Dream analysis in psychoanalytic therapy is used to discover what?

• A. Conscious goals.
• B. Latent ideas and repressed drives.
• C. Social skills.
• D. Behavioral patterns.

Answer: (B)

Dream analysis in psychoanalytic therapy aims to uncover hidden mental content—the unconscious wishes, conflicts, and drives that influence behavior but aren’t in conscious awareness. In Freudian terms, what you remember as the dream (the manifest content) is a disguise for the deeper meaning (the latent content). Through techniques like free association, the therapist helps translate dream symbols into insight, bringing repressed ideas and drives into consciousness so they can be examined and resolved. This focus on unconscious material distinguishes dream analysis from concerns about conscious goals, social skills, or observable behavioral patterns, which are addressed through different approaches.