Theories Of Dreams

Dreams are a part of everyday life, we might not always remember them, but it happens nearly every time we sleep. But what do these dreams mean? There are a few different theories that might explain why we dream, all of which I will explain using my own dream as an example. The three theories I’ll be analyzing my dream from are Freud’s wish-fulfilment theory, information processing, and activation synthesis. My dream started and it placed me at work, it was like any other early morning there but I remember feeling off. It seemed like I felt anxious or nervous about something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Then I remember my boss being in the same room, I didn’t actually see her but I knew she was there. It almost felt like I was getting in trouble or getting yelled at for something but I don’t
remember what, and I don’t ever remember yelling in my dream.
After my boss left I was sitting at my desk looking at my work keys still feeling anxious, then the dream faded away. It was a short but interesting dream. Interesting to me because I usually never dream about work. The first lense to look at my dream through is Freud’s wish-fulfilment theory. Freud’s theory states that your dreams are to help express what we might feel like is forbidden or unacceptable, and that dream twists these anxieties or worries into something less threatening, in turn making you feel better about your feelings and allowing you to sleep more. I think this theory could possibly fit my dream. A day or two before this dream I quit the job I was currently at to go to a new one. I still had a few more days to work at the job I was leaving but I’ll be honest I didn’t want to
deal with it anymore, so I left my keys on my desk and I quit before I hit my two weeks. Part of me feels bad for quitting sooner than expected but I was also very unhappy at that job and wanted to get out of there quickly. The manifest content of my dream would be me going to work and getting yelled at, afterwards leaving my keys there. The latent content of my dream would be the underlying guilt I felt for leaving early. My boss yelled at me because some part of me must feel that I deserve to be yelled at for my choice in quitting before it was my time. I think I expected some kind of repercussion for my behavior. One thing that doesn’t quite fit though is that Freud’s theory states that these dreams provide a cushion relieving you from some of the anxiety or stress that you might be feeling. Except in my dream I don’t remember feeling comforted or okay with leaving, and when I woke up I didn’t feel any worse about it, but I didn’t feel any better either. So overall it is possible that my dream could fit into this theory, but I’ll go through the other ones before I decide.