Free and Professional Dream Analysis and What Dreams Mean
Find the Meaning of a Dream Symbol
HOW PSYCHOLOGISTS SIGMUND FREUD AND CARL JUNG GOT TO THE MEANING OF A DREAM SYMBOL.
As the founders of modern psychology, both Freud and Jung were enthusiastic dream analysts who interpreted their own dreams every day as well as the dreams of their patients. As friends and colleagues, they often discussed their personal dreams. Here are Freud and Jung's methods for finding the meaning of a dream symbol.
Freud’s Method: GO BACK IN TIME TO UNDERSTAND A DREAM SYMBOL
Freud observed that images in dreams relate to something in your past that had a strong emotional impact on you. For example, someone attends a funeral that has red roses and later, the person dreams of red roses. The roses became a message about sorrow, sadness, even though it about a new issue such as losing a business opportunity or sadness about a friendship that has gone bad. Another person received yellow roses from her husband on a special occasion. For her, a yellow rose carries the emotional impact of love and caring as qualities she experienced from her husband. When she dreams of a yellow rose, it is a message about feeling cherished and appreciated. Two people dreamed of roses, but because their past associations to a rose are different, to one it means loss, to the other, feeling loved.
A Summary of Freud's Dream Symbol Method:To Freud, symbols were pictures in your memory as an “emotional shorthand” linked to a past event or feeling. Go back in time to the feelings and thoughts around that memory, or past association, and you the meaning of the dream symbol falls into place.
1. Pick a symbol and see what past memories and feelings it brings up.
2. Review that past event and your feelings around it.
3. Summarize those past associations as if it were a story line.
4. See how that fits into a current area of your life.
5. Note how the past association brings insight to a current life situation.
Carl Jung: SEE WHAT A DREAM IMAGE MEANS NOW
Instead of going backwards in time with a dream symbol as Freud did, Jung looked at the general meaning of the image, at present. For example, right now, a dog can mean loyalty, friendship, love, and so on, to you. You do not have to check past memories for these associations, it is what a dog means to you now. To use Jung's approach, check out how your current feelings and thoughts relate to a dream symbol.
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