A Beginner's Guide to Dream Analysis: Part 1

The following short article is the first in a two-part guide that introduces readers to the fundamentals of dream analysis. The aim is to present a model that can be quickly applied to starting dream work. As with all core aspects of depth psychology, it’s a complex subject and something as important as dream analysis deserves prolonged investigation. Part 1 is a general introduction to the subject, with Part 2, which will follow next week, will be considerably longer and delve more into technique.

Introduction: A Childhood Nightmare

The earliest dream I can recall was a rather unpleasant nightmare at the tender age of four. In this dream, I was with my mother in the sitting-room of our home, when I noticed a small, goblin-like man peeping at me from behind the heavy, mustard-gold coloured 1970s curtains that framed the front door to the house. When this strange fellow saw me looking at him, he quickly darted back behind the curtain, only to peep out again a few moments later, like some odd game of peek-a-boo.

My mother didn’t seem to notice, and this bizarre ritual was repeated a couple of times before my curiosity got the better of me and I went to investigate. Hoping to surprise him, I gleefully pulled back the curtain, expecting to catch him unawares, only to have him unexpectedly and dramatically turn the tables on me! Snarling viciously, this strange intruder suddenly sprang towards me from behind the curtain, whilst all the time waving a wicked-looking knife in my face with an alarming degree of swiftness and overwhelming hostility. I recoiled in stunned terror, first back and away from the creature, then back towards my mother, then back and away into waking consciousness, the residual memory of his ferocity causing me to shriek loudly for my real-life mum, who was sleeping in the next room.

To this day, the memory of his face and that knife gives me a shudder.

A Brief History of Dreams

Whether we acknowledge or remember our dreams or not, they are something that we all encounter each night, and they have fascinated humankind for millennia. The earliest evidence of dreams being used for divination can be traced back to the Sumerian Priest-King, Gudea, in approximately 2700 BCE, wherein he was instructed by the gods to construct a new temple. In Ancient Greece and Rome, the ability to ‘read’ dreams was considered an art form and a science, to be performed only by suitably qualified professionals. In Europe, the view that dreams were significant, whether as portends of doom or glory, continued throughout the Medieval and Renaissance eras, and proved a continual theme in art and literature, for example Shakespeare’s late-16^th Century play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Over 400 years later, and 4700 years since Gudea awakened from his nocturnal reverie to inspired feats of architectural accomplishment, it is small wonder that dreams are a regular theme in our contemporary story-telling medium of cinema, whether they be Hollywood blockbusters like Christopher Nolan’s film, ‘Inception’ (2010), or David Lynch’s more cerebral and surreal film, ‘Mulholland Drive.’

For certain, dreams awaken something deep within us: a sense of life’s ineffable mystery, and a yearning desire to find meaning within the images that visit us night after night, at turns mystifying, monstrous or mundane. Given their power, it is small wonder that clients undergoing therapy will frequently open their weekly session with the words, “I had this really bizarre dream two days ago”, or words to that effect. They have been a staple of therapeutic work in its modern incarnation since Freud himself termed them as the “royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind” in 1900 (see Freud, 1997 for citation). Instinctively, the ego senses that dreams come from someplace other, experiencing itself as a player on a larger stage that extends beyond its limits, frequently in terms that are unbidden, baffling or unwelcome. What this ‘place’ might be is largely a point for personal deliberation and debate, but in my own view (influenced largely by depth psychological perspectives), they derive from the Self and are a communication from within; a message wrapped in metaphor that, when heeded, provides wise commentary on the situations and circumstances manifest in our current lives.

Why Analyse Dreams?

Perhaps most pertinent to someone wishing to work with dreams is the question as to their function. Whilst there are numerous views on this, and a question worth exploring in its own right, my own preferred interpretation is that they serve as a corrective to our ego-driven lives (for an excellent video on Youtube where James Hollis explores these ideas more fully, see Through Conversations Podcast, 2024 in the bibliography below). Essentially, as we forge on, day after day, trying to scrabble together some sense of meaning and purpose during our brief time here, think of dreams as a commentary on how we are doing and where (as undoubtedly, we often are) our lives are out of balance. After all, dreams derive from the unconscious and strive to make the hidden material within the unconscious visible and available to our waking minds. The dream draws our attention to something we do not yet know but need to be aware of; something that we need to take onboard that has hitherto been unavailable to awareness.

Seen in this way, we can appreciate that dreams are truly a gift- if only we can learn to ‘click’ their language…

In Part 2 of this article, I will explain depth psychologist, Robert A. Johnson’s 4-Step approach to doing precisely that. Whilst this introduction has been comparatively short, the second part will have considerably more substance. I very much hope that I have done enough to interest you in reading Part 2 when it is released next week. If you haven’t yet subscribed, I invite you to consider doing so. Likewise, I offer all my content at this time for free, but I readily welcome paid subscriptions from those who are able to financially support my work. In whatever capacity, you are very welcome here and I hope that my writing in one way or another will enhance your own life-journey in some way.

Thank you.

Books:

‌Freud, S. (1997). The interpretation of dreams. Wordsworth Editions.

Films:

(2001, May 16). Mulholland Drive (M. Sweeney, Ed.) [Review of Mulholland Drive]. Universal Pictures.

(2010, July 8). Inception (L. Smith, Ed.) [Review of Inception]. Warner Bros. Pictures.

‌Youtube:

Through Conversations Podcast. (2024, November 18). James Hollis on Dreams, Fear, and the Meaning of Life. YouTube.