Alfred
Adler (1870 -1937) believed that dreams were an important vehicle to
mastering control over our waking lives. They were problem solving
devices. Dreams need to be brought to conscious light and
interpreted so that we can better understand and solve our problems. It is
important to learn from our dreams and incorporate
them into our waking
life. Because
of Adler's belief that dreams were correlated with the problems in our
daily life, he further went on to say that the more dreams we have, then
the more problems we are likely to have. And thus the less dreams we have,
then the less problems we have and more psychologically healthy we are.
Unlike
Freud, Adler believed that control, power and motivation were the driving
force behind behavior, not sexual impulses. Furthermore, he did
not think that our actions and behavior or ruled by our unconscious, but
rather the strive for perfection and need for control is what cause us to
do the things we do. In fact, Adler did not believe that the conscious and
unconscious functioned against each other. We acted the same way whether
we are awake or sleeping.
Adler's
view of dreams was that they were an open pathway toward our true
thoughts, emotions and actions. In our dreams, we are able to clearly see
our aggressive impulses and desires. Adler saw dreams as a way of
overcompensating for the shortcomings in our waking life. For example, if
a person is unable to stand up to their boss, then he or she may feel more
comfortable (and safely) to lash out their anger at the boss in a dream.
Dreams offer some sort of satisfaction that may be more socially
acceptable.
Alfred
Adler (1870 -1937) believed that dreams were an important vehicle to
mastering control over our waking lives. They were problem solving
devices. Dreams need to be brought to conscious light and
interpreted so that we can better understand and solve our problems. It is
important to learn from our dreams and incorporate 