Dream Interpretation According to Jung

Dream interpretation has a therapeutic function for Jung. The dream is part of the therapeutic process in Jungian analytic therapy.

The explanation is that Jung considers the dream an expression of the individual total psyche, as it presents itself at a given moment.

Dream interpretation invariably points to adaptation problems for the individual under analysis as a result of inhibitions and blockages that cause psychological suffering.

Jung's methods include a particularity, namely amplification.

In short, Jung uses associations from various cultural and spiritual domains, from which he borrows images, scenes, typical situations, etc.

These sources are: myths, religious expressions, fairy tales, folklore, etc.

Thus, by interpreting, Jung deciphers the dream message which is a product of the total psyche, as I said before.

This message also provides the key to the patient's suffering.

In addition to amplification, there are other techniques from which we cite active imagination. (Search the site for this method.) But here is 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 Jung's book Psychology and Alchemy, Bollingen Foundation, N.Y., 1968, p. 104-105.)

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 this book, Jung describes the long journey of a patient's dreams and their meaning.
   
• Dreams are analyzed with the help of amplification and commented.
   
• Related to dream analysis is also the individuation process which, in some cases, becomes a must. (See this concept on the website).