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Freud's Dream-work : The Mechanisms of Condensation and Displacement
2008-12-03 04:58:49
One peculiarity of the human mind is the phenomenon of dreams in our sleeping state. Some of us recall these more than others, but the fact remains that we all dream. Since man's beginning, there has been a fascination with dreams, and man has been seeking answers from all kinds of sources, mythological to biological. In this article I shall be examining Sigmund Freud's (1900) theory of dreams by concentrating on the two primary mechanisms in the dream-work process, namely condensation and displacement.
Freud was mostly interested in the realm of the unconscious, where dynamic forces were at play far beneath the surface of conscious thought. Forces of Repression continuously attempt to keep unacceptable ideas or impulses hidden from conscious realisation, whilst those same ideas and impulses are imbued with psychical energy, seeking to burst forth into consciousness. The product of this dynamic, unconscious system, is what Freud argues is the cause of symptoms; the 'comprimise' where unconscious content can seek expression without causing psychological trauma, thus making symptoms both functional and dysfunctional. So a symptom can simultaneously alert one to the fact that there exists an unresolved, unconscious conflict, whilst at the same time drawing attention away from the actual conflict, thus preserving the function of repression; to defend the mind from experiencing psychological trauma. According to Freud, dreams, like symptoms, are produced by the product of this dynamically unconscious system, and the resulting manifest content of a dream is both a disguise as well as a distortion of the latent content.
For Freud, dreams are essentially what we use to wish with, where the wishes expressed are ones which we are not able to readily acknowledge. (Maras, 1999) The dream-work process is one of translation. It translates dream-thoughts into dream-content by a series of processes, of which condensation, displacement, symbolisation and secondary revision are the primary four processes. (Maras, 1999) In the latent dream – that which is not accessible to consciousness – the wishes are represented as fulfilled, and it is this latent dream which is continuous with mental life and with which analysis is concerned. However, this may only be accessed through interpretation and analysis of the manifest dream – that which is presented to consciousness. The manifest dreams we experience, and subsequently recall, perform the task of allowing expression of our dream-thoughts, and thus have the function of reducing psychical tension caused by the energy with which repressed content is imbued.
Marcas (1999) points out the linguistic relation between the latent and manifest dream:
With the relation between manifest and latent dream-elements, the former is not so much a distortion of the latter as a representation of it, a plastic, concrete, portrayal of it, taking its start from the wording. But precisely on that account it is once more a distortion, for we have long since forgotten from what concrete image the word originated and therefore fail to recognise it when it is replaced by the image.... The associations between latent and manifest elements, dream-thoughts and dream-images, are thus 'determined' not only by the specific paths of the dreamer's associations but by the 'course of linguistic evolution'.
(Marcas, 1999, pg. 23)
It is thus her view that Freud's notion of the dream-work can be understood as being analogous to linguistic competence. Thus, our capacity to dream is merely our ability to do the dream-work necessary to express unconscious thoughts and wishes in manifest and visual form. According to Barros (2002) This expression can be referred to as 'unconscious thinking' which “transforms affects into memories and mental structures”. ( pg. 2) He goes on to explain that :
The Dream World itself is the setting where the mind engages in an initial attempt to deal with conflicts by giving expressive pictorial representation to the emotions involved in a conflict: a first step towards thinkability.... The dream-work described by Freud ... also comprehends a process through which meaning is apprehended, built and transformed in an expressive non-discursive level, based on representation through figurative/picoral images. In this process fresh symbols are created that widen the capacity of the person to think about the meanings of his/her emotional experiences.
(Barros, 2002, pg. 3)
Another function of dreams, as put forth by Freud is that of preservation of sleep. Rather than letting the internal tension wake us up during the night, we dream instead. (Alperin, 2004) This is analogous to the function/dysfunction of symptoms as discussed earlier. Because the real meaning of our dreams is so unacceptable to our egos, our dream-work disguises the dreams with a layer that we consciously recall. This is the “façade” of the dream, behind which the latent content's true meaning is hidden.
Freud noticed that dreams are brief in nature, and are meagre in comparison to the size and magnitude of the dream-thoughts from which they derive. From this, he concluded that condensation of the dream-thoughts must take place. Due to the amount of condensation that takes place, one can not be sure if a dream can ever be fully interpreted (Freud, 1900). Freud points out that a dream is constructed by the whole mass of dream-thoughts that are submitted to a kind of manipulative process where those elements which have the most numerous and strongest supports attain the “right of entry” into the dream-content (Freud, 1900). With regards to the nature of the relation between the latent and manifest content, Freud states :
The nature of the relation between dream-content and dream-thoughts thus becomes visible. Not only are the elements of a dream determined by the dream-thoughts many times over, but the individual dream-thoughts are represented in the dream by several elements. Associative paths lead from one element of the dream to several dream-thoughts, and from one dream-thought to several elements of the dream.
