Daily Zey

“The psyche is not of one color, nor is it transparent; it is a layered structure.”
— Carl Gustav Jung

Those that really know me also know that I have a thing for psychology since I was a teen. The concept itself felt like it holds key to the meaning of life: if you know psychology, you know people. The more you know, the better you understand. Almost like a guideline for life. I even dreamt of being a psychologist, the thought of helping people through their hardships in life was an heroic idea. Just like some kids dream of being doctors because it saves lives, and duh, it’s cool – I felt the same way towards psychology.

Back when I was 12-13, I was reading all the stuff I could find on psychology like it was my life’s mission. One time as I was shopping for some books and there it was: Principles of Psychoanalysis. It was this big dark colored book, looking a bit old and academic. When I hold it and saw the dusty pages, I was living the Hermonie Granger dream.

Now, I know Freud is a bit… well, Freud, and I agree. The guy could’ve used some psychoanalysis himself. Still for a beginner in the field that old book held some gems in it. Especially about dreams analysis. Reading it opened a whole new world for me as I never thought of dreams as a concept that could be studied. Later on, I went on reading Adler and Jung, but also explored Hartmann and Hobson too.

So basically you could say I was down the rabbit hole and since you are here, I want to show you around a little bit. I will also provide a reading suggestions at the end, so if you are interested you can check it out. 🙂

Let’s start with Freud. The guy is all about suppressed emotions, desires and how they find their way back into reality. So when it comes to dreams, he focuses on how the images we experience when we sleep are the fragments of our subconscious trying to get out. It focuses on symbols, condensation, displacement and any other self-manipulative tactics of the mind that you can think of.

Jung on the other hand, provides some alternatives such as archetypes – which are being misinterpreted on the social media for its pop-psych value. In its simplest forms, Jung says our mind operates on core archetypes like: self, shadow, persona and anima/animus. These archetypes are the fragments of our identity/soul and to complete our journey one should integrate every one of the entities. You might ask, where are the dreams in all this. Well Jung says our dreams are signals or guides for this integration. It is often stated as “Individuation” – when you accept your shadow self, free yourself from masks and become your true self.

Then there is Adler, you can also say an intellectual arch-nemesis of Freud. In a nutshell, Adler argues there is much more to psychoanalysis then being all about sexuality and subconscious. He sees individuals internal world as intertwined with the society. Insecurity is a core and inevitable wound for one, and throughout the life he/she fight the feeling of lacking in some area. Social cause and being part of a community are core values. So you can see how these two guys couldn’t get along back then.

Freud and Adler died around the end of 1930’s, Jung lived up to 1961. Those years were era’s of uncontrolled experimentation and drastic improvements in science. Inevitably it effected how psychiatrists viewed dreams as well. Neurological connections were being highlighted. For example, Hobson said dreams were merely REM activations during sleep, the meaning was provided by our conscious afterwards. I feel his view is a bit cold. It’s like saying love is just a bunch of happy hormones running through our brain. It might be how it manifests itself in our body, but in its essence it is an experience. Might be chemical but also intrinsically social, vulnerable, mental and primitive at the same time. Same with dreams. Just because it has some data points now, does not deprive it of its value.

Last but definitely not least, Hartmann. He is our guy, may he rest in peace. He provides a sweet balance between dreams and cognitive functions. According to his views, dreams are attempts of working through emotions and especially post-traumatic ones are a part of healing process. They are not about the hidden desires, instead they hold an emotional core that often carries a singular and powerful image – linked with past experiences, current emotional state and recent exposures. Hartmann calls this “hyper-connected thinking”.

At the end of the day, mind and its essence is still unknown, whether you are in psychology, neurology or both. A lot has been said and done to explore the possibilities- look at me even I have some sort of theoretical side I’m on- yet it is an enigma. That’s what makes it even more fascinating.

If you want to learn more about the theories I mentioned, here is a list that can help you get into more detail. Enjoy… 🙂

The Reading List

• Freud:
  • Interpretation of Dreams
  • Introductory Lectures on Pschoanalysis
  • The Psychopathology of Everyday Life
• Adler:
  • Understanding Human Nature
  • The Meaning of Life
• Jung:
  • Man and His Symbols
  • Dreams
  • Symbols of Transformation
• Hartmann:
  • Dreams & Nightmares
  • The Nature and Functions of Dreaming
• Hobson:
  • The Dreaming Brain

With love,