Freud or Jung?

Ok I have had Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams for some time now but I haven’t read it yet but I am interested in acquiring a few books but Carl Gustav Jung but I’d like to know which of these two great German Psycho-analysts really contributed to the study of dreams and dreaming?

To be short, they were both big on theorizing why we dream and what causes us to dream what we dream.

As Josh already stated, both contributed a great deal to psychology (esp. area of dreams). But I would prefer Jung because he goes into more detail concerning the subconscious (Freud as well but IMO he tends to stay at one level i.e. fulfilling forbidden desires in dreams, strong sexual connotations, etc) specifically Jung acknowledges and explains things such as animae, archetypes, the connection between conscious and subconscious, how to integrate expiriences into life and how to foster personal growth. And since Jung was a disciple of Freud you will most certainly find many commonalities among the theories of those two - but Jung goes deeper and acknowledges some things in his theory which IMO are important (see above). And last but not least I think that the circumstances under which Freud grew up and lived (Vienna/Austria late 19th century) contributed a great deal to the focus of his theories on sexuality (sometimes even solely) - whereas Jung rather sees the ‘whole’ picture.

Hope this helps…

One reason I never finished “the interpretation of dreams” … besides it’s length :wink: … was Freud’s constant focus on sexuality and sex. It bored me. I thought after I read a few chapters that he would get to different “interpretations” … but no. I was wrong. He went on to discuss everything from sex with your mother to homosexuality.

Boy would I like to read his dream diary. :grin: …uh, :confused: but … not the mother part. :neutral: :nono:

Thanks for your replies folks, like I said before I have The Interpretation of Dreams which I bought back in 2000 from Amazon.co.uk but I’ve yet to read it. I have read in other books that Jung was really quite literate, I have one book of his - Memories, Dreams and Reflections but I don’t think it’s a really important book to own…any suggestions which books by Jung I should have on my book shelf?

…this doesn’t deal directly with dreams, but I wanted to share it with anyone interested in Jung. I’m reading this really cool book by Hayao Kawai called “The Japanese Psyche” about the similarites and differences between Eastern and Western folk stories- their psychological elements. It’s great.

I will check that out. Although, I consider Jung to be somewhat of a sexist, he had many interesting perspectives on enthnocentrism, and facilitated a wealth of knowledge in sociology. However, it is at times difficult to get past how his findings were slanted by his misinterpretation of gender roles.

I’m not even going to start on Freud…too easy :flower:

Another good thing about Jung is that his theories have continued to be built upon in a very practical sense long after his passing. A good example of this is Voice Dialogue and the Psychology of Selves. The founders of Voice Dialogue have a website at https://www.delos-inc.com if you’re interested. They have done a lot of fascinating work with dreams, and I’ve found their techniques very effective in analysing my own.

I have found Jung to be very rewarding and relevant when studied. I would reccommend “Man And His Symbols”. This was the only book written by Jung for the layman, and thus is very easily accessible to anyone starting out in Jungian philosophy.