Using Student Dreams to Teach Psychoanalytic Myth Theory

Teaching interpretive theory—and psychoanalytic theory in particular—to students of classical mythology can be difficult due to theory’s technical complexity and perceived obsolescence and irrelevance. Having students record their own dreams, which they then analyze and compare to mythic material, can, however, be an effective technique for both learning and testing Freudian and Jungian psychoanalytic approaches to interpreting myth. Dream journaling can also help students better appreciate ancient views about dreams and their meanings and, more generally, can help foster a desirable esprit de corps within the class.