Stage Four – Latency
Unlike the other stages the latency period is a time of relative calm. During this stage, the aggression and sexual urges are less intense and little psycho-sexual conflict is exhibited.
Stage Five – Genital
This is the period of sexual maturity and the creation and enhancement of life. The stage of sexual maturity is where reproduction, intellectual activity and artistic pursuits take place.
Freud believed that wish fulfillment was the source of dreams and that dreamers used dreams as a way to satisfy the fixations they had developed during childhood. In addition, issues like power and control frequently manifested themselves in dreams. The central part of Freud’s dream theory was that thoughts and desires repressed during the day were free to run wild during the dream stage.
Since Freud’s death many have criticized him for seeing sexual motivation behind every dream object. Many have pointed out that Freud was born into the sexually repressed Victorian era and his preoccupation with sexual matters could have been as much a product of the times in which he lived as a valid scientific theory. Even so, many of Freud’s dream interpretations have proven valid and are still used by psychologists and dream researchers today.
