No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The Nature and Functions of Dreaming
Abstract
This book presents a theory of dreaming based on many years of psychological and biological research. Critical to this theory is the concept of a Central Image; this book describes his repeated finding that dreams of being swept away by a tidal wave are common among people who have recently experienced a trauma of some kind-a fire, an attack, or a rape. Dreams with these Central Images are not dreams of the traumatic experience itself, but rather the Central Image reveals the emotional response to the experience. Dreams with a potent Central Image, like the tidal wave, vary in intensity along with the severity of the trauma; this pattern was shown quite powerfully in a systematic study of dreams occurring before and after the September 11 attacks in New York. This book's theory comprises three fundamental elements: dreaming is simply one form of mental functioning, occurring along a continuum from focused waking thought to reverie, daydreaming, and fantasy. Second, dreaming is hyperconnective, linking material more fluidly and making connections that aren't made as readily in waking thought. Finally, the connections that are made are not random, but rather are guided by the dreamer's emotions or emotional concerns-and the more powerful the emotion, the more intense the Central Image.
... Strong parallels have been shown between the current dream theory defined by the integration and consolidation of emotional stimuli from waking life (e.g. Cartwright, 2010, Hartmann, 2010, Hill, 1996 and Jung's (2017) theory of compensation, which argues that with a one-sided conscious attitude life dreams occur with strongly contrasting content, which reflects the psychological self-regulation of the individual. We also outlined the common ground in Hartmann's (2010) statement that the integration of emotions helps create our emotional existence, or our perception of ourselves, and Perls' (1996) statement on the nature of dreaming as the integration of personality. ...
... Cartwright, 2010, Hartmann, 2010, Hill, 1996 and Jung's (2017) theory of compensation, which argues that with a one-sided conscious attitude life dreams occur with strongly contrasting content, which reflects the psychological self-regulation of the individual. We also outlined the common ground in Hartmann's (2010) statement that the integration of emotions helps create our emotional existence, or our perception of ourselves, and Perls' (1996) statement on the nature of dreaming as the integration of personality. ...
... In the analysis of dreams, we used a current theory of dreaming, which defines dream function as consolidation and integration of our emotions from waking life (e.g., Cartwright, 2010;Hartmann, 2010;Hill, 1996). This theory created a consistent platform in the context of which we interpreted the data obtained from patients. ...
The study focuses on dreams in which images of animals occur. It contains a detailed analysis of three dreams coming from patients in long-term therapy. The platform for understanding of the dreams was formed by one of the current theories of dreaming which defines the dream as a function serving to consolidate and integrate the emotions from waking life. The analysis of dreams itself was not biased by any psychotherapeutic school but resulted from objective research data. It consisted of three steps. In the first step of the analysis, dream emotions were defined in accordance with the theory of continuity as real dreamers’ emotions originating from waking life. In the second step, the animals in the dream were analysed on the basis of research evidence as the dreamers’ own tendencies. In the third step, the preliminary interpretations were further verified in the psychotherapeutic interview itself. The synthesis of the obtained data showed that the animals in dreams can be interpreted as instinctive impulses of dreamers. It has also been suggested that the theory of continuity in the context of dream content and the symbolic function of dreams can merge into one and the same process.
... This construct might also involve emotional salience as a factor related to incorporation of external events into dreams. Ernest Hartmann theorizes that dreams place the feeling-state of the dreamer directly into the image to form picture-metaphors which serves the function of noting emotional similarities in a more efficient picture form than could otherwise be achieved (Hartmann 2011, p. 49, 57). So the distortions of prior waking events may not be so much " misrepresentations " but rather a very robust and more complete synthesis (or condensation in Freud's terminology) of conscious and unconscious associations with the waking event -along with the more " interesting " autocreative elements that Hobson describes. ...
... Jung indicates that one purpose these connections serve is that of " compensation " (Jung 1964, p 56) whereby conscious misconceptions are placed in juxtaposition to unconsciously synthesized material to re-establish the psychic equilibrium. Hartmann agrees that making connections and bringing material together in dreams can compensate for the limited nature of waking thought in which material is kept separate (Hartmann 2011, p. 83). Things are being put together in a new way, which may or may not be immediately obvious, however those broad, loose connections of dreaming can provide a different perspective and can help us make important decisions and discoveries (Hartmann 2011, p. 121). ...
