Old Style Conjure

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Freud, Psychoanalytic Theory, and
DreamsDavid Van Nuys, Ph.D.Sonoma State
University
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Relevance Today

• Fashionable to attack Freud
• Outdated
• Unscientific
• Sexist
• Nevertheless, all major subsequent theories have
  been based on his revolutionary, pioneering work
• He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in
  Literature for his seminal book, The
  Interpretation of Dreams which appeared in 1900.
• Looking back in 1930, he said of The
  Interpretation of Dreams, that it contained the
  most valuable of all the discoveries it has been
  my good fortune to make. Insight such as this
  falls to ones lot but once in a lifetime.
• I must affirm that dreams really have a meaning
  and that a scientific procedure for interpreting
  them is possible.

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Freuds Life

• Born 1865 in Freiberg, Moravia to Jacob, his
  wool-mcerchant father. Mother was Jacobs third
  wife.
• In 1860, family moved to Vienna, where Freud grew
  up and lived until 1938.
• Vienna exciting place of opportunity and
  optimism. In 1867, Jews granted political rights
  and accepted into society.
• Freud assimilated, identifying as a German.
• Embraced humanistic values of political
  liberalism and affirmed universal goals of
  rationality and human freedom.
• About the time he was 15, liberal political
  atmosphere evaporated and anti-Semitism became
  virulent. Freuds hopes for assimilation
  shattered, replaced by disappointment
  bitterness.
• Graduated from University of Vienna medical
  school with strong interest in research but
  quickly married and realized only private
  practice would provide needed financial support.
  
• Published well received scholarly papers on
  neurological disorders.
• Outbreak of WW II forced him to flee to London,
  where he died a year later in 1939.

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Freuds theory is complex because

• He kept modifying it as he went along
• He never presented a comprehensive summary of his
  final views
• His theory is more comprehensive than must since
  it has a number of aspects. For example, he
  gives us
• A theory of motivation
• A theory of thinking (which includes dreaming,
  etc.)
• A theory of personality development (psychosexual
  theory)
• A theory of mental structures (id, ego, superego)
• A theory of psychopathology and symptom formation
• A theory of psychotherapy

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Two Fundamental Hypotheses

• 1. Principle of psychic determinism
• Nothing in nature happens by chance
• Nothing in the mind happens by chance
• 2. The unconscious
• Conscious rationality is the exception rather
  than the rule in psychic processes
• Evidence for this is inferred from
• Psychopathology - symptom formation
• Parapraxes, i.e. slips of the tongue, of the pen,
  etc.
• Dreams
• Free association
• Hypnosis
• These two hypotheses interlock

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The Drives

• Link with biology
• Freud hoped to link up his thoeries with
  biological knowledge
• Were still not able to do that
• Freud used the term instincts in this regard
  but the term is misleading in English
• Drive Tension or excitation looking for
  release, i.e. need --gt motor activity --gt
  gratification
• Psychic energy cathexis
• Freud postulates a psychic energy analogous to
  physical energy
• Amount of psychic energy directed towards
  memories, thoughts, and fantasies of an object is
  called cathexis
• e.g. childs mother is an object highly cathected
  with psychic energy
• Two forms of drive energy (like ying/yang)
• Libido - sexual/erotic
• Thanatos - aggressive/destructive
• Freud assumes these are always fused but not
  necessarily in the same amounts
• Cruelty may have ucs. erotic component
• Acts of love may have ucs. aggressive component

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Psychosexual Development

• Stages
• Oral stage - First 1 1/2 years
• Flow of libido presumed to be in the mouth, lips,
  tongue
• Anal stage - next 1 1/2 years
• Phallic stage - from 3 to 6 years
• Latency
• Mature adult genital stage
• Fixation Regression
• Freuds analogy about the troops
• If a new pleasure proves unsatisfactory, the
  individual reverts to one that is tried and true
• e.g. small child reverting to thumb sucking upon
  birth of a sibling
• Autoeroticism
• When object not available, such as breast,
  fingers may substitute
• Frees child from domination of the environment
  but also may be precursor to withdrawal from
  reality
• Aggressive drive too may reveal itself in the
  libidinal zones

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The Psychic Apparatus

• Topographical system
• Conscious
• Preconscious
• Unconscious
• Structural theory
• Id
• Ego - mediates between id environment - tests
  for whats real
• Superego (develops around 5 or 6 years of age)
• Ego Functions
• Motor control
• Perception
• Memory
• Affects
• Thinking (delay of gratification)
• Ego develops in response to maturation and
  environment
• Importance of identification in ego development

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Dream Formation

• Dream springs from unacceptable, unconscious
  wishes
• Sexual
• Aggressive
• Egoistic
• Latent vs. Manifest content
• Censorship
• The Dream Work
• Condensation
• Displacement
• Representability
• Secondary revision

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Function of The Dream

• To protect sleep
• Wish fulfillment

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Primary and Secondary Process Thinking

• Secondary process thinking
• Rational
• Moral (influenced by superego)
• Logical
• Cause effect
• Temporal
• Abstract
• Ability to delay gratification
• Verbal

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Primary/Secondary Cont.

• Primary Process Thinking (Baby Thinking)
• Tends toward immediate gratification
• Amoral
• Non-temporal
• Non-causal
• Concrete
• Visual
• Absence of negatives, conditionals, or other
  qualifiers
• Opposites and contradictions may coexist
• Representation by allusion, analogy, or object
  parts (pars pro toto)
• Displacement - substitution of one idea or image
  by another one which associatively connected with
  it
• Condensation - representation of several ideas or
  images by a single word or image
• Symbolic - meanings relatively constant from
  patient to patient
• Pair of sisters breasts
• Journey or absence death

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My Position on Freud Dreams

• Agree
• Day residue
• Free association
• Primary process thinking
• Disagree
• Sex/aggression as sole drives
• Censorship
• Wish fulfillment
• I Favor Growth Model
• Expression of health (a la Taylor)
• Creativity
• Precognition
• Confirmation of growth
• Guidance and Advice
• Rehearsal for action
• Spiritual dimension

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Freud vs. Jung Dream Theories

• Freud
• View of Unconscious
• Dangerous
• Personal unconscious
• Negative id drives of sex/aggression
• Function of dream
• Wish fulfillment
• Logic of dream
• Primary process censorship
• Analytic tool
• Free association

• Jung
• View of Unconscious
• Potentially dangerous force of nature
• Personal Collective unconscious
• Bright shadow
• Function of dream
• Compensation
• Logic of dream
• Language of metaphor
• Analytic tool
• Amplification