Part 1 (1/2)

Dreamund Freud

I

DREAMS HAVE A MEANING

In e may term ”prescientific days” people were in no uncertainty about the interpretation of dreaarded as either the friendly or hostile her powers, deht the whole of this expressive y; to-day there is but a s educated persons who doubt that the dream is the dreamer's own psychical act

But since the downfall of the ical hypothesis an interpretation of the dreain; its relationshi+p to our psychical life e are awake; its independence of disturbances which, during the state of sleep, seenant to our waking thought; the incongruence between its iender; then the dreahts thrust it aside as so it--all these and many other problems have for many hundred years demanded anshich up till now could never have been satisfactory Before all there is the question as to theof the dream, a question which is in itself double-sided There is, firstly, the psychical significance of the dreaard to the psychical processes, as to a possible biological function; secondly, has the dreale dream as of other mental syntheses?

Three tendencies can be observed in the estiiven currency to one of these tendencies, one which at the sa of the dream's former over-valuation The foundation of dream life is for them a peculiar state of psychical activity, which they even celebrate as elevation to soher state Schubert, for instance, claims: ”The dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detacho so far as this, but in in real spiritual excitations, and are the outward manifestations of spiritual pohose freethe day (”Dreae nue that dream life is capable of extraordinary achievements--at any rate, in certain fields (”Me contradiction with this the majority of medical writers hardly ad to them dreams are provoked and initiated exclusively by sti from the senses or the body, which either reach the sleeper froans The drea and iers of a person quite unacquainted with ers over the keys of an instruarded, says Binz, ”as a physical process always useless, frequently morbid” All the peculiarities of dream life are explicable as the incoherent effort, due to soans, or of the cortical elehtly affected by scientific opinion and untroubled as to the origin of dreams, the popular view holds fir, in so can be unravelled in so the events of the dream, so far as remembered, by other events This is done either scene by scene, according to so else of which it was a syh at these efforts--”Dreams are but sea-foam!”

One day I discovered to rounded in superstition, and not the medical one, comes nearer to the truth about dreams I arrived at new conclusions about dreaation, one which had rendered ation of phobias, obsessions, illusions, and the like, and which, under the name ”psycho-analysis,” had found acceptance by a whole school of investigators The ies of dream life with thestate have been rightly insisted upon by a number of medical observers It seemed, therefore, a priori, hopeful to apply to the interpretation of dreaation which had been tested in psychopathological processes Obsessions and those peculiar sensations of haunting dread ree to nor consciousness; their origin is as unknown to consciousness as is that of dreams It was practical ends that iin and formation Experience had shown us that a cure and a consequentideas did result when once those thoughts, the connecting links between the morbid ideas and the rest of the psychical content, were revealed which were heretofore veiled from consciousness The procedure I employed for the interpretation of dreams thus arose from psychotherapy

This procedure is readily described, although its practice demands instruction and experience Suppose the patient is suffering from intense morbid dread He is requested to direct his attention to the idea in question, without, however, as he has so frequently done,upon it Every impression about it, without any exception, which occurs to him should be imparted to the doctor The statement which will be perhaps thenat all, is to be countered by assuring him most positively that such a blank state of reat number of impressions will soon occur, hich others will associate themselves These will be invariably accompanied by the expression of the observer's opinion that they have noor are unimportant It will be at once noticed that it is this self-criticis the ideas, which had indeed already excluded them from consciousness If the patient can be induced to abandon this self-criticisht which are yielded by concentrating the attention, nificant matter will be obtained, matter which will be presently seen to be clearly linked to the morbid idea in question Its connection with other ideas will be manifest, and later on will permit the replacement of the morbid idea by a fresh one, which is perfectly adapted to psychical continuity

