Interpretation Using Free Association
There are countless ways to interpret your dreams.
Each have there merits and flaws. Free Association is
inarguably Freud's most effective technique to uncover a
dream's real significance. The idea stems from the
thought that all objects in the dreams mean something and the
way you describe the dream is how it should be interpreted.
I have made some changes to Freud's technique but without
changing the basic principle behind it. First let's look
at Freud's technique, then we will look at how I have changed
it and why.
Freud's Free Association Technique
- Write out your entire dream.
- Select the section or paragraph that is most
emotionally charged.
- List every word of that paragraph on the left side of
the page.
- Write your association - whatever pops into your mind
- on the right of each word.
- Rewrite the dream segment using only the
associations.
New Free Association Technique
- Write out your entire dream.
- Only Select the section or paragraph that is most
emotionally charged if your dream is extroidenarily long.
Otherwise you should work with the dream in full as
sections you may have left out may be meaningful.
- List every word of that paragraph on the left side of
the page. You may group words that are common
phrases. For example:
Intead of writing "Stepped
on my toes" as individual words, you can leave the phrase
as a group or single line and interpret it as the phrase.
Sometimes you may want to do it both ways to see the
difference.
- Write your association - whatever pops into your mind
- on the right of each word.
- Rewrite the dream using only the associations.
Don't force associations; if an idea doesn't come readily,
skip over it and return to it when you’ve finished the list.
You may be surprised by the forceful images and messages that
emerge in the rewritten dream segment. This technique is
particularly useful in deciphering especially nonsensical
dreams.
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