Dream Psychology: Psychoanalysis for Beginners [Paperback]

Sigmund Freud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2007

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is commonly referred to as "the father of psychoanalysis" and his work has been highly influential, popularizing such notions as the unconscious, the Oedipus complex, defense mechanisms, Freudian slips and dream symbolism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud, was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Freud is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, as well as his therapeutic techniques, including the use of free association, his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and the interpretation of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires. He was also an early neurological researcher into cerebral palsy. While of significant historical interest, many of Freud's ideas have fallen out of favor or have been modified by Neo-Freudians, although in the past ten years, advances in the field of neurology have shown evidence for many of his theories. Freud's methods and ideas remain important in clinical psychodynamic approaches. In academia his ideas continue to influence the humanities and some social sciences. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (November 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434495531
• ISBN-13: 978-1434495532
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,109,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sigmund Freud, June 2, 2010

By 

M. Misekow "bookie wookie" (MI, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners (Kindle Edition)

I really liked this book. It is a very solid read, that is, if you like Sigmund Freud enough to at least want to read about his theories and opinions. I give this book 5 stars, not because I completely agree with every view that is expressed in it, but because I think it was an interesting read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful info: Excerpt from the preface:, June 6, 2005

By 

akompano (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dream Psychology (Psychoanalysis for Beginners) (Paperback)

...The publishers of the present book deserve credit for presenting to the reading public the gist of Freud's psychology in the master's own words, and in a form which shall neither discourage beginners, nor appear too elementary to those who are more advanced in psychoanalytic study.

Dream psychology is the key to Freud's works and to all modern psychology. With a simple, compact manual such as Dream Psychology there shall be no longer any excuse for ignorance of the most revolutionary psychological system of modern times...

...Sigmund Freud's (1856-1939) attitude toward dream study was, in other words, that of a statistician who does not know, and has no means of foreseeing, what conclusions will be forced on him by the information he is gathering, but who is fully prepared to accept those unavoidable conclusions.
This was indeed a novel way in psychology...

Five facts of first magnitude were made obvious to the world by his interpretation of dreams.

First of all, Freud pointed out a constant connection between some part of every dream and some detail of the dreamer's life during the previous waking state...

Secondly, Freud, after studying the dreamer's life and modes of thought, after noting down all his mannerisms and the apparently insignificant details of his conduct which reveal his secret thoughts, came to the conclusion that there was in every dream the attempted or successful gratification of some wish, conscious or unconscious.

Thirdly, he proved that many of our dream visions are symbolical, which causes us to consider them as absurd and unintelligible; the universality of those symbols, however, makes them very transparent to the trained observer.

Fourthly, Freud showed that sexual desires play an enormous part in our unconscious, a part which puritanical hypocrisy has always tried to minimize, if not to ignore entirely.

Finally, Freud established a direct connection between dreams and insanity, between the symbolic visions of our sleep and the symbolic actions of the mentally deranged...

André Tridon

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read, January 15, 2011

By 

B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners (Kindle Edition)

I strongly recommend Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for people who really appreciate enticing theories and other possiblities. You will be attached to this book for a while gathering as much information as possible.