Dream analysis

• Dreamwork - in psychoanalysis the processes that transform the latent content of a dream into manifest content.
• Manifest content - the content of a dream that is recalled by a dreamer, which according to Freud disguises the latent content.
• Latent content - according to Freud the hidden and real meaning of a dream.
• Wish fulfilment - a dream in order to fulfil the unacceptable desires of the id.
• Symbolism - a symbol replaces an action/person/idea.
• Free association - free associate what symbols mean to them verbalise/write all thoughts that come to mind.
• Subjective - based on opinion or individual interpretation.
• Revolving door - therapies that fail to prevent relapse by only treating symptoms and not the root cause of the issues.
• False memory syndrome - incorrectly recalling events that did not actually occur.
• Unconscious mind expressed through dreams threatening nagtur3e of unconscious thoughts disguised in dreams, repressed issues to expose and cure the problem.
• Influence of childhood experiences - traumatic experiences repressed as too painful to deal with so have to work through traumatic experiences, repression is cause of disorder.
• Tripartite personality - demands of ID are unacceptable acting out desires and wishes in a more acceptable way, ego defence mechanisms protects us from what lurks in the unconscious mind reverses the dreamwork process.
• Role of the therapist - dreamwork decoding manifest to latent trained pyscho-analysis interpretation context with life experiences manifest content does not represent latent content.
• Dream diary - record dreams in a diary manifest content recorded in a dream diary, basis for discussion during therapy sessions.
• Symbolic nature of dreams - protect us from unacceptable truth appears in a disguised form, symbolic representation of the truth.
• Defence mechanism displacement - emotional significance of dream object separated from real object attached to different one.
• Dreams as wish fulfilment - unconscious fulfilment of wishes could not be satisfied unacceptable, protect sleeper stopping desires from reaching unacceptable level threaten our sanity, express and live out desires/wishes/fantasies in a more acceptable way, repression a source of mental and behavioural disorders, therapy aims to uncover true wishes.
• Effectiveness - strength - evidence shows DA can help people with depression and anxiety, Falk and hill compared 22 divorced women in dream interpretation groups, to 12 women in a control condition, results in women of dream interpretation group showed improvement compared to the control group in self esteem and insight. This means that it is difficult to scientifically demonstrate that interpretation of dreams is effective treatment of behavioural and mental disorders different interpretations with different therapists.
• Effectiveness - strength - evidence supports the effectiveness of dream analysis in helping people improve their self esteem and gain greater insight into their mind. Malt and Navamo reviewed 63 metaanalysis on psychotherapy, 75% of people recieving DA showed improvements on the issues they were being treated for. So appears to be effective at helping women adjust to the life changes associated with divorce.
• Effectiveness - weakness - dream analysis is that it is based on subjective interpretations of the manifest content. Freud did not support idea of dream dictionaires as each interpretation needed to be specific to the context of the individuals client situations. Manifest content is literal representation of a memory not a symbol of something. This suggest DA is an effective therapy for many common mental health problems.
• DA does provide a long term solution as it treats the underlying cause of the problems. It works by uncovering and resolving repressed unconscious conflicts that were causing issues. Resolving them should bring long-term relief to the person. Makes DA arguably better than other therapies that only address cause such as aversion therapy.
• Psychological harm - being made aware of unconscious conflicts may be distressing and cause psychological harm, DA works by revealing tot eh client previously repressed desires of childhood, these desires and or conflicts have been repressed by egos defence mechanisms because they are traumatic and we needed to be protected from them. A weakness as there is potential for the client to experience psychological harm in process of acknowledging these unconscious issues.
• False memory syndrome - dream analysis has the potential to create false memories in people. There are documented cases of therapists leading people to inaccurately remember instances of abuse or other unpleasant experiences in their past. A weakness as false memory syndrome can strongly affect peoples identity and relationships as well as having a negative repercussions for those who may be falsely accused of causing unpleasant situations.
• Power imbalance - one of the main concerns about dream analysis is the power imbalance between the therapist and the client. In DA the therapist takes the expert role, offering the patient insight into their unconscious mind. The patient is therefore reliant on the therapist for making progress through the therapy. This is unethical, can lead to the client becoming overly-dependant on the therapist and unable to face their problems on their own.
• Does address underlying cause - dream analysis does address the long-term underlying cause of psychological and behavioural problems. DA works on uncovering repressed unconscious conflicts and desires that may have occurred in early childhood. Bringing them to the surface and confronting the issue should result in a long term end to the problems they were causing in later life. This is a strength as is better than behavioural and biological therapies which only treat symptoms.