Overdetermination (n.) gives dreams, like all psychopathological structures, more than one meaning as a rule, and the meanings need not contradict.
Overdetermination (n.) means every element of a dream is represented in the dream-thoughts many times over.
Overdetermination (n.) is often not a primary factor but the secondary product of an unknown force, which forges far-fetched links to manufacture it.
Overdetermination (n.) undoes the beginner who thinks a coherent reading finishes the job: the same dream may mean more, for the dream-work, like the Little Tailor, hits seven flies at a blow.
Overdetermination (n.) was discovered by psychoanalysis — every psychical act has many sources — so it is the last method that would trace religion to one.
Overdetermination (n.) means the threads do not simply run from thought to image; they cross and interweave many times on the way.
Overdetermination (n.) makes each element of a dream a nodal point where many dream-thoughts cross.
Overdetermination (n.) means a symptom takes several causes converging at once, which is also why relapse is rare once they are pulled apart.
Overdetermination (n.) is the rule in real life, a conjunction of many motives, though a writer would simplify it away for the sake of a fine conflict.
Overdetermination (n.) hides a deeper motive behind a superficial one in drama, because spoken outright it would rouse resistances that imperil the effect — yet the visible motive must derive from the hidden.