Coragyps

A lot of years ago, right after I had read a little Freudian stuff, my high school friend John told me about his odd dream: He was in his living room, spraying Right guard deodorant down the holes in the carpet. This forced the snakes to stick their heads out, and he chopped them off with a pair of pruning shears. I sort of wished ol' Sigmund was around - that would have given him such an erection!

Joyous

I believe that most dreams are mental junk, but recurring ones probably have some sort of "meaning." As Nowhere357 said, though, the meaning only exists for the dreamer. For example, I'm very fond of spiders. Most people aren't. If spiders play a starring role in some of my dreams, the "meaning" won't be the same as if they showed up in most of yours.

MadKally

The only recurrent dream I've had many times is my ex-husband finding me and beating me to a bloody pulp. (again)

It had meaning all right. It was called FEAR. A very real fear. He would spend his time hunting me down and once dragged me out of a closet by my hair. A bunch of guys were there and they suddenly disappeared. They called him Bryan the beast.

I got married way too young. I honestly thought he was a good friend. I didn't know him at all. We were married for 4 to 6 weeks. He became more violent after I ran away.

Now that's a good example of a recurrent dream having meaning.

Kally

christ-on-a-stick

Dreams CAN sometimes have some "meaning" in that things/issues/experiences in the subconscious can bubble up to the surface, or sometimes they are just random wacky nonsensical brain-gibberish.

While I think that contemplation of (as opposed to "analysis") of some dreams can be personally interesting and beneficial (it can cause you to think about situations and feelings that you masy be suppressing in day to day life), I wouldn't call it anything approaching as *science*.

christ-on-a-stick

To answer the OP more directly, I think that "dream interpretion " is essentially worthless. IME the dreams that "mean something" don't need to be interpreted , they are about what they are about. I believe the whole "universal dream-symbol" thing is pure bunk.

I do think it's fascinating though that some dreams seem to be almost universal:

Flying
Falling
Can't run (sloooooow motion)
Naked/exposed

The dreams of mine that I do "interpret" are pretty straightforward so I don't really think of it as classic "dream interpretation". IE: I dream about going back to my old church and getting in a big screaming match with a fundy there. The "interpretation" is pretty easy - I spend so much time here debating religion and experience frustration that my frustration is coming through in a dream about :banghead: with a fundy. Technically speaking that is "intepreting it" but not to the extent of "the church building represents your mother" blah blah blah.

Nowhere357

Freud has been sufficiently discredited, I think.

Here is a site that purports to differentiate 'psuedoscience' from 'protoscience'.

Here is a site that claims to examine dream content using scientific methods.

I think dream interpretation is evolving from 'psuedo' to 'proto' science, but I don't know if it's arrived yet. If not, IMO it eventually will.

AtomSmasher

From what I have read, dreams are a way that the brain reorganizes by reinforcing or discarding recent memories. While asleep, memories are called up seemingly at random but memories of greater or recent significance in particular. The conscious mind interprets this as sensory input and responds by trying to incorporate them into a spacial framework. The "dream world" is always poorly defined due to lack of real sensory input. While memories bring unrelated events to the surface, the conscious mind attempts to connect them into a somewhat rational framework like it does during normal waking hours. This leads to sometimes irrational or confusing dreams and sometimes rather plausible ones.

Here is a good article in the skeptic dictionary: http://skepdic.com/dreams.html

Nowhere357

IMO this is correct, but incomplete. For example, dreams somehow allow us access to 'creativity' and apply that creativity to waking life. Also, the dream world only SEEMS poorly defined, due to the way memories are laid down. Dreams are, however, extremely fluid.

The article link was okay. I noticed one thing that was definitely wrong - they said: "However, sleep is not a state of consciousness, but unconsciousness." In fact, we are conscious during dreams, but memories are not created in the same fashion as during waking life. The evidence for this is lucid dreaming, which is scientifically studied and accepted, and is an ability that anyone can learn, as opposed to a 'defect' which the article seems to imply.

...zzz...

MadKally

Edgar Allen Poe sure had some sick nightmares!

Kally

Nowhere357

I read 'Tell-tale Heart' when I was very young, and I STILL have a vivid image in my head of one scene.

The old man had a deformed eye, which never closed. The nephew (or whoever) intended to go kill the old man as he was sleeping.

So the guy sneaks to the bedroom door, carefully pushes it open just a crack, a thin beam of light enters the room... and falls upon the old mans eye.

Sounds stupid now.