“ If we subject the content of the dream to analysis, we become aware that the dream fear is no more justified by the dream content than the fear in a phobia is justified by the idea upon which the phobia depends. ”
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (1899). copy citation
| Author | Sigmund Freud |
|---|---|
| Source | The Interpretation of Dreams |
| Topic | fear dream phobia |
| Date | 1899 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by A. A. Brill |
| Weblink | http://www.bartleby.com/285/4.html |
Context
“But I can settle the problem of anxiety dreams in very short order; for what they may reveal is not a new aspect of the dream problem; it is a question in their case of understanding neurotic anxiety in general. The fear which we experience in the dream is only seemingly explained by the dream content. If we subject the content of the dream to analysis, we become aware that the dream fear is no more justified by the dream content than the fear in a phobia is justified by the idea upon which the phobia depends. For example, it is true that it is possible to fall out of a window, and that some care must be exercised when one is near a window, but it is inexplicable why the anxiety in the corresponding phobia is so great, and why it follows its victims to an extent so much greater than is warranted by its origin.”
source
Meaning and analysis