This is not the place to exahly the hypothesis upon which this experiment rests, or the deductions which follow from its invariable success It h for the resolution of every morbid idea if we especially direct our attention to the unbidden associations _which disturb our thoughts_--those which are otherwise put aside by the critic as worthless refuse If the procedure is exercised on oneself, the best plan of helping the experiment is to write down at once all one's first indistinct fancies

I will now point out where this method leads when I apply it to the examination of dreams Any dream could be made use of in this way From certain motives I, however, choose a drealess to e of brevity Probably ht satisfies the require, runs as follows: _”Company; at table or table d'hote Spinach is served Mrs EL, sitting next to ives me her undivided attention, and places her hand familiarly upon my knee In defence I remove her hand Then she says: 'But you have always had such beautiful eyes' I then distinctly see so like two eyes as a sketch or as the contour of a spectacle lens”_ This is the whole dream, or, at all events, all that I can reless, but more especially odd Mrs EL is a person hoe have I ever desired anytime, and do not think there was any mention of her recently No emotion whatever acco upon this dream does not make it a bit clearer to my mind I will noever, present the ideas, without premeditation and without criticism, which introspection yielded I soon notice that it is an advantage to break up the dream into its elements, and to search out the ideas which link thement

_Coht event hich the evening of yesterday ended is at once called up I left a small party in the company of a friend, who offered to drive ives one such a pleasant occupation; there is always so to look at” When ere in the cab, and the cab-driver turned the disc so that the first sixty hellers were visible, I continued the jest ”We have hardly got in and we already owe sixty hellers The taxi always reminds me of the table d'hote Itme of my debt It seems to me to mount up too quickly, and I ae, just as I cannot resist at table d'hote the co too little, that I must look after myself” In far-fetched connection with this I quote: ”To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us, To guilt ye let us heedless go”

Another idea about the table d'hote A feeeks ago I was very cross with my dear wife at the dinner-table at a Tyrolese health resort, because she was not sufficiently reserved with so to do I begged her to occupy herself rather with ers That is just as if I had _been at a disadvantage at the table d'hote_ The contrast between the behavior of my wife at the table and that of Mrs EL in the dream now strikes me: _”Addresses herself entirely to me”_ Further, I now notice that the dream is the reproduction of a little scene which transpired betweenher The caressing under cover of the tablecloth was an answer to a wooer's passionate letter In the dream, however, my wife is replaced by the unfahter of athat here there is revealed an unsuspected connection between the dreahts If the chain of associations be followed up which proceeds from one element of the dreahts evoked by the dream stir up associations which were not noticeable in the dream itself

Is it not customary, when some one expects others to look after his interests without any advantage to themselves, to ask the innocent question satirically: ”Do you think this will be done _for the sake of your beautiful eyes_?” Hence Mrs EL's speech in the drea but ”people always do everything to you for love of you; you have had everything for nothing” The contrary is, of course, the truth; I have always paid dearly for whatever kindness others have shownyesterday when my friend drove me home in his cab must have made an iuests ere yesterday has often madehio by He has had only one present from me, an antique shawl, upon which eyes are painted all round, a so-called Occhiale, as a charainst the Malocchio Moreover, he is an eye specialist That sa I had asked hilasses

As I reht into this new connection I still ht ask why in the dream it was spinach that was served up Because spinach called up a little scene which recently occurred at our table A child, whose beautiful eyes are really deserving of praise, refused to eat spinach As a child I was just the sa time I loathed spinach, until in later life my tastes altered, and it becas ether ”You should be glad that you have soouret spinach” Thus I am reminded of the parents' duties towards their children Goethe's words-- ”To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us, To guilt ye let us heedless go”-- take on anotherin this connection

