Dreams can show us (through images and plot symbols) what is in the unconscious layer of the personality structure. That is, what was suppressed by us, for example, was pushed out of memory (due to traumas, acute negative experiences of the past, etc.), certain attitudes, etc. unconscious contents + archetypal symbols related to the basis of universal experience (the so-called “pre-memory”).
Thus, dreams are a subtle, complex ” language “in which our”depths” communicate with us.
Can they deceive us?
For what?
The analysis of dreams is one of the methods of deep areas of psychology. And, as a psychologist, I am of the opinion that dreams are “ciphers”, a kind of hints from the unconscious that allow us to better understand ourselves.
Why should the unconscious mislead us?
On the contrary, the essence of his “messages” to the Ego is to bring into the “field” of clarity what was previously repressed. Only in this way, for example, can a negative experience transform into an experience and return control to a person, neutralizing their destructive projections outside.
But in order to believe the dream and what it contains, without the risk of distortion of information, you need to decipher its “message” in detail in connection with the dreamer's anamnesis, so that the dream images become clear and make sense for a particular person.
The question of meaning in dreams is a question of the correctness of their interpretation. As a rule, they do not carry any direct or obviously symbolic meaning. So do not take them literally, just as you should not turn to all sorts of dream books. Freud for the first time most fully approached the description of the dream mechanism: visualization of mental images, censorship ( condensation, displacement) and secondary processing, which gives a sense of meaningfulness of the picture.
Images in a dream can be a reaction to external stimuli that are acting at the moment, to the “sediment of the day” – everything that happened during the day or just before bedtime, or to vivid experiences and repressed (repressed) desires. Dreams can symbolically manifest both what is relevant to the psyche right now, and feelings and images that have been ingrained since childhood, which are thought of in a completely different way in the conscious state of an adult. For example, if you are abandoned by a loved one, or if you are trying to suppress a sense of shame, this is likely to be reflected in dreams. Often dreams show us something important that we are not ready to admit to ourselves, and that is worth paying attention to.
Many modern psychologists and psychotherapists use dream interpretation in their practice. Irwin Yalom, for example, believes that dreams can be invaluable in effective therapy, but urges that we should be guided by expediency and reject Freud's full interpretation of the dream (Yalom, The Gift of Psychotherapy, chapters 77-83).
Different schools of psychology have different methods of interpretation: some use the Freudian method of free association, some resort to symbolic analysis based on actual reality for the dreamer, others ask the dreamer to tell about each significant image in the first person, describing feelings and recording emotional peaks and troughs.
I was able to successfully interpret my own dreams. This was especially necessary when you were dreaming of something unexpected and very disturbing, and when the emotional state in the dream went beyond it and affected the state during wakefulness. The criterion for successful interpretation was the calmness that came after it: when at least the problem became clear and you could start looking for ways to solve it.
When someone starts to get acquainted with popular psychology, it is likely that sooner or later Freud's book will fall into their hands and they will learn more about dreams. But modern data show that they do not carry any meaning for a person, i.e. pointing out the right behavior, the right choice, etc.
Interesting question.
Dreams can show us (through images and plot symbols) what is in the unconscious layer of the personality structure. That is, what was suppressed by us, for example, was pushed out of memory (due to traumas, acute negative experiences of the past, etc.), certain attitudes, etc. unconscious contents + archetypal symbols related to the basis of universal experience (the so-called “pre-memory”).
Thus, dreams are a subtle, complex ” language “in which our”depths” communicate with us.
Can they deceive us?
For what?
The analysis of dreams is one of the methods of deep areas of psychology. And, as a psychologist, I am of the opinion that dreams are “ciphers”, a kind of hints from the unconscious that allow us to better understand ourselves.
Why should the unconscious mislead us?
On the contrary, the essence of his “messages” to the Ego is to bring into the “field” of clarity what was previously repressed. Only in this way, for example, can a negative experience transform into an experience and return control to a person, neutralizing their destructive projections outside.
But in order to believe the dream and what it contains, without the risk of distortion of information, you need to decipher its “message” in detail in connection with the dreamer's anamnesis, so that the dream images become clear and make sense for a particular person.
The question of meaning in dreams is a question of the correctness of their interpretation. As a rule, they do not carry any direct or obviously symbolic meaning. So do not take them literally, just as you should not turn to all sorts of dream books. Freud for the first time most fully approached the description of the dream mechanism: visualization of mental images, censorship ( condensation, displacement) and secondary processing, which gives a sense of meaningfulness of the picture.
Images in a dream can be a reaction to external stimuli that are acting at the moment, to the “sediment of the day” – everything that happened during the day or just before bedtime, or to vivid experiences and repressed (repressed) desires. Dreams can symbolically manifest both what is relevant to the psyche right now, and feelings and images that have been ingrained since childhood, which are thought of in a completely different way in the conscious state of an adult. For example, if you are abandoned by a loved one, or if you are trying to suppress a sense of shame, this is likely to be reflected in dreams. Often dreams show us something important that we are not ready to admit to ourselves, and that is worth paying attention to.
Many modern psychologists and psychotherapists use dream interpretation in their practice. Irwin Yalom, for example, believes that dreams can be invaluable in effective therapy, but urges that we should be guided by expediency and reject Freud's full interpretation of the dream (Yalom, The Gift of Psychotherapy, chapters 77-83).
Different schools of psychology have different methods of interpretation: some use the Freudian method of free association, some resort to symbolic analysis based on actual reality for the dreamer, others ask the dreamer to tell about each significant image in the first person, describing feelings and recording emotional peaks and troughs.
I was able to successfully interpret my own dreams. This was especially necessary when you were dreaming of something unexpected and very disturbing, and when the emotional state in the dream went beyond it and affected the state during wakefulness. The criterion for successful interpretation was the calmness that came after it: when at least the problem became clear and you could start looking for ways to solve it.
When someone starts to get acquainted with popular psychology, it is likely that sooner or later Freud's book will fall into their hands and they will learn more about dreams. But modern data show that they do not carry any meaning for a person, i.e. pointing out the right behavior, the right choice, etc.