Dream Interpretation Offers Insight

Trends in Dream Interpretation continued...

"Modern dream work has moved toward metaphor and problem solving, and people should stop trying to fit their interpretations to psychoanalytical theory," says Delaney, author of seven books on dreams, including All About Dreams: Everything You Need To Know About Why We Have Them, What They Mean, and How To Put Them To Work for You. "If they describe their dream to five different theorists, they'll get five different interpretations."

Freeman, who uses dream interpretation primarily to counsel students regarding careers and relationships, tells WebMD most dreams compensate for skewed relationships to the outside world. "For example, if we're too nice, our anger and hostility can come out in dreams," he says. He describes a woman who was so preoccupied with being pregnant that she neglected other aspects of her femininity. In a dream, she was at a party wearing a maternity dress when a voluptuous woman in a miniskirt approached and spilled a drink on her. "My client got very upset and angry in the dream," says Freeman. "The dream was compensating for a lopsided situation in which she'd been too much into her maternal self and ignoring her femininity. Dreams can be self-correcting in that way, letting us know when we're out of balance."

Doing Your Own Dream Interpretation

Both Delaney and Freeman use an interview approach with clients they say individuals can use to interpret their own dreams. Basically the interview unravels the dream metaphor to discover what the dream symbols mean to the dreamer and the dream's relevance to the dreamer's present day life.

For example, Delaney's interview with a woman who dreamt she'd had sex with her old boyfriend, George, might go like this:

Delaney: What is George like?

Dreamer: Extremely handsome and dashing, but I couldn't get close to him.

Delaney: Why did you break up?

Dreamer: He was critical and kept me at arm's length.

Delaney: Is there anyone in your life now who's sort of like George?

Dreamer: I'm dating Michael. He's handsome and dashing, but he's blond. He's not at all like George. Last night before I went to sleep I tried to talk to him about our relationship, but he put his arms straight out and said he didn't want to talk about it.

Delaney: So is there any parallel between the dream and real life?

Dreamer: Now that you mention it ...

Delaney says if friends told the dreamer that Michael was just like George, her subjective bias would prevent her from seeing the parallel. But subjective bias can be overridden in the dream state. "Dreams bring objectivity to everyday experience, and this dream revealed her unconscious pattern of choosing men like George."

"Dreams are pretty transparent, but most people never try to decode them," says Freeman. "It's like learning a new language." He teaches a four-week dream interpretation class and says when students begin, they view the symbols literally. "Dreaming they fell down stairs must mean they fell down stairs," he says.