Dream Interpretation According to Jung

Dream interpretation generally has a therapeutic function for Jung.  The explanation is that Jung considers the dream an expression of the total psyche, as it presents itself at a given moment. Thus, the interpretation of dreams must unequivocally signal adaptation problems of the individual under analysis, due to inhibitions and mental blocks that cause him suffering.

This is why the dream is part of the therapeutic process in Jungian psychoanalysis.

Jung's interpretation method includes a particularity, namely amplification.

In short, unlike Freud, who stress the need of personal associations when working with dreams, Jung uses associations from various cultural and spiritual domains, from which he borrows images, scenes, typical situations, etc. that have significance. These sources are: myths, religious cults, fairy tales, folklore, etc.

Thus, by interpreting, Jung replaces the dream images with the materials of amplification to obtain the meaning of the dream in its entirety.

Let us emphasize that the message of the interpreted dream also offers the "key" to the patient's suffering, when deciphered through analysis.

In addition to amplification, there are other helpful methods from which we quote active imagination. (-> Search the site.)

But here's how Jung interprets a dream:

On board ship. The dreamer is occupied with a new method of taking his bearings. Sometimes he is too far away and sometimes too near: the right spot is in the middle. There is a chart on which is drawn a circle with its center.

Obviously the task set here is to find the center, the right spot, and this is the center of a circle. While the dreamer was writing down this dream he remembered that he had dreamed shortly before of shooting at a target: sometimes he shot too high, sometimes too low. The right aim lay in the middle. Both dreams struck him as highly significant. The target is a circle with a center. Bearings at sea are taken by the apparent rotation of the stars round the earth. Accordingly the dream describes an activity whose aim is to construct or locate an objective center - a center outside the subject. (Quote from Jung's book Psychology and Alchemy, Bollingen Foundation, N.Y., 1968, p. 104-105.)

See also: Differences beetween Jung's and Freud's dream interpretation methods

Do you want to learn more?

• The best source of study for familiarizing yourself with the Jungian method is his book Psychology and Alchemy.
   
• In the book, Jung describes the long journey of a patient's dreams and their significance.
   
• Dreams are analyzed with the help of amplification and explained.
   
• Related to dream analysis is the process of individuation which, in some cases, becomes a necessary step. (-> See this concept on the site.).
   
• The dream published above refers to this process discovered by Jung which leads to what he calls the conjunction of (psychic) ​​opposites and to an extension of the individual's consciousness.
   
• The archetypes of the collective unconscious are also present in dreams, therefore they must be noticed and analyzed too. (-> Search about archetypes on the site).