Throughout the book "The Interpretation of Dreams" written by The "father" of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, the new theory of the psychology of dreams is analyzed. Freud uses his own dreams as examples for proving the theory. In his book, he tries to show a significant distinction between the "manifest" (surface-level) dream content and the "latent (unconscious) dream thoughts." To be more specific, Freud claims that all dreams we have represent the fulfillment of our wishes and that anxiety dreams and nightmares are expressions of our unconscious desires. He uses the special "language" of dreams to explain his dreams. In his book, Freud talks more about the "dream work", which is the process by which the mind translates and distorts "dream thoughts' into dream content. The Interpretation of Dream presents the method called psychoanalysis, the psychic process of "censorship" and the significance of childhood experiences.
The Ego and the Id (1923)
This analytical study of human psyche talks about three systems: the id, ego and superego that are developed at different stages of our lives. Freud claims that the id (or it) is the impulsive and unconscious part of our psyche that directly responds to our instincts or needs. It consists of biological components of personality such as the sex instinct "Eros" and aggressive instinct called "Thanatos." The ego (or I) is the part of the id that is influenced by external world and mediates between the unrealistic id and the external real world. The ego functions or operates according to the "reality principle" and uses more realistic strategies to obtain pleasure. The last system is superego (above I) develops during the age of 4 or 5 and focuses on the values and morals of society. It consists of two systems: the conscience and the ideal self. This study is an important part of psychoanalysis.
Mourning and Melancholia (1917)
Mourning and melancholia is a psychological and psychotherapeutic theory written by Sigmund Freud. One of the basic concepts of this theory is that a person's development is influenced and determined by events that happened in early childhood. It also suggests that human behavior, experience and cognition are determined by irrational drive that are usually unconscious. Freud claims that when the person becomes aware of his drives then he uses psychological resistance called "defense mechanism." This defense mechanisms is used to protect a person from mental disturbances created by conflicts between conscious and unconscious. He also believes that mourning is a natural process while melancholia is a pathological one.
On The Sexual Theories Of Children (1908)
It's Freud's article that is part of a whole set of writings, in which he focused on the role of childhood sexuality as well as on sexuality in general. Freud claims that the child's curiosity about where he cam from arises from a "vital exigency" called Lebensnot. In his article Freud introduces three theories. The first one consists in the attribution to all human beings of a penis-including females and suggests the belief in a castration that accounts for the configuration of the woman's genitalia. The second theory concerns birth and claims that "the baby is evacuated like a stool from the mother's body." The last one deals with parental coitus. It pictures it as struggle where the mother is attacked by the father. In Freud's view, the wish to know is more like a sexual wish.
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