Dreams were originally believed to be messages from the gods, or supernatural.
communication of some kind (Parker & Parker, 1995). From the Egyptians to Heraclitus to.
Sigmund Freud and others, dream interpretation has played a role in better understanding the way.
humans think and act. Are dreams prophetic, our deepest desires, or simply fragments of.
recollections of events of the day? Three of the most influential psychologists of the modern day.
(Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, and Carl Jung) have developed theories on the way dreams are.
interpreted. Because these theories are distinctively different, controversy over which one is right.
has formed over the years. .
With the publishing of The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud sparked the modern.
work on dream interpretation. Freud stressed that dreams were a result of the expression of.
repressed sexual desire, that they were first planted in our infancy and carried with us for the.
duration of our lives. "We desire most that which is forbidden," he said (Douglas, 1999). Freud.
felt that because sex is a taboo subject in our society to discuss and express openly it is more.
prevalent in our personal dreams as sort of an outlet for that bottled up repression. This.
repression, Freud believed, also shaped our character and behavior. .
Freud set up three parts referencing our desires or dreams. First there is the id. This is.
the most primitive of the three parts. The id is entirely incapable of moral decisions and actions. .
Logic, values, and morality do not come into play with the id. Freud held that the id does what it.
wants to do, no questions asked. The polar opposite of the id is the super-ego. The super-ego is.
set up to determine right from wrong. When one does not cooperate with the super-ego often.
times anxiety, guilt, and self-doubt are felt. In between the id and the super-ego lies the ego. .
Partly conscious, the ego represents the organized, rational, and planning dimension of personality.