Here I will stop in order that I may recapitulate the results of the analysis of the drea the associations which were linked to the single elements of the dream torn frohts and re expressions of my psychical life The matter yielded by an analysis of the dream stands in intimate relationshi+p with the dream content, but this relationshi+p is so special that I should never have been able to have inferred the new discoveries directly from the dream itself The drea the tihts at the back of the dreahts theically bound together with certain central ideas which ever repeat themselves Such ideas not represented in the dream itself are in this instance the antitheses _selfish, unselfish, to be indebted, to work for nothing_ I could draw closer the threads of the hich analysis has disclosed, and would then be able to sho they all run together into a single knot; I a this work public by considerations of a private, not of a scientific, nature After having cleared up e as mine, I should have much to reveal which had better remain my secret Why, then, do not I choose another dream whose analysis would be more suitable for publication, so that I could awaken a fairer conviction of the sense and cohesion of the results disclosed by analysis? The answer is, because every dreaate leads to the same difficulties and places o this difficulty any the more were I to analyze the dream of some one else That could only be done when opportunity allowed all concealment to be dropped without injury to those who trusted me

The conclusion which is now forced upon me is that the dream is a sort of substitution for those eht which I attained after complete analysis I do not yet know the process by which the drea to regard the dream as psychically unimportant, a purely physical process which has arisen from the activity of isolated cortical elements awakened out of sleep

I must further rehts which I hold it replaces; whilst analysis discovered that the drea before the drea conclusions if only one analysis were known to me Experience has shown me that when the associations of any dreaht is revealed, the constituent parts of the dreaht suspicion that this concatenation was le first observation ard it, therefore, as ht to establish this ne by a proper nomenclature I contrast the dream which my memory evokes with the dream and other added matter revealed by analysis: the former I call the dream's _manifest content_; the latter, without at first further subdivision, its latent content I arrive at t problems hitherto unformulated: (1) What is the psychical process which has transformed the latent content of the dream into its manifest content? (2) What is the ent? The process by which the change from latent to manifest content is executed I name the _dream-work_ In contrast with this is the work of analysis, which produces the reverse transformation The other problems of the dream--the inquiry as to its stimuli, as to the source of its materials, as to its possible purpose, the function of drea of dreams--these I will discuss in connection with the latent dream-content

I shall take every care to avoid a confusion between the manifest and the latent content, for I ascribe all the contradictory as well as the incorrect accounts of dreanorance of this latent content, now first laid bare through analysis

The conversion of the latent dreahts into those manifest deserves our close study as the first known example of the transformation of psychical stuff from one mode of expression into another Froible into another which we can only penetrate by effort and with guidance, although this new mode must be equally reckoned as an effort of our own psychical activity From the standpoint of the relationshi+p of latent to manifest dream-content, dreams can be divided into three classes We can, in the first place, distinguish those dreaible, which allow us to penetrate into our psychical life without further ado Such dreaeneral rule, do not see surprise is absent Their occurrence is, ainst the doctrine which derives the dream frons of a lowered or subdivided psychical activity are wanting Yet we never raise any objection to characterizing them as drea life

A second group is formed by those drea, but appear strange because we are unable to reconcile theirwith our mental life That is the case e dreaue e know of no ground for expecting, apprehending, or assuly: ”What brought that intowhich are void of both ibility; they are _incoherent, co nuiven rise to the contemptuous attitude towards dreams and the medical theory of their lier and ns of incoherence are seldo

The contrast between manifest and latent dream-content is clearly only of value for the dreams of the second and more especially for those of the third class Here are problems which are only solved when the manifest dream is replaced by its latent content; it was an exaible dreaainst our expectation we, however, struck upon reasons which prevented a coht On the repetition of this same experience ere forced to the supposition that there is an _intiible and co cohts connected with the drea the nature of this bond, it will be advantageous to turn our attention to the ible dreams of the first class where, theidentical, the dreaation of these dreams is also advisable from another standpoint The drea, and are not bizarre This, by the way, is a further objection to reducing dreams to a dissociation of cerebral activity in sleep, for why should such a lowering of psychical functions belong to the nature of sleep in adults, but not in children? We are, however, fully justified in expecting that the explanation of psychical processes in children, essentially simplified as they may be, should serve as an indispensable preparation towards the psychology of the adult

