Utilizing
the technique of "free association", Freud believed that we can
chip through the dream's manifest content and reveal the underlying
significance of our dreams and its latent content.
To
further help in interpreting the cryptic images of our dreams, Freud
classified the images into the following five processes:
This
occurs when the desire for one thing or person is symbolized by something
or someone else.
2.
Projection
This
happens when the dreamer propels their own desires and wants onto another
person.
3.
Symbolization
This
is characterized when your repressed urges or suppressed desired or acted
out metaphorically.
4.
Condensation
This
is the process in which the dreamer hides their feelings or urges by
contracting it or underplaying it into a brief dream image or event. The meaning of this
dream imagery may not be apparent or obvious.
5.
Rationalization
This
is seen as the final stage of dreamwork where the dreaming mind organizes
an incoherent dream into one that is more comprehensible and logical. Also
known as secondary revision.
Freud
was particularly preoccupied with sexual content in dreams. Sex was found
to be the root cause of what was happening in our dreams. He
believed that every long slender or elongated objects (i.e.. knives,
cigars) represent the phallus, while any cavity or receptacle (bowls,
caves, tunnels) denotes the female genitalia.
