TITLE: Dreams as Viewed by Freud and Jung
AUTHOR: Brlizg
2001 © All rights reserved.
CONTENTS:
1 INTRODUCTION
2 THEORETICAL
INTRODUCTION
2.1 FREUD'S PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
2.1.1 A desire to sleep
2.1.2 Manifest and latent content
2.1.3 The censorship of dream
2.1.4 Dream symbolism
2.2 JUNG'S ANALYTICAL INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
2.2.1 Initial dream
2.2.2 Dramatic structure of dreams
2.2.3 Archetypes
2.2.4 Objective and subjective level of interpretation
3 FREUD VS. JUNG
3.1 SIMILARITIES OF DREAM INTERPRETATIONS
3.1.1. The value of dreams in therapy
3.1.2. The pacient-therapist relationship
3.2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DREAM INTERPRETATIONS
3.2.1. Finality vs. causality
3.2.2. Dream symbols
3.2.3. Wish-fulfilment denies Jung's interpretation
4 CONCLUSION
1 INTRODUCTION
Although Jung was a pupil of Freud, and
one would think they shared the same
idea about the interpretation of dreams,
that is not exactly true. Freud proposed the
notorious idea that dreams are a reflextion
of subconsciousness, but Jung
expanded on Freud and added another dimension
to this relation. In Jung's view,
dreams not only lead to personal subconsciousness,
but also to collective
unconsciousness.
This paper attempts to present the two theories
of dreams and stress the unique
qualities in each of them. I believe the
reader will excuse a 'clinical' tone of paper,
knowing that originally this text was written
as school assignment. In 1995, I wrote
this paper under the guidance of Branka
Bajgoric, who was my psychology teacher
in the high school I attended. I omitted
the technical part of the paper: identifying
problem and developing the thesis. I also
did not include a part in which I
discussed the implications of becoming
lucid in dream on the interpretation. Not
that it would be inappropriate, but I think
that subject is so broad that it demands a
separate paper in order to sufficiently
cover it.
I think that nowadays, where there are so
much alternative (occult) explanations of
dreams available, we often forget about
the old thinkers. What is even worse, we
tend to think they are out of date or irrelevant
in this rush of global spiritual
evolution. However, I find the following
two scientists, and Jung particularly,
extremely contemporary. I hope the following
paper will attract some of reader's
interest to further study the rich work
of both, should I say "big men"?
Ljubljana, July 1998
2 THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION
2.1 FREUD'S PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
With his psycho-analysis, Sigmund Freud
opened the door for dreams to become a
subject of scientifical research. He became
interested in dreams when dealing with
his patients because they were telling
dreams spontaneously. He soon
systematically included interpretation
of dreams in psycho-analysis right beside
hypnosis and free association. In the end
of 19th century he eventually researched
the mechanism of dreaming. The analysis
of dreams is indispensable tool in
therapy for each psychoanalyst since then,
and for Freud, dreams are even the key
to theoretical understanding of subconscious.
He explained also dreams of people,
who did not suffer from mental illness,
in psychoanalitic way and so he was
changing his psychotherapy in theory in
the very beginning.
2.1.1 A desire to sleep
When we become tired of receiving of and
responding to stimuli from environment
we try to fall asleep. The main characteristic
of psychical state of a sleeper is
therefore a withdrawal from reality and
cessation of taking all interests in it. We try
to fall asleep by disconnecting from all
sources of external stimuli. We lay down in
a silent, dark room and cover our body
to keep it comfortably warm and so
minimize input from environment. Of course,
an absolute withdrawal in which we
would stop to perceive environment is not
possible. In other words, the sleeper
does not have a 'switch' to switch off
at the time of sleeping and switch on back,
when the time for awakening comes. After
all, if such absolute withdrawal was
possible to achieve, the sleeper would
risk not to wake up again, since more and
more strong stimuli in the morning are
exactly what wakes up the sleeper. These
stimuli disturb us also during the sleep,
and our mentality is forced to respond to
them - with dreams.
Disturbing stimuli can be either external
or internal. External stimuli come from
environment and from inside of our physical
body. Their task is to warn of
imbalance in the body (e.g. full bladder,
thirst) or else they contain information
about disturbances in environment (e.g.
low room temperature, noise). There are
lot of evidences how dreams maintain sleep
in such cases. For Freud though, the
external stimuli are important only to
the extent that suggest analogous existance
of more important, psychical pressure on
sleeper: an internal stimulus.
This internal stimulation emerges either
because of the continuation of our diurnal
mental activity or pressure of our unsatisfied
instinctive aspirations. The latter are
in psychotherapy very important, because
they can express those conflicts, which
are the cause for mental disease. The possibility
that such disturbance occures
during the sleep lies in relation between
conscious ego and unconscious id1.
Suppressed aspirations of id do not conform
to ego's desire to sleep and thus gain
certain independancy. These unsatisfied
aspirations fight their way through
conscious ego in a dream, which is unlikely
to happen during the day. The dreams
are therefore above all psychological and
not somatic phenomenon.
If it was that simple, we would be able
to reveal the meaning of dreams with ease.
In truth, this process is much more complicated.
