Freud believed a trained psychoanalyst could identify many common
dream symbols. A house is said to represent the human body, one ’s parents
are disguised as a king and queen, children are represented as small animals,
birth is associated with water, a train journey is a symbol for dying, and
clothes and uniforms represent nakedness. Predictably, the vast majority of
Freudian dream symbols are sexual. For example, male genitals are said to
be represented by objects with a similar shape. Freud (1916/1961) listed sev-
eral common phallic symbols, including sticks, umbrellas, trees, knives, rifles,pencils, and hammers. Female genitals are symbolically represented by bot-
tles, boxes, rooms, doors, and ships. Sexual intercourse is hidden in such ac-
tivities as dancing, riding, and climbing. In fact, reading Freud ’s long list of
symbols, it ’s hard to think of many dreams that can ’t be interpreted sexually.
Projective Tests
We have all played the game of finding images in cloud formations. One per-
son might describe a sailboat, another sees the Cowardly Lion, and a third
can just make out a couple dancing the tango. Of course, there are no realpictures in the clouds. So where are these images coming from? The answer,
from a Freudian perspective, is that these responses are projections of mate-
rial in the perceiver ’s unconscious mind. The images we see in vague objects
like clouds represent another way of getting at unconscious material. Projec-
tive tests present test takers with ambiguous stimuli and asks them to respond
by identifying objects, telling a story, or perhaps drawing a picture. The re-sponses are said to provide insights into what is going on in the unconscious.
Some of the projective tests used by psychologists are reviewed later in this
chapter.
Free Association
Try this exercise some time. Take a few minutes to clear your mind ofthoughts. Then allow whatever comes into your mind to enter. Say whatever
you feel like saying, even if it is not what you expect and even if you are a lit-
tle surprised or embarrassed by what comes out. If you find strange, uncen-
sored ideas flowing into your awareness, you may be experiencing free
association . Clients undergoing psychoanalysis are often encouraged to use
free association to temporarily bypass the censoring mechanism the ego em-
ploys. Ordinarily we block distasteful, seemingly trivial or silly thoughts to
protect ourselves from this material or to keep from sounding foolish. But if
we can slip by the ego ’s roadblocks and obstacles, even for a moment,
glimpses into the unconsciousness may be possible.
However, free association is usually not so easy. The ego has invested
considerable energy to repress threatening thoughts and is not likely to letthem just ease into consciousness. Occasionally clients slip into long silences.
Sometimes they report that nothing comes to mind or endlessly describe
unimportant details in an effort to avoid any unconscious revelations. But
when the client gives expression to whatever enters his or her awareness,
both client and therapist are often surprised by what emerges.54 CHAPTER 3 The Psychoanalyt ic Approach