According to Freud, our dreams are important and meaningful in understanding the causes of our problems, hidden issues, and painful issues we can't face during wakefulness. Freud identified two types of content in our dreams; latent content and manifest content. The manifest content of a dream is the actual literal content and storyline of the dream - the plot. This is usually contrasted with what is referred to as the latent content or hidden meaning of the dream. The latent content is the subject of all those "meaning of dreams" books you can find displayed at the supermarket checkout counter.
By way of illustration, imagine that you have a very vivid dream that you fly out your bedroom window and soar around your city. The sights, sounds, and storyline of the dream are the manifest content. A dream interpreter might suggest that your dream reveals a hidden desire to seek freedom from your day-to-day life. This symbolic meaning behind the literal content of the dream is the latent content.
Since Freud's day we have learned that dreams and their content are much more complicated than Freud could even guess. For one thing, the content of dreams can be greatly influenced by various drugs, as well as by the physical state of our body. That is, the content of dreams has a physically influenced component as well as a mentally influenced component. And both must be taken into account.
Ultimately, dreams themselves seem to have a number of different purposes that all relate to our overall health. Again, both physically and mentally. And we are a long way from being able to adequately interpret them.
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