Conscious ego never gives up
completely. Under the influence of superego,
it transforms and hides id's
aspirations, because the task of dream
is to maintain sleep and protect the sleeper
from being disturbed. The effort to hide
inadmissible instinctive aspirations forms
manifest and latent content of dream.
2.1.2 Manifest and latent content
The manifest content of dream is the content
which the dreamer remembers and
relates. Behind this content there is usually
hidden the latent content of dream as
"the dream we remember [sic] is not exactly
the right thing, but rather a deformed substitute
for dream." (Freud 1977: 116) I say usually,
because we also know dreams in which
latent content matches with manifest content.
Such kind of dreams are often
experienced by little children as a result
of not yet developed ego and superego,
which would transform unsatisfied instinctive
aspirations. However, this type of
dreams occur to grown-ups in certain circumstances
as well and Freud called them
infantile dreams.
In the process of interpretation of dreams,
the therapist translates manifest content
in latent content using special technique.
It is exactly the opposite process of that
when dream arises: we need to discover
initial internal stimulus. The therapist
directs patient at particular elements
of dream, which are unknown to him, to
discover residua of the day.2 In connection
with residua of the day and other
patient's associations regarding manifest
content (which are determined), the
therapist gradually completes his/her suggestions
and discovers the latent content
of dream. There are some problems with
this though. The manifest content is more
or less confined to visual answer on internal
stimulus and can thus be quite distant
and difficult to connect with latent motive.
It is also common that parts of dream
are missing and patient cannot or does
not want to remember them. This is the
work of so called resistance, which serves
the same purpose as ego in the rise of
dream; it just does not allow morally inadmissible
instinctive aspirations to
become conscious. The more patient's associations
needed to discover latent
content of dream, the greater resistance.
The blanks in recall of dream are as a rule
latent content itself or without exception
they prove to be crucial for discovering it.
With the analysis of dreams it is usually
possible to overcome the resistance, which
also means we are well on the way towards
healing or removal of conflict (e.g.
hysteria, nevrosis).
The same resistance can occur when the therapist
explains the latent content to the
patient. The presentation of latent motives
"seems alarming rather than pleasant, and the
acknowledgement of them, even as mere dream-wishes,
is not entirely easy." (Watkins 1997)
In this case, the patient will not accept
the interpretation, deny it as nonsense or
will even become aggressive toward the
therapist. In Freud's opinion, this reaction
can be regarded as a direct hit: "the resistance
is a certain sign for conflict; something
resists what wants to be expressed." (Bras
1977: 196).
In what follows we will try to understand
the nature and role of this process.
Special psychical instance, which causes
the difference between manifest and latent
content Freud called the censorship of
dreams.
2.1.3 The censorship of dream
It is obvious from relation between latent
motive and manifest realization of dream
that initial internal stimulus undergoes
a lot of changes until it realizes as dream.
Some parts of latent content appear differently,
or not at all, in the manifest content.
This transformation is a result of the
censorship, which deforms dreams because of
scandalous wishes3 that arise when we sleep.
The censorship is therefore "a quite
systematic process of disguise and distortion
of things, which are painful or otherwise
unacceptable to the dreamer." (Watkins
1997)
Throughout the life and especially with
upbringing, we inherit social norms,
beliefs, habits and patterns of behaviour
typical for our culture, which are not in
conformity with primary instinctive needs.
If we do not succeed in satisfying these
needs in one way or the other, we suppress
them deep in subconsciousness; a
process that is called repression. In dreams,
when relation between ego, superego
and id becomes loose, these repressed wishes
arise as internal stimuli. Dreams are
not only an answer to them, but also a
way of satisfaction of these wishes. Infantile
dreams are especially suitable for observing
this as manifest and latent content are
identical. Those wishes, which have not
been satisfied during the day are fulfiled
in dreams. This seem logical if we concider
the fact that dreams care for peacful
sleep. The internal stimulus is in this
case unsatisfied wish on which our mentality
answers with hallucinatory fulfilment if
the wish is admissible. Hence the dream
can be called a wish-fulfilment.
When these wishes are not in conformity
with superego, the task of censorship is to
preserve ethically and esthetically clean
ego. In some cases the wishes are too
intense and the censorship cannot just
transform them. Then we experience a
feeling of anguish, which is a sign that
suppressed wish proved to be stronger than
the censorship. In consequence, this uneasyness
wakes up the dreamer before
suppressed wish is fulfilled - something
which is in contrast with the censorship. In
this case the dream did not manage to complete
its task but its purpose did not
change thereby either. "Even a watchman
needs to wake up the sleeping, that is when he
feels too weak to remove disturbance or
danger alone." (Freud 1977: 212).
The censorship, however, is not a precisly
fixed centre in brains, it is rather a "term
for some dynamic realtionship" (Freud 1977:
141) between answering on internal
stimulus and admissibility of this stimulus
for superego. When such suppressed
wish is strong enough, the censorship takes
care of leaving out, modification, and
shift of material and so forms manifest
content of dream. The resistance of dream
interpretation is also a result of censorship,
which task is to preserve deformed
dreams even when the dreamer already wakes
up.
The understanding of how the censorship
works is essential for dream
interpretation. We can only discover latent
content of dream when concidering the
work of censorship. The censorship is that
code without which translation of
manifest content would not be possible.
