Freudian Dream Analysis

Freud spent much time analyzing his own dreams and his patients dreams.

Conflict over dream analysis helped to split up Freud and Jung.

Should the analyst be analyzing his own dreams ?

Remember, the gatekeepers job is to prevent unpleasant memories, thoughts, or ideas from becoming conscious.

Reality distortions are common.

Therefore, the dreamer can not analyze their own dreams, because they will be prevented from seeing non-flattering images or connections.

Common Freudian dreams (Re)Analyzed

Bed too small dream : Sick child sleeps in great big bed; dreams that she is too large for the bed.

Reality distortion, dream for size and power which accompanies it. A classic Adlerian childhood fantasy : The desire to be big and powerful.

Wild Strawberries : Anna cries out for strawberries in her dream after being denied them by a nurse. Straight wish fulfillment, common in childhood. However, can a two year old protest "domestic health regulations ?" Perhaps this is penis-envy, and the desired penis is turned into strawberries.

Cherry Dream : Freud's nephew dreams of giving cherries (a gift to Freud) to a soldier, someone the young boy admires. Maybe Freud's nephew doesn't like Freud at all, and thats why he dreamed of giving the cherries to someone else.

Freud's Personal Dreams reanalyzed

The Staircase Dream : Freud interprets this as stemming from an anal fixation, and he not being a tidy person.

However, an alternative interpretation is that this is a dream of masturbation, with the giant staircase symbolizing the phallus and Freud's act of spitting symbolic of ejaculation. Here is a dream based upon genital fixation (the desire for masturbation is seen as childish) and the maid in the dream is actually a personification of Freud's super-ego, which is chiding him on his childish behavior.

Museum of Excrement : Freud discusses Gargantua, a mythical creature who urinates on all of Rome. Freud interprets this dream as a sign of his greatness.

An alternative interpretation of this dream is that is not about Freud's greatness, but more about his negative opinion of his neurotic patients. He takes a patient's gift to him, the chair, and transforms it into a toilet that he urinates on, cleaning away the defecation left by his patients. His cleaning away of the excrement represents his opinion of his patients ability to cure themselves (clean up after their own mess) .

The magic of Freudian Dream Analysis

Because of Reality distortion and transformation, and defense mechanisms such as repression, denial, projection, and transference,

Many possible interpretations of any one dream are available.

The therapist must try to find the explanation which seems to best fit the circumstances and the patient.

From therapist to therapist, this interpretation could vary widely.

Dream analysis is very subjective (different therapists come to different interpretations), and is not considered to be a scientifically based method of explaining behavior.

Self-fulfilling prophecy can guide the dream analysis. (i.e. You’ve told the therapist you have problems with your parents, and she interprets your dream in a manner consistent with that knowledge)