Freud's Dream Theory

[@mr.anindyabanerjee9905]

It's always fascinating to listen to Prof Carveth on Freud's dream theory. Informal and easy to comprehend.

[@doncarveth]

Thanks

[@carlt570]

I find it fascinating to take this psychodynamic understanding of 'being in a semi permanent state of unconscious dreaming', and compare it to the understanding in Eastern wisdom traditions of 'Awakening'. It's interesting to hear Don define the psychotic as unable to distinguish dream from reality. This is how the wisdom traditions describe the general state of human existence . "Wake Up !!!" - is the shocking retort of the Zen Master

[@doncarveth]

Exactly.

[@吳月霞-i9j]

I miss this very much ！ Nice to hear from you again ！

[@kirstinstrand6292]

I have followed my dreams since my mid 20's. Freud, as outlined by Don Carveth. Freud was 100% correct. I have stories to share that I have lived through, and now understand because this time listening, I am able to interpret the life of the man who destroyed my life. Those who do not dream, act out their unconscious fantasies both of desire and rage. My shattered life verifies everything. Thank you, Don, it takes years to accept Freud's theories. and to allow them into reality.

[@stoneneils]

The biggest shock of my psychological life was dealing with my CPTSD for 8 years....going throgh every psychological theory, reading every book, learning maybe 15-20 theories...only to finally conclude Freud was the most right but also the most tempting to deny as its all rather embarassing. There is NO way Freud could be applied in the USA on any reasonable scale, its too ego-shattering.

[@dangerousideas5356]

ty 4 turning on closed captions

[@Brickinasock]

Love the thumbnail. Thanks Prof.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

Freud's caldron of chaotic forces from our unconscious is most accurate. Dreams from the early years, once our sexuality has been discovered, are the most revealing and productive. During early analysis the dream imagery is direct without ambiguity, especially if in early adulthood. Free association always helps, as most of the content is related to one's actual (personal) life experiences. Understanding the feelings expressed is the challenge. Dreams reveal to us the emotions we are dealing (struggling with) on a daily level (or during a period of time), the fears, frustrations, anger, jealousy, anxieties, and sexual desire of different friends or acquaintances are revealed to us, nightly. I suppose these dreams will vary depending on the dreamer, and which emotional conflicts they have. When first in analysis I could not remember my dreams until I began recording them as soon as I awakened, in a notebook next to my bed. After a while, I had trained my mind to remember most of the details of each dream. My analyst never helped me interpret these dreams. It seemed that he listened and over time came to his own interpretation once he had enough material to form his hypothesis. He never shared with me how he arrived at his prognosis, which I consider to be his mistake. Dreams change over time and become more difficult because the dream symbols become obtuse, less transparent. I still have a couple of those early notebooks that hold many of my anxieties and fear, living in a large city, alone.. Somehow, through the passage of time and with greater maturity and a better sense of my identity these complexes seemed to have been resolved. Decades later, I experienced an emotional breakdown. I did not seek help because my life was far too complicated; this too, resolved itself. I literally felt it falling away, years later. I do believe that many of these "ailments" fall away, if we can maintain stability. Most people would require a support system of good friends or family. (if lucky) Weekly therapy would be very useful for most. What did I do? I struggled through it as best as possible. My mind was scattered; I was extremely forgetful, losing keys and locking myself out of my house, car, frequently.. I continued to analyze my dreams. My mind started working differently once the anxiety fell away. A significant change occurred; it was very obvious that I was on the mend. Many years, when analyzing myself, dreams stopped all together, or I would only have one image or symbol to interpret. Then, magically, the dreams began again, but never like when we were young and totally unformed. It surprises me that serious research has not been done on dreams. Because our id, if using Freudian methodology, holds our unconscious minds. Without transcending our unconscious minds, we can not heal our illness. There will be no life restoring cure.

[@stoneneils]

Last night I awoke remembering a dream that fit what I learned from Don just a few hours before!!! I couldn't believe it. Basically I was being chastized by my neighbor for always being awake - not sleeping enough. He was yelling at me through the walls. That was exactly what I was telling myself the day before..I'm not sleeping enough. So basically I projected my superego into the image of my neighbor. I never would have noticed if not for the video. Very coool.

[@doncarveth]

Yes, cool.

[@apostleofazathoth7696]

Only 3 minutes in but very compelling so far. "On the Interpretation of Dreams" is the only psychoanalytic text I have read. I think I ought to revisit it and explore some secondary literature. Perhaps you will reference some as I continue watching but if not I'd appreciate any recommendations you may have. EDIT: Going to list your references here for my own convenience. Stirba - "Dreams and Acting Out" Otto "Fenatchyl" was it? Hernandez - Zero Proccess Delusions of Everyday Life I think the Freud and Psychoanalysis unit in my Psych 101 class poisoned the well for me somewhat, but lately the more I consider the mind the more attractive I find an analytic approach.

[@lordtains]

Richard Sterba and Otto Fenichel.

[@richardprice9730]

The royal road to the unconscious , from the founding father of psycho analysis Really great, thank you so much Don especially at this point in time when it seems there is so much in the media and on KZbin which seems to reinforce at best a very superficial appraisal of self psychology and the need for insight . How to get past these "neurotic defences , dreams from time immemorial have been that sacred secret passage way into the depths of the pysche 8 min in . Yes exactly 11min in , how much of our time ...? Like children who have an imaginary friend or believe they are marvel heroes etc a vestige of this still operating in the adult , "i am a good person ?" How dare you suggest otherwise ? The man in the crib , the defence of the reaction , the anger , the acting out a great example , the whole personality as defence against ....? 18 min in. For quite a while I have had the thought that it is as if our true nature "being is like balancing on a knife edge in the moment and then suddenly something reminds subconsciously of infantile or even earlier trauma, and we instinctively curl up , contract viscerally and mentally become or act out the defence, the anger , morph into the superimposition that is an egoic facsimile, a production , a persona even , i-am ..... Letting go of this , getting behind this is the work we should all be engaged in and Freud used his free association approach so that we can actually trace these patterns to a common core , empathically checking all the while to see if thye are on target and begin to unlock them , dreams are like openings or windows in an otherwise hermetically sealed presentation.