It is not the only one though. Freud's
dream symbols are a great help.
2.1.4 Dream symbolism
Freud derived dream symbols from the resistance
of dream interpretation. He
noticed that resistance regularly occurred
with certain elements of dreams even in
dreams of mentally healthy people. He claimed
that formation of visual answer on
stimulus (dream) is not coincidental. He
figured out that some parts of manifest
content typically correspond with certain
latent content. Freud called these
manifest elements symbols - to which he
ascribed constant meaning. The dream
symbols are in his opinion more or less
sexual.
Number three has in dreams symbolic meaning
of man's sexual organ. All dream
ideas which consist of three parts can
mean the man's sexual organ. Phallus is
symbolically substituted with all things
that are similar to it by their form, namely
long things that jut out: mountains, rocks,
sticks, umbrellas, poles, trees. Then
objects for which the penetration in the
body and harming is characteristic -
weapons: knifes, daggers, lances, sabres,
swords... and fire arms: guns, rifles,
revolvers, cannons. Obviously, the phallus
is also substituted with objects from
which water runs: pipes, watering-pots,
fountains and with objects that can be
lenghtened: hanging lights, extensible
pens, aerials, Baloons, airplanes,
helicopters, rockets, etc. are symbols
of erection. Less evident male sexual symbols
are reptiles and fish, especially a symbol
of snake. A hat and a coat as well as
various machines and appliances have the
same meaning.
Female genitalia are symbolically represented
with hollow objects that can contain
things: shafts, pits and caves, vessels
and bottles, boxes, suitcases, tins, pockets,
closets, stoves, ships. The same holds
for house with entrances, passages and
doors, churches, chapels, castles, mansions,
fortresses and even landscape itself.
The material such as wood and paper as
well as objects made of them: a table, a
book symbolize the same. Typical female
symbols among animals are snails and
mussels and their shells. Apples, peaches
and fruits in general symbolize breasts.
All kind of playing (playing instruments
also), sliding, slipping and breaking
branches are symbols of masturbation. The
teeth falling out and extraction of them
are symbols of castration as a punishment
for masturbating (castration's complex).
Various rhytmical activities such as dance,
riding, raising and threatening with
weapon symbolize sexual intercourse itself.
Typical activities that symbolize
sexual intercourse are also climbing and
going down the ladder or stairs and
running inside a house. The queen and king
or empress and emperor and similar
relations symbolize parents. The fall into
water or raising out of it symbolizes birth.
Many dreams which seemed puzzling before,
become more clear when concidering
Freud's symbols and the censorship of dream.
Although dream symbols allow for
direct interpretation of dreams, we must
never do that without previous
knowledge of patient's psychological background.
The dream can be understood,
Freud held, only in light of the dreamer's
associations to it.4 After telling the
dream, the therapist has to ask the patient
to engage in free associations stimulated
by certain element of the dream. When following
the spontaneous flow of thoughts
and feelings, the patient is asked to describe
it as fully as possible. The patient,
however, has to consider an agreement that
s/he will tell every idea without trying
to censor or control it in any way. We
tell the patient "a rule that must not be broken:
when telling [dreams] s/he must not leave
out any idea even if s/he gets one of four objections:
that idea is irrelevant, too senseless,
that is not connected with the issue or is too
embarrassing." (Freud 1977: 117) Only such
a rule will ensure efficient relationship
between the dream teller and dream interpreter.
2.2 JUNG'S ANALYTICAL INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
Carl Gustav Jung is a scientist, who assigned
more importance to dreams and
dream work as perhaps no other of his colleagues.
His father studied theology due
to financial problems,5 which is why he
later began to have doubts as to whether
the knowledge he was passing on to others
was true or not. Therefore the father
influenced on his young son Carl so that
he soon started to deal with metaphysical
questions. In his writing Jung showed the
close parallels between ancient myths
and dreams. Jung explained the relationship
between the unconscious and
conscious in his original way and proposed
the now well-known idea of collective
unconscious. "Ultimately Jung believed
that by understanding how one's personal
unconscious integrates with the collective
unconscious, a person can achieve a state of
individuation, or wholeness of self." (Vered
1997)
Much like Freud, Jung also emphasised the
importance of interpretation of dreams
in therapy. The most significant dream
is that from the night before a patient visit
the therapist. This dream is so called
initial dream.
2.2.1 Initial dream
The interpretation of initial dream is
so important because there is a good chance
that the main problem of patient will be
discovered right at the beginning of
therapy. Jung, too, claimed that dreams
are psychic phenomenon and that they can
mirror central conflict of dreamer. All
dreams at certain point in our life, Jung held,
"reflect our life situation until we seriously
start to concern ourselves with it, that is, so long
as we do not draw back completely or remove
it." (Bras 1977: 206)
We all know how concerns, problems or excitement
can occupy our mind just
before we fall asleep. For instance, as
we may put it, a boy who is going on a trip
tomorrow, will hardly think of anything
else because of his excitement. It is also
very likely that once he manages to fall
asleep, his dreams will contain elements of
the trip he is about to have when he will
wake up.
It is not easy to decide to visit the therapist.
The state of alert mind, which is caused
by the importance of the event, can produce
a strong impulse for the manifestation
of patient's conflict in dreams. Furthermore,
such dreams usually contain a
prognosis: ways of resolving the conflict,
possible troubles and even final result.
