Sigmund Freud called dreams the "royal road" to the unconscious. As the foremost interpreter of dreams, he saw them as mirrors that reflect the reality within us even though, at times, they may be heavily disguised by symbolism and abstraction. For those who have tried psychoanalysis, the realization is clear enough: Dreams can suggest the absurdities in our lives, reveal the true motives behind our actions, and confront us with the paradoxes of our beliefs.

These nocturnal adventures are a barometer of our emotional lives. More often than not, people who have continuously disturbed dream patterns are afflicted with more than their share of adjustment difficulties. If you haven't paid much attention to your dreams lately, perhaps this is a good time to find out what they're saying about you.

To learn what your dream patterns reveal about your personality, take the following quiz, adapted from the work of R. Corriere and J. Hart. An explanation follows each question, helping outline what you should look for in your dreams.