PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY - Dream Analysis Flashcards
What is dream analysis
Developed by Freud to treat mental disorders
Based on the assumption that individuals are often unaware of the influence of unconscious conflicts on their current psychological state
Works on two levels:
Insight involves making unconscious thoughts and feelings conscious with the aim that a person can then confront and deal with them
Catharsis is the process of talking about negative emotions and memories
How does it relate to psychodynamic assumptions
Unconscious mind - Unconscious mind expresses itself through dreams
Threatening nature of unconscious thoughts is disguised in dreams
Influence of childhood experiences - Traumatic memories buried in the unconscious may be related to current experiences but may also be related to childhood events that are still troubling
May surface through dreams as a way of working through past traumatic
Tripartite personality - The demands of the id, the desires that are unacceptable during waking hours, are related to our dreams
The purpose of dreams is to act out our wishes in an acceptable way
During dreaming an ago defences are low, and the id comes to life
Dreams as wish fulfilment
The most important aspect of our personality when we look at dreams is our id
It is the source of our wishes and fantasies, instinct driven, irrational and impulse led
Primary thought process
In the conscious, these impulses are seen as unacceptable and so are repressed, when we dream, the id has more freedom so dreams can be a source of wish fulfilment
Symbolic nature of dreams
The actual content of a dream is often expressed symbolically
If we dreamed what we actually desired, it may cause anxiety and stress to the conscious mind
Dreams are filtered through layers of symbolism, allowing us to have our wish fulfilment, but still protecting our conscious
Manifest content - The content you experience
Latent content - The real meaning of a dream
Dreamwork
The latent content of the dream is transformed into the manifest content of the dream by the process of dreamwork
Methods used by the conscious to transform the unacceptable wishes and desires of unconscious into symbols so that they can be expressed in dreams without causing problems to the conscious mind
Help the patient decipher the meaning of their dreams
Condensation is rich in detail and content but these are condensed to the brief ideas in a dream
Displacement is the emotional significance of a dream object is separated from its real object or content and attached to an entirely different one
Representation is a thought translated into visual images
Symbolism is a symbol that replaces an action, person or idea
Secondary Elaboration is the unconscious mind collects all the different images and ties them together to form a logical story
Role of the therapist
Therapist brings the unconscious thoughts and feelings, by bringing these to conscious awareness (gaining insight) issues can be dealt with, unconscious conflicts can be resolved
Talking about the underlying issues can be cathartic for the patient
Purpose of the therapy is to uncover the latent content of a dream by examining the manifest content
A patient will talk to the therapist about the manifest content of their dream, and the therapist will help guide the patient to uncovering the latent content
The therapist cannot make the final interpretation, the therapist gives ideas but the patient decides what it may mean
Doras dream
At 16, Dora had a friend of her father make sexual advances, her father refused to believe her
She began to have a recurring dream where her father woke her in the night telling her the house was on fire, but her mother wanted to stop for a jewel case but her father refused to stop
Freud believed that Dora felt her own “jewel case” was in danger but her father had failed her
He also believed that the dream was a result of the conflict between her revulsion at being molested and the expression of her sexual instinct
Wolf Mans dream
Sergei Pankejeff had depression and a psychological dependency on enemas
Reported a dream he had at the age of 4 in which he woke terrified to see white wolves in a tree outside his window
As a toddler, he had woken at 5pm and looked through the bars of his cot and watched his parents having sex ‘doggy style’
His depression was generally worse at this time
Freud’s interpretation was that the wolves represented Pankejeffs parents and the window represented the bars of the cot
Further interpreted that Wolf Wan was gay and wished to perform a sex act in that position
Alternative Evidence
Solms (2002) found some further evidence
Used PET scans to monitor people’s brains when they were sleeping, when people are dreamin, the forebrain (involved with memory and motivation) was very active,
Regions concerned with rational thought were inactive
Hopfield et al (1983) used computer simulations that aim to mimic the action of the brain
Show neural networks deal with an overload memory by condensing
Supports Freud - unacceptable desires are censored and dealt with by recombining fragments until they emerge in new form
Ethical Issues
Takes a long time
Expensive
Not available on the NHS
Therapist - Client relationship
Therapist takes an expert role, patient becomes reliant on therapist to make them better
Overdependence
False Memory Syndrome
Human memory is easily changed, a false memory is a memory that feels true, but isn’t
Elizabeth Loftus
In therapy, a client will dig deep into their unconscious to bring to the surface any repressed memories, but no way of knowing if they are true - can bring distress
Focusing on Childhood and the Unconscious
An overemphasis on events in childhood may ignore other important aspects and factors
May struggle to recover from problems when the real issues are not being addressed
