Dreams and their Meaning

Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams attracted public interest in his theory, but he was certainly not the first person to suggest that dreams have a meaning. Indeed, from Biblical times, people have sought to understand their dreams. What distinguished Freud's interpretation was the way he related it to his broader theory of mental processes and behavior, by invoking the concept of a dream censor whose function is to hide the true meaning of the dream from the person's conscious mind. Thus, Freud saw dreams as having a symbolic meaning that could only be fully understood in the context of the individual's overall behavior. This view is still controversial, with some physiological researchers arguing that dreams are simply an artifact of brain activity during sleep, with no true significance. Clearly, psychodynamic theorists view dreams differently--as do many individuals. For those who are curious, the resources below provide a starting point for further explorations of dreaming.

Resource: http://www.ryerson.ca/~glassman/psychdyn.html

References

Benjamin, L. T., Jr., & Dixon, D. N. (1996) Dream analysis by mail: an American woman seeks Freud's advice, American Psychologist, 51, 461-468.

Freud, S. (1900) The Interpretation of Dreams. Reprinted as Vol. 6 of Strachey, J. (Ed.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Pschological Works of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth Press, 1960.

Publications Related to the Psychodynamic Approach
Free Associations: Psychoanalysis and the Public Sphere--On-line journal edited by Robert M. Young of Sheffield University.

International Journal of Psychoanalysis--Provides effective search tools, with some on-line content and access to contents pages in archive.

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association--Provides archive of contents pages, but not full texts.