[@zzendawgie]

Thank you so much for teaching us!

[@RayReklaw7993]

This stuff is just the best.

[@doncarveth]

Thank you

[@yspark8857]

Thank you very much about these lectures!

[@doncarveth]

Most welcome.

[@mehrnazification]

woooow I just got a hint on a probable cause of my claustrophobia !!!! Amazing

[@doncarveth]

Good!

[@psykoanalytikern]

Hello Don! Excellent video lecture as always! As I mentioned before I'm training to become a psychoanalyst right now and we are now reading about unconscious phantasies. Could you direct me to one of your earlier videos where you talk about this in detail or would you be willing to make a video dedicated to phantasies only? It would be wonderful to hear your thoughts!

[@doncarveth]

Good idea. I’m considering doing that, thank you.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

People are no longer interested in dreams or psychoanalysis, otherwise I would not be the solo commentator, after all these years and months. They don' t understand what they are missing. I surmise that few are getting well during these chaotic times.

[@ehsan74827]

Could you please tell us name of the paper by Freud on the Technique of dream interpretation mentioned in the beginning of the video ? By the way thanks for invaluable educational content that you provide here for us professor carveth

[@doncarveth]

Freud, S. (1920). A note on the prehistory of the technique of analysis. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud Vol.18 (pp. 263-265). Freud, S. (1923). Remarks on the theory and practice of dream interpretation. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud Vol. 19 (pp. 107-122).

[@elnazyaghoobi8426]

Hello professor, Great pleasure to listen to this talk. Now I have a question and I would be grateful by your response if its possible or maybe introducing me a related article or book to my question; I have a patient, a 26 years old girl,who remembers all her dreams with the details every morning after waking up but something bizarre is happening through the past year,that,she has some night terrors approximately once or twice a month in which she wakes up with shouting and screaming in the midnight,she is very scared and surprisingly she remembers nothing about what she dreamt about! It's over a year that is happening and it's difficult to figure out that what's happening. She even remembers her nightmares,such as,falling down or being chased by an animal but she doesn't wake up with terror and shouting through those nightmares. There is something special to her night terrors that unables her remembering!! I would be really thankful it you could help me by this case,maybe referring me to a guideline.

[@doncarveth]

The dreams she does remember her probably heavily disguised. The dream is accompanying the night terrors must involve a failure of disguise, A failure of defense, so she awakes in terror. Some thing is deeply repressed, perhaps trauma of some sort.

[@elnazyaghoobi8426]

Thank you Professor,great points. I will work on it.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

I am wondering if you were able to get to the core of this young woman's nightmares? Three years have past. Similar traumas effect dreamers differently.

[@redlion20031]

Thank you for helping me remember what Freud said about dreams. Any thoughts about patients dreaming traumatic scenes from the past repeatedly? Your suggestion that it might satisfy the superego's wish to punish is a helpful one. Sometimes patients find it too triggering to tell us the content of their dreams. Any suggestions on techniques?

[@kirstinstrand6292]

"Any thoughts about patients dreaming traumatic scenes from the past repeatedly?" To me, this implies unresolved emotional or physical trauma (abuse) that has been repressed. This sort of patient is best seen by a therapist who has training and experience working almost exclusively with trauma victims. Analysis probably is not the best treatment for these unfortunate folks.

[@ThangNeihsial]

Thank you for this

[@kirstinstrand6292]

These contemporary years are very different from the years Freud developed his theories. Only very sexually repressed individuals will have repressed dreams of sex. My guess is that as the sexual revolution began to take place in the 1970's, dreams are far less shrouded in ambiguity. As I reviewed this evening my recorded dreams from the 70's, in the manner Don suggested in the beginning of this video, it's a good technique. I remember all the complexes that I struggled with during those tumultuous years of early adulthood. All those symbols were directly from those years including my husband and unidentified men, known neighbors, etc. Psychotic at night? Not true. Try writing down your dreams and see if they are as obtuse as early descriptions that Freud stated. Society evolves throughout generations and culture changes with the times.

[@stoneneils]

You're projecting your own sexual experience onto a world in which the average age for a first kiss for a male is...TWENTY FIVE!! I know its to hard to believe but probably half the population is still sexually repressed. Conservatism today is basicallly about trying to repress sexuality in the USA and they've done a pretty good job turning their men away from women to cathect onto trump.

[@nancybartley4610]

My therapist told me that the people in my dream were me. So if I had a dream about my mother, my mother was me. Is this accurate? I disagree with her, but I am only expressing an uninformed opinion.

[@doncarveth]

Sometimes a dream image represents some other person, sometimes it may represent yourself. You can’t generalize. You can only discover through free associations to the image.

[@nancybartley4610]

@@doncarveth I appreciate that you always take the time to answer questions. Thank you

[@doncarveth]

@@nancybartley4610 welcome

[@stoneneils]

I just had a dream last night I never in my wildest dreams would have realized it was me but its SO obvious now that i watched this video. My neighbor was yelling at me to go to sleep/stop making noise all night. Exactly what I was telling myself the night before. They were screaming through the walls with the exact same rage/anger/insulting derogatory attitude as my own superego. It was 100% NOT my neighbor..it was me!!