Understanding of Dreams.

Understanding of Dreams.

According to Freud, dreams were disguised, hallucinatory fulfilment of repressed wishes.

He also asserted that dreams not only represented current wishes,

but were also invariably expressions of wishfulfilments dating from early childhood.

Dreams, he believed, gave indirect expressions to infantile sexual wishes which had been repressed and which,…

if expressed in undisguised form, would so disturb the dreamer that he would wake up.

Because these wishes are unacceptable and potentially disturbing, they are censored and disguised.

Freud described the mental processes, or “dreamwork”, by which the dream was modified and rendered less disturbing.

These processes included;

Condensation, the fusing together of different ideas and images into a single image;

Displacement, in which a potentially disturbing image or idea is replaced by something connected but less disturbing;

Representation, the process by which thoughts are converted into visual images;

Symbolization, in which some neutral object stands for some aspect of sexual life or those persons connected with it which the dreamer would prefer not to recognize.

Freud introduced the term “manifest content” to describe what the dreamer recalled.

In contrast, the “latent content” was the hidden, true meaning of the dream.

This latent content could be ascertained only when the dreamer’s associations to the images in the dream had been subjected to psychoanalytical scrutiny and interpretation.

There were many other forms of dreams e.g. traumatic dreams, anxiety dreams etc.

They did not seem to fit into Freud’s theory of dreams which was primarily concerned with

infantile sexuality.

There are many reasons for thinking that what is unconscious is not exclusively the consequence of repression, including the fact that some dreams are clearly creative or provide answers to problems.

Although everything which was repressed was unconscious, not everything unconscious was repressed.

Jung does not distinguish between manifest and latent dream content in the same manner that Freud does.

According to Jung, dream is spontaneous self portrayal in symbolic form of the actual situation in the unconscious.

According to the Talmud, the dream is its own interpretation. Any dream which is not interpreted, is like a book which is not opened.

It shows the inner truth and reality of the patient as it really is; not as the interpretation of the analyst and not as the patient would like it to be, but as it is.

The dream does not censor or distort, although there are dreams which on the surface do look like disguised wish-fulfillment, a more profound understanding will invariably be gained if these dreams are approached with the hypothesis that dreams do not hide but reveal.

They invariably point to something as yet unknown which they express in the vocabulary of the known, rather than merely disguising or censoring what one already presumes to know.

Dreams are not symptomatic, but symbolic. The deeper layers speak in images.

These images are to be viewed as if they presented us with description of ourselves, or our unconscious situations.

We must translate the dream statements by putting the dreamer’s association and explanation into the context of the images.

Associations are the contents which happen to come to mind when the dream image is considered, whether they be rational or irrational.

If I have dreamed of a particular object, I might recall that I always become angry when a certain person uses this object: this is an association.

An explanation is a more rational description of what the dream image means to me.

The first step in understanding a dream is to establish its context. This means unravelling its network of relationships with the dreamer and his or her life, and discovering the significance of various images it presents;

e.g., one’s mother might appear in a dream:

Now, everyone has a concept of what mother means, but for each person the image of the mother is different, and the significance of this image will even vary from time to time.

As far as possible, each image or symbol must be taken in turn till its meaning for the dreamer is established as nearly as possible.

And not until this has been carefully done is one in a position to understand what the dream may mean.

So Jung does not have a fixed method of dream interpretation, for each dream is taken as a direct expression of the dreamer’s unconscious, and only to be understood in this light.

When the dreamer’s personal association do not seem to suffice, when mythological motifs occur, the analyst’s amplification maybe added –

namely what the analyst happens to know about the historical context and meaning of the symbolism.

Every dream interpretation may pertain either to what we call the object level or the subject level.

Dreams on an objective level are related to what is going on in the environment; the people appearing in it are taken as real, and their relationship to, and possible influence on the dreamer are analysed.

In dreams on a subjective level the dream-figures are taken as representing aspects of the dreamer’s personality.

It depends on the circumstances of the moment which side the emphasis shall be placed,

e.g. a woman dreaming of her father…

..may need to face a problem connected with him or some aspect of her relationship to him, or she may need to recognize the male principle (personified by the father) in herself.

