Remembering Freud - May's Literary Birthday

I have spent the last several weeks immersed in reading about Sigmund Freud and his most notable work, The Interpretation of Dreams.   Known as the founding father of psychoanalysis, Freud was born on May 6, 1856 to Jewish parents.  Studying the Torah was important to Freud’s father, although the family didn’t strictly follow Jewish religious traditions.   Freud’s view on religion was that God is an illusion, a protector or father figure, to help man restrain violent impulses.   Freud had a lot of controversial beliefs, and it was fascinating to learn about his life, work, theories.  

When Freud used an example of Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh’s dream in the Old Testament, I was reminded of other dreams in the Bible.  There was Jacob who dreamed about a ladder into heaven and in the New Testament Joseph, the carpenter, who dreamed that he should not divorce Mary since her child was the Savior.  These are just a few examples ... there are twenty-four dreams mentioned in the Bible.

One major theory of Freud’s was that dreams help to make the unconscious, conscious.  The unconscious mind is full of thoughts, memories, and emotions that the conscious mind is not necessarily aware of.  While asleep, the mind brings these things to life in dreams.  When awakened with a dream memory, usually in partial pieces, the conscious mind becomes aware and often this awareness requires interpretation.  We all know that symbolism plays a big part in dreams and sometimes appears obscure or silly when retelling the dream. 

Freud experimented with hypnosis and a ‘talking cure’ while analyzing his patients with dream interpretation.  His practice was the first to use a therapy couch where patients would recline to talk freely about anything without judgement.  Lying down, eliminates eye contact and brings one closer to a dream-like state where the unconscious can more easily reveal itself.  Using free association methods helped patients understand the symbolism in their dreams.

When writing his ideas and methods in The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud began analyzing himself and recognized that dreams are often the result of unfulfilled wishes.  In other words, dreams are the vehicle that brings desires to life in the unconscious mind.   Freud described getting to the bottom of one’s subconscious thoughts and understanding what lies beneath is like cutting though the layers of a Dobos cake with a long thin knife.  This is a seven-layer cake, named for the Hungarian chef who invented it.  One must be very careful when cutting to the bottom of those layers, easily sliding the knife under the bottom of the cake, in order to not destroy the slice upon extraction.  Same goes for psychoanalysis. 

Freud’s writing style is engaging and I think this is probably required reading for one studying dream research.  This book is a classic read about the history of psychology and provides us with an introduction to ‘Freudian theories’.   Today many of those theories haven’t fared well.  His ideas are not substantiated by current research.  I did find that in many cases Freud over-generalized, lacked scientific evidence, and often over emphasized sex.  Despite the contentious nature of his work, it was very intriguing and plied my curiosity.

After reading The Interpretation of Dreams, I wanted to know more about Freud’s influences and life.  What I learned was even more intriguing.   Freud was highly intelligent and earned his MD from the University of Vienna at the age of twenty-five.   He began his career in 1882 at the Vienna General Hospital and while there his research on cocaine became well-known.  It was believed to be a cure for mental problems and beneficial in eye surgery as a numbing painkiller.  Before long cocaine addiction and overdoses caused Freud to stop using and recommending it. 

Marie Bonaparte, the great niece of Napoleon, was Freud’s most prominent patient and her fortune helped fund his research on use of psychoanalysis. When the Nazi Party took control of Germany, Freud’s books were burned along with other books by Jewish intellectuals.  He was known for saying; “What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now, they are content with burning my books.”  Freud escaped persecution from the Nazis and took his family to Britain.  He died there in 1938 at the age of 83, from complications resulting from mouth cancer.

This short review cannot include everything there is to say about Freud and The Interpretation of Dreams, but maybe there is enough here to start your own curiosity.  You might find answers to questions you’ve had concerning dreams, or you might be inspired to look for a Dobos Cake recipe like I did, and make a delicious cake to celebrate the remarkable life and legacy of Sigmund Freud.