The Interpretation of Dreams is Sigmund Freud's attempt to make his dream analysis work more accessible to the layman, seeing as his technical volumes are both lengthy and specialized. In contrast this book reads like a conversation between Freud and the reader. He attempt to explain not only how to exercise dream analysis but why he personally believes the practice beneficial, even on an amateur level.
For Freud, the subconscious is the realm of dreams. In his practice, he has helped many patients understand how their psychology has been damaged or perhaps altered by the circumstances of their lives by revealing elements of the subconscious as demonstrated in their dreams. He believes that every dream is a function of the brain in trying to make sense of a problem or dilemma. In response, he places immense emphasis upon teaching his patients how to interpret their own dreams.
Freud explains his methods of dream interpretation by using himself as an example. Perhaps the first instance of an actual dream being laid out for interpretation is one of Freud's own in which he explores his relationship to food, his wife, and his business partners. Although each of the subjects of a dream may be interpreted according to their pure association with the dreamer's circumstances, they also possess association with the recent events of the dream's life, such as their activities before bed.
In order to make this distinction Freud actually has his patients recount the events of their evening or day before the dream in order to hold those recent memories in tension with his pre-existing knowledge of the patient and their general life circumstances. In other words dreams are projections of the self-conscious pertaining to personal dilemmas which manifest in familiar circumstances surrounding the act of dreaming.