Jung claimed, that all dreams in certain
time frame express most important internal
process of person, namely some conflict
or complex, even when there is no obvious
interconnection between respective dreams.
All dreams will be pointing at conflict
that the dreamer should become conscious
of, and remove it. This of course does
not mean that each and every dream reflects
conflicting psychic state, nor that
people who do not remember dreams do not
have any conflicts. Special importance
must be put on repeating dreams, which
as a rule deal with the same conflict but
from different points of view. A series
of dreams actually indicates more complex
conflict; "dreams show that we rightly
hesitate in some situation, or we cannot avoid it, and
they always point in same direction at
same solution." (Bras 1977: 206).
Jung is of the opinion that precise dream
record is a basis and a minimum for every
dream interpretation. The patient must
not leave out, beautify or in any other way
deform dream material. Only such material
is the real text of subconsciousness.
S/he must also tell as many details according
to certain dream element as possible
(what, who, where, when, why, how). The
therapist's task then, is to carefully
write down all these details as they suggest
the direction of main dream flow. In
case that patient does not remember some
part of dream, s/he will be asked to use
imagination. The ideas that patient tells
are psychotic fantasies, which are coming
directly from the subconsciousness and
move around the central problem.
Even when the therapist gathered and processed
dream material, s/he cannot
know the meaning of dream. It is impossible
to adequately explain a dream
without patient's cooperation and being
acquainted with patient's life situation
(e.g. social status, buisness worries,
economic and marital status, social aspirations,
inteligence). The therapist begins interpretation
with easier and more evident
parts of dream. With patient's help, s/he
then moves further on more difficult and
complicated parts. It is important to notice
the sequence of dream events, since
they are interconnected, and hence the
relation between them reveals the meaning
of dream. Jung discovered that a course
of events in dreams is similar to that in a
stage play.
2.2.2 Dramatic structure of dreams
The majority of dreams are composed of
four parts or phases, pretty much like in
drama. Firstly, we need to figure out the
scene and time of dream as well as
dramatis personae. In first phase, which
can be regarded as the exposition, the initial
situation (setting) is represented already
pointing at central conflict expressed in
dream. The second phase is the plot and
contains something new (essential
change), which leads the dream in the third
phase: the culmination. In this phase
the most critical things happen, which
bring the dream to a closure: the fourth
phase or denouement. Jung attributed extraordinary
significance to the end of
dream. The end of dream is so important,
Jung held, because we cannot
consciously influence on the outcome (i.e.
change the end), and dreams so reflect
the real situation. "Nature is often obscure
or impenetrable, but she is not, like man,
deceitful. We must therefore take it that
the dream is just what it pretends to be, neither more
nor less. If it shows something in a negative
light, there is no reason for assuming that it is
meant positively."6
According to the end of dream, he discriminated
between favourable and
unfavourable dreams. If we were to reverse
the well-known proverb, then for
dreams we may say that a good end makes
a good beginning. Favourable dreams have
quieting effect and direct us to the most
constructive ways of solving problems. On
the contrary, unfavourable dreams contain
a warning of, perhaps life important,
negative changes. Hence dreams can be said
to have a prospective function; they
warn us about bright or dark future. Favourable
or unfavourable end of dream,
however, must not be taken as a final and
absolute meaning of dream. This can be
done only after several interconnected
dreams.
2.2.3 Archetypes
Dreams are also an expression of collective
generic experiences, which refer to
basic life problems and manifest in terms
of symbols and myths thoughts and
memories shared by all humanity. The interpreter
of dreams must therefore be
familiar with various myths, religions,
cults, rituals and fairy tales in order to fully
understand the meaning of dreams. These
mythological motifs, which can be found
in dreams, Jung called archetypes. Archetypes
or primordal images are "specific
forms and pictorial relationships, which
did not only consistently appear in all ages and in all
latitudes, but also appear in individual
dreams, fantasies, visions and ideas." (Jung 1978: 396)
This observation led Jung to think that
there exists collective unconsciousness the
sum of all experiences that human race
acquired in its phylogenetic development.
The access to collective unconsciousness
is particularly easy, when a person has to
take an important decision or is in life
situation, crucial for his/her personal
growth. S/he gets a suggestion from the
collective unconsciousness in form of
archetypal situation. If that happens in
dream, then such dream is called the big
dream, which "is expressed in language
of universal human experiences, condensed in rich,
vivid symbols, in eternal ancient images
that [sic] overwhelm us completely." (Bras 1977:
178) Wide knowledge is required when interpreting
the big dreams. This
knowledge, however, cannot be simply memorized;
it can only be an insight into
experiences of the person who uses it.
The gender of dream actors plays an important
role in interpretation of dreams.
The actor of the same gender is the dreamer's
shadow (usually regarded as the
dark aspects of the personality) to which
Jung ascribed basic instincts, responsible
for unpleasant and morally inadmissible
thoughts in dreams. The level of
consciousness, which is in accordance with
the dreamer's social role, is called the
persona. "The persona consists of what
a person appears to be to others, in contrast to what
s/he actually is. That is to say the persona
is the role the individual chooses to play in life, the
impression and the way s/he wishes to appear
to, and makes on, the outside world." (Vered
1997)
Dream actors of the opposite gender have
an interesting role too. Such figures,
which had formed throughout millenniums
of men and women living together,
come from collective unconsciousness as
a balancing experience to help the
dreamer understand the nature of opposite
gender. Female figure that appears in
dreams of men is called the anima, while
same male figure is called the animus.