Generally speaking, the subjective aspect of dreams become more important in the later stages of analysis when the personal problems have been seen and understood.

Some dreams make use of incomprehensible symbols, and their relationship to the dreamer is difficult to trace.

These Jung classes as collective dreams, and to understand them use must often be made of historical, mythological, cultural and fairy tales analogies to find what the symbols meant to other men in other times.

A fairly common belief is that dreams reproduce the events of the day before, especially if these were significant or striking.

Careful recording, however, shows that dreams rarely repeat events in an exact manner; they add or subtract something, round off the experience, or can be shown it to be compensatory in character.

This tendency to compensate a conscious attitude is an important characteristic of the dream, and must always be taken into account when attempting to understand it.

As an example of a dream of compensatory character, Jung quotes a young man who dreamt his father was behaving in a drunken and disorderly manner.

The real father did no such thing and the young man had an excellent relationship with him. In fact the admiration for his father prevented him from developing his own different personality.

It was almost as if the dream was saying, “he is not so marvellous after all and he can behave in a quite irresponsible manner. There is no need for you to feel so inferior.”

Dreams also work the other way round; if we habitually undervalue somebody, we are likely to have a dream which flatters or elevates him, for instance,….

…in a much higher position than the one he would normally occupy.

Dreams also bring hidden conflicts to light by showing an unknown side of the character,

as when a mild, inoffensive person dreams of violence,

or an ascetic or sexual orgies, but more frequently the dream language is less direct than this.

Dreams sometimes express hidden wishes. The wish fulfilment dream is usually easy to spot;

when, for instance, the hungry man dreams he is eating a wonderful meal, or the thirsty that they see sparkling water.

Forward-looking or prospective dreams e.g. a woman who was shortly going to move to a new and unknown district, dreamt correctly all about the house she would live in, down to the smallest detail, even including the reason why its present owners were leaving it.

Warning dreams as for example that of the mountain climber who dreamt he was climbing higher and higher and gaily stepping off into space…

…but the man in question simply laughed. Not so very long after he was killed in the mountains, a friend actually seeing him step off into the air.

To dream of death, however, does not necessarily indicate a fatal accident.

There is symbolic as well as actual physical death.

A series of dreams makes a more satisfactory basis for interpretation than a single dream, for the theme which the unconscious is presenting becomes clearer, the important images underlined by repetition, and mistakes in interpretation art corrected by the next dream.

Approach to Dreams

Dreams reveal uncompensated feelings. They are the most direct and the most obvious path to the patient's true nature.

They therefore have immense value as symptoms and often are the key to many cases.

Dreams cannot be ignored, an understanding of them reveals the deepest and the pure feelings of the patient.

Two things never to be done with dreams: • Ignore • Interpret

If we 'ignore' dreams, especially those that are vivid and repetitive, we are ignoring the most important clue to the patient's subconscious state, in other words we are neglecting the most direct and the most obvious path to the delusion.

If we 'interpret' dreams we are falling into the trap of theorizing. This is a very risky thing to do because it involves the physician's feelings rather than those of the patient.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN DREAMS?

The exact description of each ingredient of the dream.

The exact feeling in the dream - the feelings in the dream are so individual that they never cease to amaze.

The depth of the feelings and the degree of desperation felt in the dreams.

Examples: If the patient has dreams of falling then the height from which he sees himself falling is significant…

(A patient needing Sulphur will have dreams of falling off a high place. But a woman requiring Platinum will have dream of falling off a very great height, the tallest building in the world.)

Similarly, if a patient has dream of dirty toilets, his description of how dirty they are and what is happening to him over there will indicate the depth of his feelings.

If the dream is of danger, it is to be seen whether there is an escape route.

If he feels alone in the dream, what is the depth of the feeling? How alone does he feel? Does being alone mean for him being separated from his family, or does it mean that he feels all alone in the world?

If he has dreams of being naked, what is the situation in which he is naked? Does he have dreams of being naked and trying to hide, so that no one sees him?

One can appreciate the depth of the feeling by asking the patient what the outcome would be if the dream were to reach a conclusion.