I shall therefore cite soirl of nineteen o without food for a day because she had been sick in the h eating strawberries During the night, after her day of fasting, she was heard calling out her nas, pap_” She is drea, and selects out of her et much of just now

The same kind of dream about a forbidden dish was that of a little boy of twenty-two months The day before he was told to offer his uncle a present of a small basket of cherries, of which the child was, of course, only allowed one to taste He woke up with the joyful news: ”Herirl of three and a half years hadthe day a sea trip which was too short for her, and she cried when she had to get out of the boat The next ht she had been on the sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip

A boy of five and a half years was not at all pleased with his party during a walk in the Dachstein region Whenever a new peak caht he asked if that were the Dachstein, and, finally, refused to accompany the party to the waterfall His behavior was ascribed to fatigue; but a better explanation was forthco he told his dream: he had ascended the Dachstein Obviously he expected the ascent of the Dachstein to be the object of the excursion, and was vexed by not getting a gliave hiirl of six was si the promised objective on account of the lateness of the hour On the way back she noticed a signpost giving the name of another place for excursions; her father proreeted her father next day with the news that she had dreamt that her father had been with her to both places

What is common in all these drea the day which reuisedly realizations of wishes

The following child-drea else than a wish realized On account of polioht froht with a childless aunt in a big--for her, naturally, huge--bed The nextshe stated that she had dreamt that _the bed was much too small for her, so that she could find no place in it_ To explain this drea” is a frequently expressed wish of all children The bigness of the bed re only too forcibly of her shted in her drea that the bed now became too small for her

Even when children's dreams are complicated and polished, their comprehension as a realization of desire is fairly evident A boy of eight dreauided by Dioreat heroes It is easy to show that he took these heroes as hisin those days

From this short collection a further characteristic of the dreams of children is manifest--their connection with the life of the day The desires which are realized in these dreams are left over fro has becohts Accidental and indifferent matters, or what must appear so to the child, find no acceptance in the contents of the dream

Innumerable instances of such drea adults also, but, as mentioned, these are mostly exactly like the enerally respond to thirst at night-tiet rid of the sensation and to let sleep continue Many persons frequently have these co, just when they are called They then drea, or already in school, at the office, etc, where they ought to be at a given tiht before an intended journey one not infrequently dreaoing to a play or to a party the dream not infrequently anticipates, in impatience, as it were, the expected pleasure At other times the dream expresses the realization of the desire somewhat indirectly; some connection, so the desire Thus, when a husband related towife, that her un, I had to bethink nancy if the period had been absent The drea is that it shows the wish realized that pregnancy should not occur just yet Under unusual and extreme circumstances, these dreams of the infantile type become very frequent The leader of a polar expedition tells us, for instance, that during the wintering aht rations, dreaularly, like children, of fine meals, of mountains of tobacco, and of ho, complicated and intricate drea unmistakably the realization of a desire, but bound up withthe seelyto discover that these are rarely as simple as the drea beyond that of the realization of a wish

It would certainly be a simple and convenient solution of the riddle if the work of analysis less and intricate dreams of adults back to the infantile type, to the realization of some intensely experienced desire of the day But there is no warrant for such an expectation Their dreaenerally full of the most indifferent and bizarre matter, and no trace of the realization of the wish is to be found in their content

Before leaving these infantile dreams, which are obviously unrealized desires, we must not fail to mention another chief characteristic of drea noticed, and one which stands out most clearly in this class I can replace any of these drea a desire If the sea trip had only lasted longer; if I were only washed and dressed; if I had only been allowed to keep the cherries instead of giving the more than the choice, for here the desire is already realized; its realization is real and actual The dream presentations consist chiefly, if not wholly, of scenes and es Hence a kind of transformation is not entirely absent in this class of dreanated as the dreaion of possibility is replaced by a vision of its accomplishment_

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