"Every man carries within him
the eternal image of woman, not the image of this or
that particular woman, but
a definite feminine image. This image is fundamentally
unconscious, an hereditary
factor of primordial origin engraved in the living organic
system of the man, an imprint
or "archetype" of all the ancestral experiences of the
female, a deposit, as it were,
of all the impressions ever made by woman - in short, an
inherited system of psychic
adaptation. Even if no women existed, it would still be
possible, at any given time,
to deduce from this unconscious image exactly how a
woman would have to be constituted
psychically. The same is true of the woman: she
too has her inborn image of
man."7
The features of anima are expressed in archetype
of extremely attractive girl, strict,
cold seductress and a beauty. And the features
of animus in archetype of a sailor,
wise old man, an officer, a doctor Or
to illustrate the two archetypes with Jung's
words: "When animus and anima meet, the
animus draws his sword of power and the anima
ejects her poison of illusion and seduction.
The outcome need not always be negative, since the
two are equally likely to fall in love
(a special instance of love at first sight)."8
A king, the pope, a commander-in-chief and
a dictator symbolize the "big man". A
queen or female judge and similar figures
symbolize the creators of our faith.
"Archetypes are complexes of
experience that come upon us like fate, and their effects
are felt in our most personal
life. The anima no longer crosses our path as a goddess,
but, it may be, as an intimately
personal misadventure, or perhaps as our best
venture. When, for instance,
a highly esteemed professor in his seventies abandons his
family and runs off with a
young red-headed actress, we know that the gods have
claimed another victim."9
2.2.4 Objective and subjective level of
interpretation
It is often observed that in dreams, people
who we otherwise know good, behave
differently than it is typical for them.
Objective levelof interpretation enables us to
discover the dreamer's true relation to
these persons. In other words, in dreams the
dreamer expresses his/her relationship
to the person s/he knows. When we
connect dream content with everyday life
situation, we discover that dream
relationship is not necessarily the same.
For instance, our relationship to person,
who we overvalue in wakening state, may
be undervalued in dreams. This is to
understand as suggestion that less respectful
relationship could bring a better
social intercourse.
When however, the relationship is not apparent
to us, namely does not connect
with the dream story, then we interpret
dreams from subjective level. In this case,
we search for dreamer's qualities projected
into other dream persons. The dreamer
is shown his/her own tendencies of characther,
to which s/he did not devote
enough attention. Hence, the subjective
level of interpretation helps to recognize
the dreamer's own points of view.
3 FREUD VS. JUNG
3.1 SIMILARITIES OF DREAM INTERPRETATIONS
3.1.1 The value of dreams in therapy
As we have seen, both interpretations of
dreams placed great importance on role of
dreams in therapy. Dreams are exclusively
a psychic phenomenon, therefore the
interpretation of dreams is as valid source
of information as is for example
hypnosis, free association, interview,
projective images and so forth. For Jung,
dreams even promise something more; not
only they point at central problem of
dreamer, they also suggest possible solutions
for removal of conflict and process of
healing. Dreams are therefore an expression
of conflict, should that be in
subconsciousness supressed unsatisfied
wishes, which in dreams demand
hallucinatory fulfillment (Freud), or simply
internal conflicting psychical process
(Jung).
The starting-point for both interpretations
is a dream-report, behind which the
meaning of dream is hidden. This manifest
content, as Freud called it, is an answer
on internal stimuli. Jung offered similar
explanation: dreams warn about internal
process, for which we may say is neglected
during the day, because of our constant
occupation with perception of physical.
Dreams will so point at potential conflict
so long as we do not make it conscious
and solve it. The task of the therapist is to
find this internal stimuli or latent content
of dream and help the patient to become
aware of it and include this recognition
in his/her life. The way how to discover
the conflict of dreamer is similar to the
extent that both, Jung and Freud used the
patient's associations as pivotal technique.
3.1.2 The pacient-therapist relationship
Jung and Freud agreed that none interpretation
of dreams can be done without
co-operation of dreamer. Both scientists
condemned any interpretation where the
patient did not actively participated.
When interpreting a dream, the therapist
should show as little interest in manifest
content of dream as possible. S/he has to
be exceedingly careful not to press on
patient, emotionally react on parts of dream
that are interesting, show curiosity or
impatience, or mention his/her expectations
in advance. All this can influence on patient
to severely change the real content of
dream, such content however, is useless
for interpretation. It is important to make
an agreement with the patient so that s/he
will not hide back things when telling
the dream, and will consistently stick
to the real content of dream.
Sometimes the patient cannot remember certain
parts of dream. Freud explained
this with the resistance, the work of censorship.
When this happens, the therapist
will try to get to these parts of dream
(essential for discovery of latent content) with
the help of patient's associations. Like
Freud, Jung would discover unknown parts
of dream by triggering the patient's fantasies
that come from subconsciousness.
