Hilary Valdez (Photo by Hilary Valdez/Stripes Korea)
Dreams. We all have them. Some are happy. Interesting. Sad. Horrifying. And in some cases, downright scary. If you’re drunk, you’re not dreaming. If you’re taking melatonin, your dreams are vivid. After four years of conducting trauma therapy for Marines returning from IOF2, I had compassion fatigue, light depression, post-traumatic stress and a few other clinical symptoms. War stories became imbedded in my brain with no place to go. For the next two years, those stories infected my dreams. After the lights went out, a new inner world emerged, much to my chagrin.
Reading “Siggys” (Sigmund Freuds) Interpretation of Dreams, didn’t help. Just an ocean of theoretical material to swim through and still come out confused. Dreams are filled with symbolism; you need to have another book on symbolism to begin mapping out the dreams. Have a paper and pencil on your night table and jot down all you can remember for at least three months. Even then it might not make sense.
Throughout the day, your brain is busy cataloging and deciphering events, and when the brain is overwhelmed, it starts pushing events into your memory or subconscious memory. Then while you’re sleeping, those memories creep out and your brain attempts to sort things out.
In 1907 Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud became close intellectual colleagues and Freud became an important mentor to Jung. In 1912 their theoretical differences became serious. By 1913, their personal and intellectual relationship ended. Their major disagreement resulted from Jung’s theory on symbolism. Their differences were between Freud’s emphasis on unconscious conflict and Jung’s broader view of psychological development and meaning.
Freud believed that dreams were a royal road into the unconscious. He believed that waking consciousness protects itself from disturbing wishes and impulses through psychological defenses, particularly repression. He believed that during sleep, repressed material can emerge. Because the unconscious wishes may be unacceptable to the conscious mind, they are transformed into symbolic or disguised forms. Freud did not believe that every dream symbol had one universal meaning. Interpretation depended heavily on the individual’s associations and personal history. So, if you experienced high degrees of trauma during combat, it would come out in your dreams.
Jung looked both backward and forward. A dream could reveal the influence of the past, but it could also point toward psychological possibilities and future development. Jung agreed with Freud that dreams arise from the unconscious, but he rejected the idea that dreams primarily disguise forbidden wishes. For Jung, dreams could be compensatory. If conscious life becomes one-sided, the dream may introduce material from the unconscious that restores psychological balance. Jung also believed that some dreams contain archetypal material originating in the collective unconscious. So, what was the big difference between these two analytical competitors? Freud asked: “What unconscious wish or conflict is this dream expressing?” Jung asked: “What is this dream revealing about the person’s psychological situation and development?”
The difference between the two, is thinking about of the purpose of dreams. Freud’s model emphasizes conflict resolution and wish fulfillment. Jung’s model stresses psychological integration. Which one fits for you? What we have here is a conflict of ideals between the two theories. That’s why they parted company. Freud lived in Vienna, Austria while Carl Jung lived in Switzerland.
But in terms of their conflict: “What’s right today is wrong tomorrow. It all depends on where you are; It all depends on what you feel; It all depends on how you feel; It all depends on how you’re praised; It all depends on point of view; If tastes just happen to agree, then you have morality. But when there are conflicting trends; It all depends; it all depends.” Source anonymous. For me, I look forward to entering the dream state and experiencing a new adventure. Usually, I don’t pay too close attention on interpreting the dream, but I will give it some thought, depending on the intensity of the dream. The symbolism in dreams for me is impossible to interpret. But with AI, maybe I’ll ask Chat, since Siggy isn’t around.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilary Valdez is a freelancer living in Tokyo, Japan. He is an experienced Mental Health professional and Resiliency Trainer. Valdez is a former Marine and has worked with the military most of his career and most recently worked at Camp Zama as a Master Resiliency Trainer. Valdez now has a private practice and publishes books on social and psychological issues. His books are available on Amazon and for Kindle. Learn more about Valdez and contact him at his website or email. Follow his YouTube channel Hilary’s Quick Talk for more insights.
