The Psychology of Dreams

Dreams have been a part of man's life ever since the beginning of time and we have been studying them for almost as long. We will forever wonder what they are, what they mean, and what purpose they have. Many theories have been concocted but no single theory has been proven to be completely accurate. As long as man exists, there will be psychologists trying to determine what relationships man has with his dreams.

In my paper, I plan to discuss a few areas in the dreaming world and I plan to cover the following questions:

1. What are dreams?

2. How probable is that dream theory?

3. What do nightmares mean in reference to dreams?

4. Can Sigmund Freud's work really be trusted?

Answering these questions should give a little more insight on dreams and make them more understandable.

What are Dreams?

"When a dream is fully structured-a true dream-its structure can be understood not only as pictures in motion, but usually as metaphor in motion," Ernest Hartmann M.D. said on The Association for the Study of Dreams' website in his Outline for a Theory on the Nature and Functions of Dreaming, in the section titled "Dreams as Explanatory Metaphor" (paragraph 5). In a sense, he is saying that dreams are metaphors.

James W. Kalat said in his book, Introduction to Psychology, "Sigmund Freud maintained that dreams reveal a person's unconscious thoughts and motivations" (166). Combining the information above, I have gathered that dreams are metaphors for unconscious thoughts.

Hartmann also said: