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Freud, Psychoanalytic Theory, and Dreams

David Van Nuys, Ph.D.Sonoma State University

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Relevance Today

• Fashionable to attack Freud

– Outdated

– Unscientific

– Sexist

• Nevertheless, all major subsequent theories have been based on his revolutionary, pioneering work

• He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for his seminal book, The Interpretation of Dreams which appeared in 1900.

• Looking back in 1930, he said of The Interpretation of Dreams, that it contained “the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one’s lot but once in a lifetime.”

• “I must affirm that dreams really have a meaning and that a scientific procedure for interpreting them is possible.”

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Freud’s Life

• Born 1865 in Freiberg, Moravia to Jacob, his wool-mcerchant father. Mother was Jacob’s third wife.

• In 1860, family moved to Vienna, where Freud grew up and lived until 1938.

• Vienna exciting place of opportunity and optimism. In 1867, Jews granted political rights and accepted into society.

• Freud assimilated, identifying as a German.• Embraced humanistic values of political liberalism

and affirmed universal goals of rationality and human freedom.

• About the time he was 15, liberal political atmosphere evaporated and anti-Semitism became virulent. Freud’s hopes for assimilation shattered, replaced by disappointment & bitterness.

• Graduated from University of Vienna medical school with strong interest in research but quickly married and realized only private practice would provide needed financial support.

• Published well received scholarly papers on neurological disorders.

• Outbreak of WW II forced him to flee to London, where he died a year later in 1939.

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Freud’s theory is complex because:

• He kept modifying it as he went along

• He never presented a comprehensive summary of his final views

• His theory is more comprehensive than must since it has a number of aspects. For example, he gives us:

– A theory of motivation

– A theory of thinking (which includes dreaming, etc.)

– A theory of personality development (psychosexual theory)

– A theory of mental structures (id, ego, superego)

– A theory of psychopathology and symptom formation

– A theory of psychotherapy

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Two Fundamental Hypotheses

• 1. Principle of psychic determinism

– Nothing in nature happens by chance

– Nothing in the mind happens by chance

• 2. The unconscious

– Conscious rationality is the exception rather than the rule in psychic processes

– Evidence for this is inferred from:

• Psychopathology - symptom formation

• Parapraxes, i.e. slips of the tongue, of the pen, etc.

• Dreams

• Free association

• Hypnosis

– These two hypotheses interlock

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• Link with biology– Freud hoped to link up his thoeries with biological

knowledge– We’re still not able to do that– Freud used the term “instincts” in this regard but the term is

misleading in English– Drive = Tension or excitation looking for release, i.e. need --

> motor activity --> gratification• Psychic energy & cathexis

– Freud postulates a psychic energy analogous to physical energy

– Amount of psychic energy directed towards memories, thoughts, and fantasies of an object is called “cathexis”

• e.g. child’s mother is an object highly cathected with psychic energy

– Two forms of drive energy (like ying/yang)• Libido - sexual/erotic• Thanatos - aggressive/destructive• Freud assumes these are always fused but not

necessarily in the same amounts– Cruelty may have ucs. erotic component– Acts of love may have ucs. aggressive component

The Drives

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• Stages– Oral stage - First 1 1/2 years

• Flow of libido presumed to be in the mouth, lips, tongue

– Anal stage - next 1 1/2 years– Phallic stage - from 3 to 6 years– Latency– Mature adult genital stage

• Fixation & Regression– Freud’s analogy about the troops– If a new pleasure proves unsatisfactory, the individual

reverts to one that is tried and true• e.g. small child reverting to thumb sucking upon

birth of a sibling• Autoeroticism

– When object not available, such as breast, fingers may substitute

– Frees child from domination of the environment but also may be precursor to withdrawal from reality

– Aggressive drive too may reveal itself in the libidinal zones

Psychosexual Development

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The Psychic Apparatus

• Topographical system– Conscious– Preconscious– Unconscious

• Structural theory– Id– Ego - mediates between id & environment - tests

for what’s real– Superego (develops around 5 or 6 years of age)

• Ego Functions– Motor control– Perception– Memory– Affects– Thinking (delay of gratification)– Ego develops in response to maturation and

environment– Importance of identification in ego development

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Dream Formation

• Dream springs from unacceptable, unconscious wishes

– Sexual

– Aggressive

– Egoistic

• Latent vs. Manifest content

• Censorship

• The Dream Work

– Condensation

– Displacement

– Representability

– Secondary revision

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Function of The Dream

• To protect sleep

• Wish fulfillment

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• Secondary process thinking

– Rational

– Moral (influenced by superego)

– Logical

– Cause & effect

– Temporal

– Abstract

– Ability to delay gratification

– Verbal

Primary and Secondary Process Thinking

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• Primary Process Thinking (“Baby Thinking”)– Tends toward immediate gratification– Amoral– Non-temporal– Non-causal– Concrete– Visual– Absence of negatives, conditionals, or other qualifiers– Opposites and contradictions may coexist– Representation by allusion, analogy, or object parts

(pars pro toto)– Displacement - substitution of one idea or image by

another one which associatively connected with it– Condensation - representation of several ideas or

images by a single word or image– Symbolic - meanings relatively constant from patient

to patient• Pair of sisters = breasts• Journey or absence = death

Primary/Secondary Cont.

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My Position on Freud & Dreams

• Agree

– Day residue

– Free association

– Primary process thinking

• Disagree

– Sex/aggression as sole drives

– Censorship

– Wish fulfillment

• I Favor Growth Model

– Expression of health (a la Taylor)

– Creativity

– Precognition

– Confirmation of growth

– Guidance and Advice

– Rehearsal for action

– Spiritual dimension

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• Freud– View of Unconscious

• Dangerous• Personal

unconscious• Negative id

drives of sex/aggression

– Function of dream• Wish fulfillment

– Logic of dream• Primary process

& censorship– Analytic tool

• Free association

Freud vs. Jung Dream Theories

• Jung– View of Unconscious

• Potentially dangerous force of nature

• Personal & Collective unconscious

• Bright shadow– Function of dream

• Compensation– Logic of dream

• Language of metaphor

– Analytic tool• Amplification