(Freud, 1900, pg. 383)
Freud also spoke of the manifest content as being an “abbreviated translation” of the latent content. He noted that condensation can, on occasion, be absent, but it is mostly active in large measures (Freud, 1962). Condensation can thus be defined as “the process by which two or more images combine to form a composite image which is invested with meaning and energy derived from all images”. (Rycroft, 1972, pg. 22)
Condensation works in a number of ways. Firstly, it can be brought about by the total omission of certain latent elements, or secondly, it can be brought about by only a fragment of some complexes in the latent content being carried over into the manifest dream. Thirdly, latent elements, which have things in common, may be combined and 'fused' together into a single unity in the manifest dream (Freud, 1962). In Freud's “Introductory Lectures of Psychoanalysis” (1962), he makes the analogy to humour or jokes. He states that the dream-work attempts to condense two or more different thoughts by seeking out an ambiguous word in which the words may come together, as is the case with jokes.
A famouse example of condensation in a dream was that of the composite symbol of 'Irma' in one of Freud's dreams which has subsequently become known as “the dream of Irma's injection.” This is what Freud had to say on it:
The principle figure in the dream-content was my patient Irma. She appeared with the features which were hers in real life, and thus, in the first instance, represented herself. But the position in which I examined her by the window was derived from someone else, the lady for whom, as the dream-thoughts showed, I wanted to exchange my patient. In so far as Irma appeared to have a diphtheritic membrane, which recalled my anxiety about my eldest daughter, she stood for that child and, behind her, through her possession of the same name as my daughter, was hidden the figure of my patient who succumbed to poisoning.... she turned into another lady whom I had once examined, and, through the same connection, to my wife.
(Freud, 1900, pg. 399)
In this famouse example of 'Irma', 'Irma' becomes the representative of all these other figures; the daughter, the patient, the wife; all of which had succumbed to the work of condensation. (Phillips, 2001)
One peculiarity that Freud noticed about dreams was that the manifest dream is differently centred from the dream-thoughts, where the content has different elements as its central themes/points. Freud theorises that during the course of the formation of a dream, the essential elements of the dream-thought, which are imbued with psychical energy, may be treated as thought they were of smaller value, and thus their place may be taken in the dream by other elements, whose small value in the dream-thoughts is obvious (Freud, 1900). Freud explains this in the following way :
In the dream-work, a psychical force is operating which, on the one hand, strips the elements which have a high psychical value of their intensity, and on the other hand, by means of overdetermination, creates from elements of low psychical value new values, which afterwards find their way into the dream-content.
(Freud, 1900, pg. 417)
This phenomenon is referred to by Freud in his “Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis” (1962) as Displacement, which manifests itself in one of two possible ways. Either, a latent element is replaced by something more remote than by a component part of itself, or the psychical accent is shifted from the important element onto an important element, so that the dream appears differently centred, and thus strange. (Freud, 1962) With displacement, there is no precondition of an association in subject matter. However, there is an unusual external association, such as similarity in sound, verbal ambiguity etc... The resulting allusions in the manifest dream is connected with the element they replace by the most external and remote relations and are thus unintelligible at first glance. (Freud, 1962)
In keeping with the function of dream-work to preserve sleep, displacement is used to this end by distorting the contents of the dream-thought which might prove to be psychologically traumatic. As Maras (1999) points out :
“Dreams are things which get rid of psychical stimuli disturbing to sleep, by the method of hallucinatory satisfaction. They entail the transformation of thoughts into experiences, and it is this alteration that must first be undone in the process of interpretation.”
(Marcus, 1999, pg. 23)
Reber (2001) point out that displacement is a defence mechanism which works by the transference of affect or wishes and sesires from the original object (or person) onto another object or person. This is a defense, as the experience of the original context of the affect or wish would be too difficult to deal with in consciousness. Following with the parallel between dream formation and symptom formation, we can consider symptoms as types of displacements. Most symptoms are displacements of what is causing us psychological distress (Hayes, 2002).
Both displacement and condensation work together in varying amounts as mechanisms of the dream-work process, in order to reconstruct our dream-thoughts in a way which is acceptable to present as manifest content presented to our consciousness, so as to both allow for a degree of expression of the repressed content, as well as retaining and preserving sleep.
Freud was truly a pioneer in the field of dream analysis and interpretation. Rick, D and Roper, L, in their book “Dreams and History” (2004) point out a few advances that have been made in Dream Theory since the time of Freud. One thing that has happened since Freud is that dream analysts differentiate much more between the time and type of dream, and there is more importance placed on the dynamic psychic function the dream performs. Freud used to give a very symbolic explanation of dreams, whereas in contemporary psychoanalysis, analysts are more aware of transference that takes place in the dream-work process. There have also been advancements in understanding the differentiation between concrete symbolism and symbolism of a more depressive kind. Freud said that children's dreams are wish fulfillments and are thus without any conflict. However, it is now the understanding of most psychoanalysts that children's dreams are just as complicated as those of adults, and that the very same mechanics involved in the dream-work process that occur in adults are found in children.
References
Alperin, R. M. 2004. “Toward an Integrated Understanding of Dreams”. Clinical Social Work Journal, Vol. 32, No. 4.
Barros, E.M. 2002. “An Essay on Dreaming, Psychical Working Out and Working Through”. Int. J. Psychoanal. Vol. 1083, No. 83.
Freud, S. 1900. “The Interpretation of Dreams”.
Freud, S. 1962. “Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis”.
Hayes, G. 2002. “Introduction To Freud”. University of Natal: Durban.
Maras, L. 1999. “Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams”.
Phillips, J. 2001. “The Rhetoric of the Dream Work”.
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elljwp/dreamwork.htm .
Rick, D & Roper, L. 2004. “Dreams and History”.
