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Dreamwork or dream-work can also refer to Freud's idea that a person's forbidden and repressed desires are distorted in dreams, so they appear in disguised forms. The distorting processes in operation can take various form but are referred to, generally, as dreamwork or dream-work.

Psychodynamic perspective Edit

In psychoanalysis dreamwork is the collective nam e for all the processes that transform the latent content of a dream into the manifest content, concealint hte meaning so as not to distub the dreamers sleep. In The Interpretation of Dreams Freud identified a number of processes that help accomplish this. They include:

Sigmund Freud's theory of Psychoanalysis is largely based on the importance of the unconscious mind. According to the theory, the unconscious does not only affect a person during the day, but also in dreams. In the psychodynamic perspective, the transferring of unconscious thoughts into consciousness is called dreamwork. In dreams, there are two different types of content, the manifest and latent content. The latent content is the underlying, unconscious feelings and thoughts. The manifest content is made up of a combination of the latent thoughts and it is what is actually being seen in the dream. According to Carl Jung's principle of compensation, the reason that there is latent content in dreams is because the unconscious is making up for the limitations of the conscious mind.[1] Since the conscious mind cannot be aware of all things at once, the latent content allows for these hidden away thoughts to be unlocked. Psychoanalysts use the knowledge of the process of dreamwork to analyze dreams. In other words, the clinician will study the manifest content to understand what the latent content is trying to say.[2]

Process Edit

To be able to understand dreamwork fully, a person needs to understand how the mind transfers the latent thoughts to manifest. The first step is called condensation, and it is the combining of different unconscious thought into one.[2] The combining of the unconscious thoughts makes it easier for the mind to express them in the dream. The step of condensation has two sub-steps, day residues and censorship. Day residues are left over daily issues that bring up some unconscious thought. The mind then displays this thought through a similar situation from the day.[3] Before the unconscious thoughts can be displayed they are censored. Since many unconscious thoughts do not follow the moral code of society, the mind changes them to be more respectful. This is done so that it does not cause the dreamer anxiety and therefore wake them up. It is also due to censorship that multiple unconscious thoughts are combined, since it is hard to just have one slip through.[4]

After condensation, another step in the formation of dreams is displacement. This is where the dream directs feelings or desires onto an unrelated subject. This is similar to the practice of transference, which is a common technique used in psychoanalysis. Another step in the formation of dreams is symbolism. Objects or situations in your dream, actually represent something else, commonly an unconscious thought or desire. An example may be that in your dream you burned the dinner you were cooking for your parents. This may actually represent your fear of failing them. The fourth and final step in formation is secondary revision. In this step, all the thoughts are put together and are made coherent. Also another point of this step is to make the dream relate to the dreamer. These four steps put together make up dreamwork.[2]

See alsoEdit


  1. Cloninger, Susan (2008). Theories of Personality: Understanding Persons, 81-82, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Introduction to Sigmund Freud’s Theory on Dreams
  3. Teaching Clinical Psychology - Working (and playing) with Dreams
  4. Freud Museum ~ Education

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit


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