The Interpretation of Dreams

Keep a dream journal for a week. Now analyze one or multiple of your dreams through the steps Freud proposes in this book. Do you agree that this process gave you deeper insight into your unconscious life? Why or why not? What problems, if any, can you see with this process?

Would it be possible to design an experiment that is capable of falsifying any of the claims made by Freud in this book? Why or why not? If possible, what would such an experiment look like?

Choose any of the scientific theories of dream formation mentioned in the overview section and compare it to Freud’s theory. Do you think one is more convincing than the other? Can they coexist?

Describe in detail Freud’s model of the ‘psi-systems’ of the conscious, unconscious, and preconscious, and draw a model. What are the functions and connections of each of these regions?

Review one piece of current literature on Freud’s Oedipal complex. Do you place any stock in this theory? Why or why not?

In the 1980s, a repressed-memory panic led to several criminal suits claiming day-care workers and parents abused children. These cases were later found to be falsified. Do some research on this topic. How did it work, and how does it connect to Freud’s concept of repressed memories and their links to neurosis? Do you think the idea of repressed memories still has validity? Why or why not?

Why does Freud argue that the mode of communication in dreams is always symbolic? Do you agree with his arguments? Why or why not?

Compare Freud's thought to that of another eminent psychiatrist of his day, such as Jung. In what ways are the theories of these two men different from or similar to one another? Whom do you find more convincing, and why?