According to Sigmund Freud, what is the nature of dreams?

Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams are primarily a form of wish fulfillment, meaning that they represent the subconscious desires and thoughts of the dreamer, often in symbolic form. Freud believed that because repressed desires cannot be expressed directly in waking life, they manifest in dreams, allowing individuals to explore their repressed feelings, emotions, and conflicts.

In Freud's view, dreams provide a kind of safety valve for these internal struggles, enabling people to engage with their innermost wishes in a disguised way. This concept highlights the significance of the unconscious mind and its influence on human behavior and thought processes. Freud also distinguished between the manifest content of dreams (the actual storyline and imagery) and the latent content (the hidden psychological meaning), which provides further depth to his idea of dreams as reflections of unfulfilled desires.