This is not used only to uncover the blanks
in patient memory, but also with any
other part of manifest content, which is
important for understanding the dream.
An important influence on Freud was the
association experiment, in which Jung
proved that associations the responses
to stimulus word, are "determined with the
complexes of the subject." (Freud 1977:
111) That means that all ideas, which patient
gets when asked to respond on certain dream
element, are determined. This was an
important discovery that drew interest
of science to the interpretation of dreams.
When the therapist gets an idea of the meaning
of dream, s/he has to connect the
statements with patient's social situation.
Jung claimed that we have to know
patient's current life situation (Freud's
term: psychological background).
3.2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DREAM INTERPRETATIONS
3.2.1 Finality vs. causality
Freud interpreted dreams from the causal
point of view. He searched for a cause of
dreams and figured out that dreams are
merely the answers on internal stimuli.
When interpreting dreams, he found out
that internal stimuli are unsatisfied
wishes, which are in most cases conflicting
in nature. The interpretation of dream
was finished for Freud as soon as he found
such wish and hence the conflict. From
then on he used common methods of healing.
On the other hand, Jung did not only search
for the cause of dream, he interpreted
dreams from the standpoint of finality.
He claimed that dream, as any other
psychological phenomenon, has its purpose,
namely "conformity to the end in view."
(Jung 1978: 341) This orientation to the
end can be regarded as fundamental
meaning. Such psychological meaning is
characteristic also for our everyday
reactions. "Fundamental meaning of anger,
which occures if someone offended us, is
revange, and if we show our sadness to
everyone, the fundamental meaning of such behaviour
is to cause others to feel pity for us."
(Jung 1987:341) Jung claimed that every dream
contains such fundamental meaning.
The most important question Freud would
ask himself when interpreting the
dream is: What is the cause of this dream?
On the other hand, Jung prefered
questions such as: What is the purpose
of this dream? What effect is it meant to
have? The answers on these questions are
important as they help to reveal the
essence of dream, which usually contains
a warning that there exists some trouble.
When searching for the purpose of dream,
we can even find the solution to the
problem. Jung says that "just like it is
inevitable for us to think when we are consciously
dealing with some problem to find the solution,
this process automatically continues also in
more or less unconscious part of sleeping."
Dreams are not mere wish-fulfilment, Jung
held, but above all rational dealing with
ourselves.
3.2.2 Dream symbols In order to point out
the differences between both
interpretations of dreams regarding the
meaning and role of dream symbols, I shall
quote the following dream-report.10 One
young patient tells the dream: "I am in the
tree in unknown garden and I am picking
apples. I look around carefully to see if I am being
watched." We have learnt that patient's
associations are a must when interpreting
dreams. So let us tell the associations
that the patient told to the therapist. The
content of dream reminds the patient on
his childhood, when he picked some of
pears in the foreign garden without permission.
The feeling of bad conscience,
intensified in dream, reminds him on an
event from the previous day. On the street
he met and talked for a while with his
acquaintance, a woman who was otherwise
indifferent to him. In that moment, a gentleman,
who he knew too, passed by and
he got the same feeling as when he stole
the pears. Picking apples reminds him
also on the scene from the paradise. He
could never really understand how picking
prohibited apples had such a crucial consequence
for the first human. Sometime
ago he was constantly mad at God's punishment
for man's sins, which is why he
believed God created people in the way
they are: curious and greedy. He also
remembered on his father who punished him
few times for no obvious reason. The
worse was when he got caught while secretly
watching the girls that were
swimming. In connection to this, he confessed
that he had recently started an affair
with some house-maid, but he could not
induce her to engage in sexual
intercourse. He had a date with her in
the evening before this dream occurred.
Now, Freud would interpret this dream above
all as fulfilment of wish that
remained unsatisfied during the day. Picking
apples in connection with the
patient's associations is an expression
of erotic scene. The censorship transformed
the latent motive into symbolic image,
where apples symbolize breasts. As regards
the associations of father's punishment
and the paradise, we could say that the
events in the past significantly transformed
patient's superego (the influence of
social norms, patterns of behaviour) and
are therefore responsible for the
repression of sexual desire. Also the uneasy
feeling he had when talking to his
acquaintance was a consequence of inherited
social norms.
The dream with apples is undoubtedly an
erotic scene for Jung too. However, more
important is the myth of Adam and Eve.
It is a myth of sin that was punished with
Adam's fall from grace in the Garden of
Eden. Considering patient's associations,
we can say that erotic dream scene was
presented as sin. The dream points at
improper relationship to the opposite gender.
The patient's central conflict is
expressed in desire to have a sexual intercourse
on one hand, and commit a sin on
the other. He also has a fear of being
observed, which is present in the myth of
Adam and Eve too. Eve persuaded Adam to
take the apple off the tree, but he
could not hide from God seeing it.
Freud's symbols are not perfect it seems,
since the patient could as well dream that
"he opens the door with a key, travels
in the plane, makes love with his mother, etc." (Jung
1978: 346) and all would have the same
meaning.