One should also try and access how serious the situation is for the patient.

Where is the feeling in the dream or its opposite found in the patient's life?

Examples: If the patient has dreams of being tortured, then one has to see where else in his life he has had a similar feeling…

Let him take you to that situation and describe it in its full detail, along with the physical sensations experienced.

If the patient has dreams of being in heaven, it would be worth examining where he has felt the opposite, i.e., being in hell.

What does the patient associate with the feeling in the dream spontaneously? -

The patient is questioned in depth about his feeling, encouraged to describe it more and more clearly and precisely till he cites an incident where he had felt similarly.

ACTUAL DREAMS: “Actual dreams” are those seen in the state of sleep.

These are usually seen in cases where the feelings are heavily compensated in the waking or conscious state. In the state of sleep, however, this compensation is lost and the dreams surface.

Some kinds of actual dreams are: • Pleasant. • Unpleasant.

• Dreams without emotions. • Projected. • Feelings in the dreams.

• Associations with the dreams. • Incidental or situational dreams.

• Deep, vivid, repetitive, connected dreams. • Dreams during pregnancy. • Delirium in cases of fever.

VIRTUAL DREAMS: "Virtual dreams' include other forms of uncompensated behaviour, but in the waking state. Such behaviour is representative of the person's real inner feelings and so it is like a dream.

So if a patient is unable to recall any of his dreams, looking into these virtual dreams one can understand the pure uncompensated feelings.

Some kinds of virtual dreams are: • Fears. • Fantasies.

• Sensations as if. • Metaphors. • Interests and hobbies – active and passive.

• Hobbies avoided. • Aims, ambitions, goals. • Hopes. • Religion and philosophy.

ACTUAL DREAMS: Dreams occur when a person does not allow himself to feel in the conscious state.

The more the dreams and the more intense the feelings in the dreams, the stronger is the delusion, the more intense is the state.

Absence of dreams can either be a sign of health or when accompanied by gross pathology, a sign of very severe disease.

In case of health, the person is aware of his feelings and they remain at a conscious level, hence the absence of dreams.

But in case of advanced pathology, the disease must have traveled from the subconscious to the organic level for dreams to be present.

Pleasant - Pleasant dreams give an idea of the way the patient would want things to be.

The opposite dream or feeling can be looked for in the case; for that is the way the patient perceives his present situation.

Unpleasant - Often, the pleasant and unpleasant dreams are opposites of each other.

When you discover what is common between the two, you understand an important aspect of the patient. This connection may not be obvious, but since it is there, one should try to find it.

Dreams without emotions (symbolic) - If they occur again and again, they are looked up directly in the Repertory in the ‘Dreams’ chapter.

The absence of any associated feeling along with the symbol shows that the dream itself is significant.

Examples: • Dreams of being pursued by wild animals. Though there may be fear experienced in the dream, the whole dream is a symbol. • Dreams of falling into water.

• Dreams of unsuccessful efforts to dress for a party. • Dreams of eating.

Projected – These involve a third person rather than the patient himself. The feelings in these dreams are often blunted.

Here one can ask what the patient would feel in that circumstance. When a dream has associated with it a certain feeling, that is the feeling of the patient, whether the dream involves him or someone else.

Example: • Dreams of the neighbour's house being on fire.

Feelings in the dreams – Dreams that are complicated can be broken down into their components and, viewed as well in overall terms, and connections with the case can be traced.

Associations with the dreams – This has hardly been explained above. Here is another example. A patient who had the dream of a horse being reined in too tightly, almost immediately after narrating the dream, gave incidents of always being under performance pressure from her father.

Incidental or situational dreams - These are dreams that follow a particular incident that happened on the previous day or a particular situation at that time.

They are of lesser significance, unless there is something very individual or peculiar in them.

Examples: Dreams of examinations are common amongst students. But if a student has the dream that he has failed an exam and as a result is being laughed at by everyone, and he feels very embarrassed, this feeling of embarrassment is peculiar to him and attains the significance of a symptom.

If a person's house has been robbed in the recent past and he dreams of robbers for sometime after the incident, these should not be considered very significant.

Deep, vivid, repetitive, connected dreams - Vivid dreams unconnected with external reality.

Dreams during pregnancy Especially important in the cases of children, where one is unable to obtain dreams directly from the patients. These are important in understanding the state of the mother during pregnancy.

VIRTUAL DREAMS: • Fears. • Fantasies. • Sensation as if- These can be described by the patient even as he describes his physical symptoms.

Example: • When breathless, she had the feeling as if someone sat on her chest. • Pains as if a sharp knife was driven through her stomach. These sensations in isolation will not be as relevant as when one is able to connect them with the rest of the case.

Metaphors – Metaphorical expressions give images in certain situations that represent more the inner feeling than reality.

Examples: • I am so tied down with work. • It was a huge jump for me from one business to another. • I felt the relationship was so brittle. • The heat was killing.

Interests and hobbies – We choose hobbies that allow us to express our state. Unlike jobs and professions in the choice of which there may be an element of compulsion, hobbies are pure indications of what a person likes. In this they are like pleasant dreams and fantasies.

Active interests and hobbies: These involve an active participation by the patient, which allows him to live his inner state.

Passive interests and hobbies: Where the patient is a mere spectator, rather than a participant. These include – music (information of the type of music and favorite songs can be very helpful in understanding the state of the patient);…

reading (the type of literature and stories the person chooses); movies (even if the physician has watched the movie, it is better to ask the patient to describe it as if he has not seen it, and note the individual reaction of the patient);…

humor (humor is the other side of horror. When we are unable to face the horror in a situation we make light of it. A person jokes, if they have a common theme, reveal his nightmare)

Hobbies avoided Example: Calcarea persons usually avoid “violent movies”.

Aims, ambitions, goals Example: Cuprum metallicum children often say that they would like to be “fighter pilots”.

As one gets older, one might modify one's ambition according to practical reality, but here the question is what you would rather be.

Hopes – These are exactly diametrically opposite to the elements of the delusion. They are also opposite to the fears.

Example: If the patient was to say “I hope that my father will live long”, his fear (delusion) is that his father will die.

Religion and philosophy What these mean to the patient is sometimes important to understand rather than merely his interest in these.

Dreams are indeed most important at arriving at the patient's innermost feeling. But they are only part of an entire system of case-taking, analysis, and follow-up.

Understanding of Homoeopathic remedies with the help of the dreams produced by the proving of respective remedies

SEPIA: It is especially suited to women who have over vigorous husbands. These patients develop many symptoms as a result of traumatic coition. They develop an aversion to husband. They have a dread of men as these patients are forced into coition.

Dreams, pursued, being Dreams, rape, threats of rape Dreams, amorous, coition with

She takes everything from her husband without any revolt because of the deep-seated insecurity of her husband leaving her. This insecurity is further reinforced by her false idea of appearing ugly.

Dreams, old gentleman ran away from wife, suspected of having married another. Dreams, body parts of, face disfigured.

She toils for her family and is full of cares and worries about domestic affairs.

Dreams, business, of day, of the Dreams, busy, being; hurry Dreams, exhausting

D/D: Kreosote also has a similar dream: Dreams, rape, pursued for the purpose of.

Kreosote seems to have a lot of relation to sexual feelings, consciously and subconsciously. The women are known to have a lot of anxiety about sex as is seen in the following rubric:

Anxiety, coition, during. Anxiety, coition, thought of, in a woman.

Kreosote also has dreams of dirty linen which indicates sexual attitudes that one is not proud of, and difficult feelings about ones biological side. Dreams, dirt, linen dirty. Dreams, coition of; urinating during coition, and

D/D: Cenchris: Like all snake remedies, Cenchris has a sense of persecution, which in this drug, is more marked for sex.

Dreams, rape, threats of Dreams, indecent behavior of men and women Dreams, animals of, copulating Dreams, nakedness about

Cenchris also has a dream which indicates a feeling that others seek to mutilate, humiliate or reject them. It represents an unconscious fear of being weaker than others. Dreams, body, body parts, teeth, pulled being.

Natrum muriaticum: They are extremely sensitive and introvert. They cannot tolerate injustice, and any type of deception cause grief and mortification.

