The interpretation of dreams is an 1899 book by sigmund freud the founder of psychoanalysis in which the author introduces his theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation and discusses what would later become the theory of the oedipus complex freud revised the book at least eight times and in the third edition added an extensive section which treated dream symbolism very literally following the influence of wilhelm stekel freud said of this work insight such as this. The interpretation of dreams was intended as an expedient to facilitate the psychological analysis of the neuroses but since then a profounder understanding of the neuroses has contributed towards the comprehension of the dream the doctrine of dream interpretation itself has evolved in a direction which was. The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind sigmund freud everybody dreams and because of this it is one of the best ways to grasp freuds theory of psychoanalysis in a practical way freud was so confident in his discovery that he jokingly wrote to his friend wilhelm fliess. The interpretation of dreams 1900 by freud considered the father of psychoanalysis sigmund freud wrote the book the interpretation of dreams towards the end of the nineteenth century although his theory on dreams presented extensively in this work has been the subject of relentless criticism there is no denying the influence he had on much of the twentieth century