3.2.3 Wish-fulfilment denies Jung's interpretation
According to Freud, dreams are a form of
fulfilling suppressed, in most cases
sexual wishes. These wishes are internal
stimuli, which in dream transform into
hallucinatory fulfilment. All visual dream
scenes are therefore wish-fulfilment. The
manifest content of dream serves the purpose
of latent content, and even when
taking the censorship into account, we
cannot accept certain aspects of Jung's
interpretation, such as objective and subjective
level of interpretation or favourable
and unfavourable dreams. All the qualities
of Jung's interpretation thus cannot
have a firm basis, for they are derived
from the manifest content. Freud's
wish-fulfilment denies any dreaming of
"relation to the object" (Bras 1977: 214),
projection of the dreamer's qualities
Let us illustrate this by another example.11
A child tells his dream: "I see my brother
in the chest." Freud claimed that this
dream is an ideal example of wish-fulfilment;
the child "would like to see his brother
to confine." (Freud 1977:130) Jung's
interpretation, however, would rather focus
on relationship between the child and
his brother. Such dreams can be a suggestion
that the kid overvalues his brother,
and that perhaps his brother takes advantage
of him in this relationship. The
objective level of interpretation would
be very important in this case, as Jung
would further explore the relationship
between the kid and his brother. Freud on
the other hand, would probably understand
this dream merely as fulfilment of an
infantile wish.
Also, Freud's concept that dreams preserve
sleep denies Jung's dramatic structure
of dream, and especially culmination phase.
In response, Jung held:
"We should not overlook the
fact that the very dreams which disturb sleep most - and
these are not uncommon - have
a dramatic structure which aims logically at creating
a highly affective situation,
and builds it up so efficiently that it unquestionably
wakes the dreamer. Freud explains
these dreams by saying that the censor was no
longer able to suppress the
painful affect. It seems to me that this explanation fails to
do justice to the facts. Dreams which concern themselves in a very disagreeable
manner with the painful experiences
and activities of daily life and expose just the
most disturbing thoughts with
the most painful distinctness are known to everyone.
It would, in my opinion, be
unjustified to speak here of the dream's sleep-preserving,
affect-disguising function.
One would have to stand reality on its head to see in these
dreams a confirmation of Freud's
view." (Jung 1978: 485)
4 CONCLUSION
Jung's and Freud's interpretations of dreams are similar as they both stress
importance of dreams in therapy and are
based on premise that dreams reflect
conflicts. The process of acquireing data
from the dreams told is similar too. Both
interpretations repose on dreamer's associations,
which come from
subconsciousness and are therefore determined.
However, an important difference can be
observed in use of information acqueired
with interpretation of dreams. For Freud,
dreams were merely a mirror of conflict
(suppressed unsatisfied desire), which
needed to be discovered, whereas Jung
searched for solutions already expressed
in dreams. Jung did not agree with Freud
that all dream themes are only a subject
to repressed sexual traumas. He claimed
that we can also repress things like "the
problem of social adaptation, tragical life
circumstances, a need for respect, and
so forth." (Jung 1989: 162)
Jung started to doubt in Freud's sexual
theory at the very first meeting with him,
when he realized they had different views
on interpretation of dreams and
psychology in general. Despite that, Freud
helped Jung (The Interpretation of
Dreams, 1900) a great deal to understand
the resistance of interpretation of dreams.
Jung was then a young doctor, who shared
many of the Freud's ideas. However,
Jung soon realized that certain parts of
Freud's interpretation (e.g. dream symbols)
were conformed to verify the sexual theory.
Rather than accepting the sexual theory
as the only truth, Jung started to accumulate
his knowledge through experiences he
had with various patients. Jung's methodology
thus prefered the induction over
deduction. Or rather, as he put it:
"I have no theory about dreams,
I do not know how dreams arise. And I am not at all
sure that - my way of handling
dreams even deserves the name of a "method." I share
all your prejudices against
dream-interpretation as the quintessence of uncertainty
and arbitrariness. On the
other hand, I know that if we meditate on a dream
sufficiently long and thoroughly,
if we carry it around with us and turn it over and
over, something almost always
comes of it. This something is not of course a scientific
result to be boasted about
or rationalized; but it is an important practical hint which
shows the patient what the
unconscious is aiming at."12
I am inclined to think that the differences
in approaches of both scientists, which
eventually separated a pupil and a teacher,
originate from social and perhaps
political circumstances.13 Freud developed
his theory in harsh times. We can
readily understand that the sexual theory
was the last thing society wanted at that
time. The most shocking of all was Freud's
concept of the libido, what at the bottom
meant that all creative impulses and the
entire motivating force of human
behaviour are an expression of repressed
sexuality. His theory was on the brink of
ruin as the conservative scientists fought
with all their might against it.
However, the young generation of scientists
saved Freud along with his theory.
Jung's association experiment proved that
there is some truth in Freud's theory. He
defended Freud in almost all scientific
debates despite the fact that his career was
at stake. Freud realized that his theory
was spreading around the world. As soon as
international psychoanalitic association
had been founded, his theory would be
preserved. Therefore Freud viewed Jung
as his pupil, successor and a leader of
such association. Jung, however, knew that
he was not "able to do that correctly, that is,
in his way represent his standpoints, because
[Jung's] main ambition was not personal
reputation, but to research the truth."
