According to Freud, the analysis of dreams is “the royal road to the unconscious”. The analyst unravels and interprets the symbolic nature of the patient’s dreams. The true feelings, desires, etc. are often disguised in dreams and may be experienced symbolically (i.e. they dream about something that represents their concern, rather than dreaming directly about the concern itself). The true concerns of the patient are often disguised in this symbolic form to protect the conscious mind from developing full awareness of the underlying concern. As a result, repressed ideas come to the surface – though what we remember may well have been altered during the dream process.
