Freud's psychoanalytic theories
Freud categorized dreams into different levels in order to better understand the unconscious as the primary standard for dream interpretation. The first level of dreams is the manifest content, which is the dream one remembers after waking up. But Freud believed no attention should be given to this level, because the unconscious mind produced the dream into a different meaning from its original. Latent content is the second level of dreams, which is the real dream amongst your unconscious thoughts. This is where the true meaning of the dream lies and turned into another sense to protect ourselves.  In order for our dreams to convert from latent content to manifest content, four steps are required: condensation, displacement, symbolism, and secondary revision. A special focus on symbolism was emphasized in interpretation. Freud believed that dreams are highly symbolic, with an underlying principle meaning. Most of the symbolic stages focuses on sexually connotation (for example, a tree branch could represent a part of the male genitals). He also believed all human behavior originated from our sexual drives and desires.