Analysis Of Defenses

The analysis of defenses is a tool that is used by an analyst in classical psychoanalysis. It refers to the study of defense images that occur in dreams to gain a better understanding of a patient's subconscious mind. It was postulated in Freudian classical psychoanalysis that dream imagery reflects a universal subconscious where certain images have universal meanings that always have the same meanings between individuals. Jung, a protege of Freud, later theorized that dream imagery is personal to the dreamer. In the case of "defensive" imagery, these are symbols that appear as a means of defending the dreamer such as snakes or dogs.