Dream Analysis According to the Early Psychologists

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung may have pioneered modern dream analysis, but they weren't the only ones to study the subject. Other psychologists adapted Freud's and Jung's theories; some even developed their own. Today's dream interpretation has been heavily influenced by Alfred Adler, Medard Boss, and Frederic Perls.

The work of Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
Dream analysis was a large part of the work of Freud and Jung, but a smaller part of Adler's theories. Like Jung, Adler believed that dreams can help us solve problems. But he took this idea further, stating that people who didn't have many dreams didn't have many problems. So the number of dreams a person had could actually reflect their psychological health.

Unlike Freud or Jung, Adler didn't believe that dreams have hidden meanings; the meanings would have to be clear in order to help the person solve their problems. Therefore, dream interpretation would be relatively easy.

The work of Medard Boss (1903-1990)
Boss also didn't believe that dream images are symbolic. According to him, dreams contain no secrets or hidden significance; they're simply reflections of the waking life of the dreamer. They do have meaning - to the dreamer - but that meaning is not always obvious right away. Instead, it may evolve and become clear only with the passage of time and the appearance of other dreams. This meant that dream analysis sometimes needed to be cumulative, covering many dreams rather than just one or two.

Boss was one of the founders of existential theory, which taught that we create our own reality with the choices we make. He believed that one of the functions of dreams was to help us make those choices.