main components

• the four components of dream analysis: dreams as wish fulfillment, symbolic nature of dreams, dream diary, role of the therapist
• Freud believed that all dreams were the unconscious fulfilment of wishes known as primary-process thought
• Dreams protect the sleeper and allows us to live out some of these desires
• however, the repression of these desires are seen as the source of mental and behavioural disorders
• the therapy aims to interpret dreams to uncover the true wishes they represent
• Dream analysis works on the principle that what the dreamer recalls is actually the symbolic representation of the truth.
• latent content= the true wishes and desires
• manifest content= how these desires are symbolised
• dreamwork= the process of changing the latent content into the manifest content
• Between therapy sessions, the client may be asked to record their dreams on waking
• they do this in a dream diary
• the manifest content recorded is the basis for discussion during sessions
• the role of the therapist is to reverse the dreamwork process
• by decoding the manifest content back to latent content
• Freud emphasised that only trained psychoanalysts should do this
• the therapist identifies symbols within the dreams and the client free associates
• free associate= client is encouraged to verbalise or write all thoughts that come to mind
• free association is not a linear thought process but an incoherent stream of words and memories
• this could reveal connections that might otherwise go uncovered