The Interpretation of Dreams  (English, Paperback, Strachey James)

The Interpretation of Dreams is Dr. Sigmund Freud’s authoritative text on the unconscious human mind.

Summary of the Book

In Sigmund Freud’s theory, dreams are a form of wish fulfilment. Dreams are how the subconscious mind tries to resolve a conflict in recent or past memories. He explains that the preconscious is very relaxed in its duty while the mind is awake, but still records all that happens around it. It is later up to the unconscious mind to filter and decipher the meaning of all the information the preconscious mind has collected. This is exactly why dreams are distorted, and require a way of interpretation if they need to be more informative. Freud explains that details are very important during psychoanalysis and must be carefully looked at. He discusses how he asks his subjects about seemingly trivial details about their dreams only to gain a better understanding. He also explains why the biological drives of a person are also influential in dreams, explaining human infatuation with the womb and sexuality.

About Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and is widely considered the Founding Father of psychoanalysis. Freud studied medicine at the University of Vienna and practiced at the Vienna General Hospital, researching cerebral palsy, aphasia and microscopic neuroanatomy.

Freud’s works span a large body of texts on the subject of psychoanalysis. He has also written widely on human sexuality. Interested readers can find more about his theories in The Question of Lay Analysis, The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and Its Discontents and Moses and Monotheism.