This paper is an analysis of a dream, using the techniques developed by Sigmund Freud in his groundbreaking book, The Interpretation of Dreams, first published in 1900. Freud argued that dreams provide a direct view of the workings of the subconscious mind by showing the problems with which the individual is currently dealing, as well as the suppressed desires and emotions that are affecting current decisions about those problems. Intensive investigation of the imagery and symbols represented by the dream can clarify those aspects of the individual's life which may be preventing him or her from dealing effectively with life. Freud's dream work emphasized sexual interpretations of many dream images, as he believed that unresolved sexual issues are at the root of many other psychological problems. His work was important and influential, and many psychologists have subsequently built on his methods, expanded his explanations, and broadened his insights.
Freud was the first modern writer to argue that dreams provide invaluable tools for understanding the unconscious mind. He (1931) contends, "Every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state" (p. 137). Freud's book was filled with examples of dreams recounted by his patients, as well as his own dreams.
Freud acknowledged that each dream included in the book was recorded as it had been remembered by the individual in the waking state, which means that each account could include only those details recalled by the dreamer after the dreamer awoke. Freud (1931) contends, "In the dream something was known and remembered that cannot be remembered in the waking state" (p. 141); therefore, the conscious mind might suppress specific details that, even though disguised or symbolized within the dream, the mind did not want to consider.
Nevertheless, Freud ...