They develop hatred toward people who have offended them. Due to the past experiences of deception they develop a fear of people especially robbers which makes them search beneath the bed and recheck the locks.

They do not confide in others and brood over the same thing over and over again. The suppressed emotions take the form of dreams:

Dreams, anger Dreams, fights Dreams, vexations Dreams, robbers

They cut off their relations with the person who has offended them. They are not able to express their hatred completely.

This hatred is expressed indirectly in the dreams, which are full of cruel acts and death. A dream of death can also signify the death of the relationship.

Dreams, cruelty Dreams, death

D/D: Staphysagria: Staphysagria has dreams of fights, quarrels and vexations like Natrum muriaticum.

The main difference is that Staphysagria individuals are very sensitive to what others think about them. So the feeling of humiliation and mortification is expressed very strongly in the dreams of Staphysagria.

Dreams, humiliation Dreams, shameful The shameful dreams reflect their feelings towards their excessive sexual preoccupations and indulgence.

Lachesis: The Lachesis individuals always fear some kind of injury from their environment. This fear creates a lot of suspicion in their minds to such an extent that they cannot trust even their near and dear ones.

They have a fear of death and feel that the preparations for their funeral are under way. This intense paranoia is reflected in their dreams.

Dreams, danger Dreams, death Dreams, murdered, being Dreams, knives Dreams, stabbed, fear of being Dreams, snakes

Dreams of snakes also signifies the sexuality of lachesis individuals. There is an increased sexual desire in these individuals which is either suppressed or they over indulge in sexual activities.

There is also an element of the sexual desire deviating from the normal heterosexual relationship which is expressed as homosexual behavior.

Lac can: The dreams of snakes is a strong manifestation of unconscious in Lac can.

Symbolism of snake in Lac can Frustrated sexual impulses or instincts which are out of control (A/F – Sexual abuse)

Our emotions turned against ourselves…

as introjected aggression (Antagonism with oneself)

Unconscious worries about health: Delusion disease, incurable has Delusion heart, disease, will have, and die, is

Hura: Hura is one of the main drugs for a feeling of being unfortunate and forsaken. It is a feeling of loss of one’s place and identity in society.

There is a feeling that no one cares for him. This kind of feeling emotionally kills a part of oneself. This destruction of the identity manifests itself symbolically in the dreams of death, murder and mutilation.

Dreams, dead bodies Dreams, death, of Dreams, funerals Dreams, murder Dreams, mutilation

Dreams of dead bodies signify a set of personality traits and attributes which have been denied expression.

We see this in Hura where the repudiation from the people he associates with, hinders the expression of his emotions.

Hura also has dreams of, Dreams, body parts, head cut off Dreams, guns, shots Dreaming of being shot depicts a traumatic injury to feelings, often arising out of a close relationship.

Alumina: The Alumina individual is always confused about his personal identity. They can be extremely irresolute and most of the time they give an impression as if they cannot express their deep emotions. It is very difficult to detect Alumina as a remedy for these individuals during the first case taking.

The confusion is most of the time associated with a lack of self confidence.

Even though they are very ambitious, their lack of confidence causes a lot of anxiety and a marked fear of failure. The anxiety and fear are accentuated by high expectations of other people.

This whole situation is symbolically expressed by their unconscious in the following dreams:

Dreams, falling height from, a Dreams, drowning, boat on a foundering Dreams, stars falling

The anxieties and fear are expressed in dreams as: Dreams, foundering boat Dreams, difficulties Dreams, misfortunes

When they are not able to fulfill their ambitions they feel ashamed of themselves which is expressed in the following dream: Dreams, embarrassment Dreams, humiliation Dreams, shameful

One of the most peculiar dreams of Alumina is Dreams, water, wading in, serpents, in which are, of which he is afraid

Water signifies the unconscious and serpents signify the impulses and instincts, which if not controlled can intrude the conscious activities of the person. Sometimes the eruption of unconscious elements into the conscious mind leads to chaotic and a psychotic state.

Alumina has a fear of losing self control and fear of insanity. Both these fears are thus very well represented in the above dream.

…Thanks