Psychoanalytic dream interpretation the main tool of self-analysis, as well as a prominent part of the treatment. Dream understanding and interpretation during that time was influenced heavily by Freud's drive-conflict theory. The therapy was designed to reveal the latent content of the patient's repressed sexuality and unconscious mind. To understand the dream, the therapist had to explore the latent content of the dream via the process of free association. The symbolic method held that dreams had to be considered in their entirety, and therefore are unified in their meanings. This gave way to very narrow interpretations. Individual events in the dreams didn't matter,
Psychoanalytic dream interpretation recreational interests, and relationships at work. Within the context of the emphasis on personal concerns, there are sometimes distortions in settings, sudden scene changes, or unusual aspects to familiar characters, but dreams are in general a reasonable simulation of the dreamer's conception of his waking reality in terms of characters, social interactions, activities and settings. Clinical observation has revealed the importance of using dream interpretation in psychotherapy. In particular, three types of gains are described as a result of dream interpretation. Insight is the first asset gained by the clinical use of dreams for both the therapist and the client.