Interpretation Of Dreams

The interpretation of dreams: The mind discovers itself

One of the most debated and attractive topics in psychological literature is certainly the one concerning the interpretation of dreams.

Since Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, has understood which well of wonders was hidden behind that night-time activity so peculiar that we call dream, many later on they have been engaged in the study and deepening of different theories that could give answers on the interpretative activity of the latter.
Others, especially in the field of neuroscience, have tried to understand what their function is, discovering how the dream itself is fundamental for the development and maintenance of an individual's psychic balance.

But let's return to the interpretation of dreams.

Many books, and today's websites, offer databases or vocabularies to guide people to a correct interpretation of their dreams. As always, however, reality is not so simple and a dream, even if it draws on collective symbols (as suggested by another famous psychoanalyst, Carl Jung), is in fact strongly tied to the person who produces it, to his system of values and to the psychophysical state in which he finds himself.

Dreams can have different functions, certainly they are useful to the mind to solve internal conflicts, transforming their private "dilemmas" into complex images that conceal moods, beliefs about ourselves and mix them with more or less important elements of our daily life or fantasy.
A dream serves to dialogue what we think we are, with what we conceal in our depths, that is our most genuine reality.
So dreaming we can face private "Demons and Gods" in a safe place.

How do you interpret a dream?

This is a difficult question to which only general guidelines can be given.
It takes a good introspective ability, i. e. the ability to reflect on oneself and one's own moods and beliefs, and a mnemonic training that can help to remember the dream, since it is often forgotten shortly after awakening (a good practice is to write it on a block left specially next to our bed).
During psychotherapy, the interpretation of dreams is an integral part of work and one of the most useful tools for achieving obscure spots in an individual's psyche.

The attention is given to three elements:

1. What emotions accompany the dream? (I am angry - I'm sad - I'm scared - I'm happy)
2. What thoughts are hidden there? (I think I'm weak - I've lost control - I feel humiliated - I'm in danger - I feel safe - I'm efficient)
3. What parts of me hide behind the actors? (Beyond the roles defined as ourselves, a friend or relative, many aspects of us are often distributed among the protagonists of our dreams)

Collecting this information can make sense of the dream, which we will be talking about ourselves, how we deal with problems, what fears we have or in what state of mind we are in, what we think of ourselves and who we really are.

Obviously the therapist is an excellent coach, who accompanies and guides in this very complex process, people in the search for the meanings that are hidden behind every dream experience.