This research paper presents the evolution of Freud's dream theory from the point of inception to the present. Included are comparisons to theorists such as Jung and Horney, and present-day application of dreams for therapy.
Biography & General Theory Discussion
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was born in Freiberg, Moravia (now Czechoslovakia). His father was an unsuccessful wool merchant who eventually moved the family to Vienna (Freud was four years old), where Freud remained nearly eighty years. Freud's father was a strict authoritarian and his mother was protective and loving. Freud felt attached and sexually attracted to his mother and feared his father; he later referred to this as the Oedipus complex. Freud was one of eight children; his family encouraged his intellectual ability (Schultz, 1992, pp. 423-424).
Freud was considered a brilliant student. He was interested in civilization, human culture, human relationships, military history, and a scientific approach to knowledge. He decided to study medicine, hoping it would lead to a career in scientific research. He studied at the University of Vienna, first concentrating on biology, then physiology. During medical training, he experimented with cocaine and introduced the drug to himself, his family, and the medical practice; it helped with his depression and chronic indigestion. Freud's work on the benefits of cocaine (including its use for eye surgery) may have contributed to the epidemic of cocaine use in Europe and the United States (Schultz & Schultz, p. 424).
Due to financial circumstances, Freud sought work in clinics and hospitals; he specialized in anatomy and organic diseases of the nervous system, with particular interest in paralysis, aphasia, childhood brain injuries, and speech pathology. He received his M.D. and opened a practice as a clinical neurologist. Long working hours left little time for Freud to spend with his wife and six children. ...