Remember, the "dream" is one of the three symptoms that occur as a result of the intrusion of the unconscious to the conscious domain, as is explained in the following article:
Freud's conscious and unconscious - Mutsuko Takahashi BLOG
I also introduced Freud's dream theory in the following article:
Freud's Theory of Dreams - Mutsuko Takahashi BLOG
In this article, let's get into more details of Freud's dream theory by focusing on the dream-work.
The Dream-Work
The outline of the Dream-Work
Now, I'm going to explain the "dream-work". The keywords are a "latent" content and a "manifest" content. Freud argues that most of the dreams are distorted. The symptom of "distortion" starts to appear from 5-8 years old. So, why does "distortion" happen?
Freud considers that it must have been distorted in the process of the "dream-work" which experiences the "latent" dream is filtered by the "censorship". Because the person dreaming doesn't want to accept the raw material of the "latent" contents, the "censorship" filters the original material in order not to appear in the "manifest" contents.
Replacing the material of the "latent" contents by something else, obscuring or deleting, is what is called the "dream-work".The dream-work includes the four elements, condensation, displacement, transformation, and secondary revision.
Four key elements of the Dream-Work
Condensation
Through the activity of "condensation", many different ideas are condensed into one. Take for example the lady in your dream; she has your aunt's face, she wears your mother's clothes, she has your friend's bag, and her entire figure looks like your wife.
Displacement
The function of "displacement" to displace the meaning of one object on to another somehow associated with it. For example, you are afraid of a horse in your dream. But what you are actually afraid of is not the horse, but your father. In this case, the horse symbolizes your father in this case.
Transformation
The act of "transformation" allows the thoughts to transform into visual elements. For example, when you have anxiety, you dream that you get lost in a maze. An abstract concept, like anxiety, which is difficult to show physically, transforms into visual images. Freud considers this activity as an essential element for the dream formation.
Secondary Revision
The process of "secondary revision" makes something coherent out of the distorted product of the dream-work. All of the dreams Freud mentions in his essay: Irma's injection, his friend in Italy, and his father's funeral, include ambiguous parts, but each of them is a coherent story.
