Repression
Throughout his career, Freud demonstrated an increasing obsession with the idea of repression. At first he attributes all forms of psychosis to some measure of repression in the patient's unconscious. Understandably his study of the unconscious through his psychiatric practice led him to hone in on the functions of the unconscious. This was accomplished through "free-association" -- the process of having a patient speak rapidly and without correction about both the content and accompanying feeling of a dream. In allowing a relation of a patient's stream of consciousness, Freud was hoping to eliminate the repression of any thoughts or feelings concerning the dream. He advocates for a person's complete honesty both with themselves and with their doctor because only through repression can a person drift into mental instability or unhealth. If, on the other hand, a person can remain completely honest and open about their desires, fears, and ideas then they can maintain a healthy interchange of ideas as well as a connection with their id, or animal identity.
Manifestations of the Unconscious
Freud believes that dreams are only the manifestation of the unconscious. Much of his theories have subsequently been proved through the scientific analysis of the brain while dreaming. It turns out that the brain continues to try and solve problems during REM sleep, which is also the portion of a sleep cycle when a person dreams. Freud used his theory to analyze every aspect of a dream, looking for secondary or tertiary meaning. Believing in the prominence of symbols as manifestations of the unconscious, Freud describes common symbols and their referents. For example most symbols relate to hidden sexual desires, commonly represented through food-related imagery. Freud employs therapy techniques designed to remove a person's conscious filter from their relation of the dream. He wants them to describe every aspect of the dream fully, in order to find the person's hidden desires and fears and thus address any latent repression in their psychology.
Symbols of the Unconscious
Much of Freud's writing is devoted to symbols and their analyses. This is the aspect of his work which has been most profoundly built upon throughout the years. He proposes that symbols of the unconscious manifest in dreams the same way that a "Freudian slip" occurs when someone speaks. The subconscious is always working and thus communicates through the conscious in seemingly trivial ways. In dreams symbols are often objects or events with multi-layered meanings. Usually a symbol represents an unfulfilled, secret desire of the dreamer's or even an anxiety. The implementation of these symbols by the unconscious demonstrates the human brain's innate capacity for complex narrative. While sleeping, the brain performs the process of displacement of a real idea through a representative idea of lesser significance in a dream in order to continue working through the idea or to remind the dreamer of something which it deems important.
