Dreams and its Interpretation

The royal road to the unconscious

 

The door to dreams opened into the arena of scientific research and the mechanism of dreams was quite a hot topic by the end of the 19th century. Assigning meaning to dreams may sound strange but the reality lies in the underlying science of the study of dreams.

Dreams: Images, ideas, sensations and emotions that occur during sleep. The content and purpose of dreams may seem difficult to understand. Not only has the scientific approach to understanding dreams been conducted but a lot of speculation through religious and philosophical interest has been created throughout history. It is said that dreams reflect and is connected to the unconscious part of the mind. Dreams may range from ordinary to bizarre and can be frightening, adventurous, sexual or magical too. Dreams cannot be controlled by the dreamer and can sometimes help creatively by giving an inspiring thought to the dreamer!
According to Sigmund Freud, a world renowned neurologist and psychoanalyst, developed the study of interpreting dreams and explained them as a manifestation of a person’s deepest hidden desires and anxieties. He denoted the role of repressed childhood memories in dreams. His book, “The Interpretation of Dreams” explains Freud’s techniques to interpret dreams by using various guidelines to understand the motifs and the symbols that appear in dreams.

The content of dreams has gone through extensive research with various researchers continuously and rigorously aiming to collect different dream contents. Most dream content has said to be included in one or more of the following categories:

- Visual: Visuals include location, people, objects etc. that reflects a person’s experiences but may take a bizarre form.

- Sexual: Around 10% of the dreams occur in this manner and have seen to be more common among the young. Wet dreams may sometimes occur as a result of dreams with sexual content in adults.

- Emotions: Anxiety is mostly experienced in dreams of emotional content. It is interesting to note that more negative emotions as compared to positive ones occur in dreams. Abandonment, fear and anger are other common dream contents.

- Recurring dreams: Sometimes the same dream can occur over varying times and occasions.
Dream Interpretation can occur due to various ideas and experiences. In a recent study conducted in 2009 by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it was seen that 74% Indians believed Freud’s dream theory and accepted that dreams reveal meaningful hidden truths.

Have you ever faced the attribute of Déjà vu? I’m sure you have. It is the feeling of having experienced something before or having dreamt about a place or situation and forgetting about it and being reminded of it some other time or place. It is not an act of precognition but is an anomaly of memory; a false impression of an experience recalled.

Dream interpretation is a fascinating world where the rules of reality don’t exist. Dreams are unique and one’s dreams are connected to one’s own reality and no one else’s. Dreams have the ability to unite one’s body, mind and the spirit. It gives us an opportunity to gain insight about our own selves and an opportunity for self-exploration. So explore, discover and find out what your dreams signify!