Psychoanalysis prof, students uncover desires and fears revealed during sleep
Nick Tabor
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Features
If a man dreams about his wife cheating on him, it might not be an expression of his greatest fear.
According to Freudian theory, the dream might indicate a desire to "be off the hook," senior Tory Moul said.
A psychology major, Moul said she learned this analysis in the psychoanalysis class taught by Associate Professor of Psychology Donald Ernst.
Ernst called Sigmund Freud "the father of psychoanalysis." Almost all psychoanalytic dream interpretation stems from Freud's research, Ernst said.
Freud believed that when a person has a thought he considers unacceptable - whether from social conventions or personal standards - he shoves it into the unconscious part of his mind, Ernst said.
"We don't like to feel like there's something about ourselves we can't control," Ernst said.
According to Freudian theory, many of these repressed thoughts are desires for things like companionship, material gain or sexual pleasure, Ernst said.
Freud thought these desires surfaced in dreams, but even then, they were usually represented through symbols.
"The dream as we experience it may be different from the underlying dream," Ernst said. "Things appear in dreams disguised, so that we can express desires without knowing it."
Almost all psychoanalysts agree that dreams are wish-fulfilling, but there's very little consensus beyond that point, Ernst said. Some psychoanalysts after Freud have proposed that images contained within dreams can also represent fears.
"I don't focus on [dreams] much in my classes, because frankly I don't think we understand them very well," Ernst said.
Ernst said he often disagrees with Freud but still applies Freudian techniques when he teaches psychoanalysis or psychoanalyzes himself.
He begins by writing down every detail he can remember from his dream the previous night. Next, he underlines the important words and clauses - mostly subjects and verbs - with a red pen. Finally, he examines those underlined words, one by one, and lists every word that the underlined portion reminds him of.
It's a way of bringing the unconscious mind, along with all its hidden desires, to the forefront, he said. Writing them down helps him identify those desires in himself.
Ernst said he requires each student in his psychoanalysis class to analyze himself or a friend. When the students turn in their reports, he never asks them who their subjects were.
"Most of them are surprised by how well the results fit Freud's theories," he said.
Moul said she chose a friend whose personality is "militantly independent" and who insists she'll never have children. But the images in this friend's dream suggested a suppressed desire to have children, Moul said.
"I think the main thing to keep in mind is that we're made more complex than even we can understand," Moul said. "If you learn to spot the major dreams that are going on, it can be a very useful tool for self-knowledge."
Ernst said he is offering two sections of the psychoanalysis class in the spring because he plans to leave his position at Hillsdale College after next semester. The class may not be offered after his departure because the professor replacing him is unable to teach it, he said.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
According to Freudian theory, the dream might indicate a desire to "be off the hook," senior Tory Moul said.
A psychology major, Moul said she learned this analysis in the psychoanalysis class taught by Associate Professor of Psychology Donald Ernst.
Ernst called Sigmund Freud "the father of psychoanalysis." Almost all psychoanalytic dream interpretation stems from Freud's research, Ernst said.
Freud believed that when a person has a thought he considers unacceptable - whether from social conventions or personal standards - he shoves it into the unconscious part of his mind, Ernst said.
"We don't like to feel like there's something about ourselves we can't control," Ernst said.
According to Freudian theory, many of these repressed thoughts are desires for things like companionship, material gain or sexual pleasure, Ernst said.
Freud thought these desires surfaced in dreams, but even then, they were usually represented through symbols.
"The dream as we experience it may be different from the underlying dream," Ernst said. "Things appear in dreams disguised, so that we can express desires without knowing it."
Almost all psychoanalysts agree that dreams are wish-fulfilling, but there's very little consensus beyond that point, Ernst said. Some psychoanalysts after Freud have proposed that images contained within dreams can also represent fears.
"I don't focus on [dreams] much in my classes, because frankly I don't think we understand them very well," Ernst said.
Ernst said he often disagrees with Freud but still applies Freudian techniques when he teaches psychoanalysis or psychoanalyzes himself.
He begins by writing down every detail he can remember from his dream the previous night. Next, he underlines the important words and clauses - mostly subjects and verbs - with a red pen. Finally, he examines those underlined words, one by one, and lists every word that the underlined portion reminds him of.
It's a way of bringing the unconscious mind, along with all its hidden desires, to the forefront, he said. Writing them down helps him identify those desires in himself.
Ernst said he requires each student in his psychoanalysis class to analyze himself or a friend. When the students turn in their reports, he never asks them who their subjects were.
"Most of them are surprised by how well the results fit Freud's theories," he said.
Moul said she chose a friend whose personality is "militantly independent" and who insists she'll never have children. But the images in this friend's dream suggested a suppressed desire to have children, Moul said.
"I think the main thing to keep in mind is that we're made more complex than even we can understand," Moul said. "If you learn to spot the major dreams that are going on, it can be a very useful tool for self-knowledge."
Ernst said he is offering two sections of the psychoanalysis class in the spring because he plans to leave his position at Hillsdale College after next semester. The class may not be offered after his departure because the professor replacing him is unable to teach it, he said.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
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