly similar narrative. (Ruggeri)
Merrill 8
Relating to problem solving, is the fact that some people believe that dreams are not
meaningful throughout their entirety. Marozza says that “there is a specific moment when the
dream begins to mean something” (696). The moment it has meaning is when the conscious
mind begins to either solve a consciously relevant dilemma or when there are strong feelings
accompanying an event in the dream sequence. Dreams are referred to by many analysts as being
their own language. And like everyday talk, there is small talk just used as space filler, and there
are meaningful conversations that take place and may lead to life changing epiphanies. Dreams
are the same way, and it is important to not read too much into each little piece of a dream,
because some of it may just be filler.
Freud however believes that dreams are entirely meaningful and that the ability to
distinguish a clear meaning “can fail only through the limits of the interpreter’s investigative
capacity” (Marozza 697). He believes that the motivation for the dream is the ID and that the
thought behind the dream, it’s meaning, is clearly established before the dream even begins. Jung
however, opposes this Freudian notion because he believes that dreams are “an objective event, a
phenomenon that occurs autonomously and subsequently confronts consciousness with the
problem of assigning possible meaning to it” (Marozza 698). A dream does not necessarily have
to have meaning in entirety, nor is the meaning predisposed by the unconscious mind. The
meaning unfolds with the events in of the dream, like a narrative, and does not really begin to
become obvious until a certain point in the story.
In conclusion, Freud and Jung are both great contributors to the aspect of dream
interpretation. Their theories created the foundation for the many modern theories in existence
today, and still contain many relevant points that need to be further studied and considered. I
agree with parts of both of their theories, and like many others am skeptical about some parts as
Merrill 9
well. Dreams, thought, and feelings are probably some of the hardest things to study. Although
many criticize Freud and Jung for their theories, they made a huge step by even attempting to
create concrete theories of dream analysis in the first place. They definitely deserve some
respect. Dream analysis and interpretation is certainly going to be a hot subject for years to
come.
Merrill 10
Works Cited
Jennings, Jerry L. "Dreams Without Disguise: The Self-Evident Nature Of Dreams."Humanistic
Psychologist 35.3 (2007): 253-274. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.
Longhin, Luigi. "Eight: Symbolism And Dreams In Psychoanalysis." Contemporary
Psychoanalytic Studies 13.(2011): 203-215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec.
2012.
Marozza, Maria Ilena. "When Does A Dream Begin To ‘Have Meaning’? Linguistic Constraints
And Significant Moments In The Construction Of The Meaning Of A Dream." Journal
Of Analytical Psychology 50.5 (2005): 693-705. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9
Dec. 2012.
Ruggeri, Giuseppe, Lorenzo Mosca, and Umberto Zei. "Applying The Problem Solving
Paradigm To Dream Content Analysis: A Case Study Of 130 Succeeding Dream Reports
In A Psychotherapy." Dreaming 21.4 (2011): 246-256. Academic Search Complete. Web.
9 Dec. 2012.
Weitz, Lawrence J. "Jung's And Freud's Contributions To Dream Interpretation: A
Comparison." American Journal Of Psychotherapy 30.2 (1976): 289. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.