(Jung 1989: 171, 172) Jung decided to leave the
psycho-analysis and start analytical school
of psychology after first meeting he had
with Freud. In 13 hours lasting discussion,
Freud passionately said: "My dear Jung,
promise me you will never abandon sexual
theory. It is the most important thing. You see, we
have to make a dogma out of it, a dam that
will never become loose." (Jung 1989: 164)
When saying that Freud had occultism in
his mind. Jung could not accept to reject
the relevance of occultism and especially
mythology as his concept was based on
them (e.g. collective unconsciousness).
He understood what Freud wanted to
achieve, to set psycho-analysis as "belief,
which cannot be discussed and is put in practice
only where you want to remove doubts for
ever." (Jung 1989: 165)
FOOTNOTES:
1 "Sigmund Freud proposed that the human
psyche could be divided into three dependent
parts, the id, the ego and the superego.
The first of these "consisted of amoral, irrational,
driving instincts for sexual gratification,
aggression, and general physical and sensual
pleasure. The superego constituted the
external moral imperatives and expectations imposed
on the personality by its society and culture.
The ego stood as the mediator between the
impulses of the id and the asceticism of
the superego. The ego allowed the personality to cope
with the inner and outer demands of its
existence." To personify the three voices their
conversation would follow with the biological
id constantly screaming "I want it now, I want
it now" and the ego replying, "You can't
have it, but try this instead" and the superego
overseeing the decisions of the ego and
judging either "You have done well" or "No, you have
erred and done wrong!" (Smith 1990)
2 "Residua of the day are mental investments,
which had not subordinated to general
withdrawal of investments, [but] despite
that preserved certain amount of libidinal or some
other interest." (Freud 1987:185)
3 When translating original text (which
was written in Slovene), I have come accross
a linguistic problem regarding terms wish
and desire. Slovenian language does not
make such explicit difference between the
two. For evidently, the difference is in
English: "We generally speak of wishing
rather than wanting where we take real satisfaction
to be out of the question. Hence we may
wish that we were younger, or that the past had been
different, but do not take ourselves to
desire such things. And since the role of wishes is not to
produce actions, but rather to be related
to imaginings or other expressions, we do not require
that wishes be reasonable, sensible, or
consistent." (Watkins 1997) In what follows I shall
be using the term wish.
4 In order to explore psychological background,
the therapist will ask patient about
his/her life, motives, and memories in
great detail. "An analysis would be complete, in
theory, when we had gone as deep in motive,
and as far back in time, as was required to collect
all the latent material operative in producing
the manifest." (Watkins 1997)
5 Deceased member of Jung family stated
in his will that the money was to be spent
for study of theology. Jung's father therefore
did not have much choice, when there
was the time for him to go to the university.
6 "On the Psychology of the Unconscious"
(1953). In CW 7: Two Essays on Analytical
Psychology. P.162. Retrieved August 2,
1998 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.enteract.com/~jwalz/Jung/dream3.html
7 "Marriage as a Psychological Relationship"
(1925). In CW 17: The Development of the
Personality. P.338. Retrieved August 2,
1998 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.enteract.com/~jwalz/Jung/anima2.html
8 Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: Page 30. Retrieved
August 3, 1998 from the World
Wide Web:
http://www.enteract.com/~jwalz/Jung/anima2.html
9 "Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious"
(1935). In CW 9, Part I: The
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.
P. 62. Retrieved August 4, 1998 from the
World Wide Web:
http://www.enteract.com/~jwalz/Jung/arche1.html
10 The example is taken from K.G. Jung: Dinamika nesvesnog. (1978.) page 342.
11 Infantile dream in S. Freud 1977: 130.
12 "The Aims of Psychotherapy" (1931). In
CW 16: The Practice of Psychotherapy. P.86.
Retrieved August 1, 1998 from the World
Wide Web:
http://www.enteract.com/~jwalz/Jung/dream1.html
13 For more information see Douglas, A.
D. (1995). Oedipus Redivivus - Freud, Jung
and Psychoanalysis. Haverford College.
Retrieved August 5, 1998 from the World
Wide Web:
http://www.haverford.edu/psych109/jung.freud.html.
REFERENCES:
Bras, S. (1977). Izbrana poglavja iz psihoterapije
(Selected chapters from psychotherapy).
Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga.
Freud, S. (1977). Metapsiholoski spisi (Papers on metapsychology). Ljubljana: DZS.
Freud, S. (1987). Predavanja za uvod v psihoanalizo
(Introductory lectures on
psycho-analysis). Ljubljana: Tiskarna Ljubljana.
Jung, K. G. (1978). Dinamika nesvesnog (The
Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche).
Beograd: Tiskarna Radisa Timotis.
Jung, C. G. (1989). Spomini, sanje, misli
(Memories, Dreams and Reflections). Ljubljana:
DZS.
Smith, J. M. (1990). Freud's Id, Ego and
Superego in Anthills of the Savannah. The
Brown University Scholarly Technology Group.
Retrieved July 27, 1998 from the
World Wide Web:
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/post/achebe/cafreud.html
Vered, A. (1997). Jung and Old. Retrieved
August 5, 1998 from the World Wide Web:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/avered/jung.htm
Watkins, G. (1997). The Interpretation of
Dreams. King's College London, Department
of Philosophy. Retrieved July 12, 1998
from the World Wide Web:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/philosophy/interpretation.html
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