RESEARCH INTO DREAMS OF RATS :Understanding dreams is not so difficult. In practice dream symbols translate into certain words within the English language. For instance a "rat" dream may simply capture your feeling that "he is a lowlife - he never cares about anyone but himself" and so the "rat" may translate into the words "lowlife" and "uncaring". The dream uses "rat" as we would use the word "lowlife" - its simply a metaphor.

KEY WORDS LINKED TO THE SYMBOLISM OF RATS?- "poor quality of life" (The mind associates rats with a low quality of life and even unhappiness)
- "dirty" (when we think of rats we think of dirt and slums)
- "untidy" (an untidy person is often seen as unclean. So a rat in your dream may simply be your minds way of saying you are untidy)
- "poor" (where the poor go the rats follow. A rat dream could mean you were shocked by how poor someone was yesterday or how remembering how poor you used to be.)
- "poverty" (we associate rats with the poor. So a dream about rats could link to your thoughts about someone's poverty)
- "sinister" (think of a rat like male)
- "a rat like male" (most people have a low opinion of rats - so they can be a metaphor for anything we distrust and dislike)
- "distrust" (we often use the term rat to describe someone who cannot be trusted)
- "depression" (because depression could be seen as an infestation of the mind)
- "lowlife" (we often use inter changeable terms to describe the same thing - a rat or lowlife)
- "uncaring" (a rat may suggest you feel the world does not care)
- "lack of spiritual nourishment" (dreams use metaphors in a wider sense - you may have a low quality of life which does not make you happy - this is poverty in a wider sense)

Now try to see how words in this list feature in your thoughts. Think of the things that you write down in a diary or tell a friend. Its likely that dreams translate into conscious thoughts that you are all too aware of - nowadays not many people believe in the unconscious mind. If any of the words on the list feature in your thoughts then its likely that the dream could link to that thought - it may even portray that exact thought process. So if you have been feeling that "I worry that my reputation has become tarnished" then the "rats" would be a metaphor for how people see you - as someone not to be distrusted. The following words and phrases in our list are relevant : "sinister","a rat like male","distrust" and even "lowlife". So the if we try to sum up the dreams meaning it captures the key feeling on the dreamers mind "that his reputation had been tarnished and no one trusted him".

Dreams can portray very sophisticated thoughts as they use metaphors in very rich ways. Take for instance one dream about a rat. The previous day the dreamer had been annoyed at a woman who portraying him as a pest. He thought this was at least very exaggerated and even ridiculous. So when he had a dream about pest control this was portraying this woman's thoughts that he was a pest who needed to be "kept under control". If we look at his own state of mind its easy to see what the meaning of the dream is - he was exasperated at the woman's exaggerated comments about him. He felt he was being unfairly treated and that she was over reacting. By using dream symbolism we can guess the most relevant meaning and by looking at the dreamers key thoughts we can guess what the dream means.