... Hartmann agrees that making connections and bringing material together in dreams can compensate for the limited nature of waking thought in which material is kept separate (Hartmann 2011, p. 83). Things are being put together in a new way, which may or may not be immediately obvious, however those broad, loose connections of dreaming can provide a different perspective and can help us make important decisions and discoveries (Hartmann 2011, p. 121). ...
Commentary The dialog between Schredl and Hobson (Hobson, Schredl 2011) begins with a bounding of the definition of the con-tinuity hypothesis and with Hobson pointing out the limita-tions as he understands the term to be used by many psy-chologists and psychotherapeutically oriented researchers. Michael Schredl argues that dreams often contain elements of our waking life on a thematic level and that the continuity hypothesis does not imply an exact replay of a waking event but simply says that we dream of our waking life experienc-es (thoughts, feeling, events etc.). Hobson argues that he does not doubt that some recent experiences are represent-ed in dreams but points out that the continuity hypothesis is incomplete in that it does not account for the greater source of dream content which is not an apparent reproduction of prior waking experience. He feels that continuity theorists consider continuity to run in one direction, from the waking experience to the dream, and are obliged to regard dream elements as distorted or disguised transformations of prior waking experience – which he is very skeptical of. Hobson proposes an alternative discontinuity hypothesis which asserts that the continuity arrow primarily runs in the other direction, from dream into waking consciousness. He agrees that dreams contain elements of our waking experi-ences but reflect more of a replay of the waking state (uni-versal features such as seeing moving and feeling) than of waking experience. He considers discontinuity (or continu-ity in that direction) to be generic; referring to his protocon-sciousness theory (Hobson 2009) which suggests that the development and maintenance of waking consciousness and other high-order brain functions depends on brain ac-tivation during sleep. Hobson argues that dreaming is not simply a replay of waking experiences but a synthesis of "misrepresentations" of wake state events and complete-ly original dream features. He considers dream content to be synthetic and that dreaming is a predictor as well as a reflector of waking consciousness, explaining that REM sleep-dreaming creates an infinitely varied set of possible scenarios at the same time that it processes scenarios that have actually occurred; a practice session for a wide range of wake-state challenges. In the concluding dialog both Hobson and Schredl appear to agree that the continuity hypothesis and the protocon-sciousness theory complement each other and fit together well. Hobson states that it is not so much a question of ei-ther/or as it is a question of both/and. In commenting on the dialogue I am drawn to two basic question which Hobson and Schredl raise and attempt to address to some degree. The first is how one tests the va-lidity of each hypothesis and its effect on waking life. The second is that if continuity and discontinuity are both pres-ent in dreaming, and thus if dreaming is not entirely derived from waking experience, then just what is the source of the anomalous content and what is its function? I will comment on the second question, because it became the source of further discussion points throughout the dialog regarding whether dream content has any bearing on development and/or adaption to waking consciousness, whether it helps the dreamer to mature in a psychological sense and wheth-er the content contains new information which us useful in psychotherapy. Although the discussants generally approach the subject from a research background their views on this particular The continuity and discontinuity between waking and dreaming from the perspective of an analyti-cal psychological construct
... In his contemporary theory of the functions of dreaming, the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Ernest Hartmann (1996Hartmann ( , 1998Hartmann ( , 2010 argues that REM dreaming has a quasitherapeutic function performed by hyperconnecting and contextualizing the main emotional concern of the dreamer with other broadly and loosely related emotional experiences of the dreamer's life. Through this process of creatively hyperconnecting the dreamer's emotions, the disturbing emotions gradually become less intense or overwhelming and the emotional experience itself disappears from the content of the dreams as it is resolved or integrated. ...
... As we have seen, Hartmann (1995Hartmann ( , 2010 gives to the dream a quasitherapeutic function insofar as it would enable the dreamer to make "connections in a safe place"; in other words, the dreamer can associate and integrate traumatic experiences with the rest of her/his life in order to facilitate psychological healing. This idea is substantially compatible with the model of dreaming proposed by Rosalind Cartwright (2010), which stresses how dreams aim at reestablishing the self-organization threatened by emotional "crises." ...
The aim of this paper is to illustrate the meaning and functions of dreams according to control-mastery theory (CMT), a cognitive-dynamic relational theory developed and empirically validated
in the last 40 years by the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group (Gazzillo, 2016; Silberschatz, 2005; Weiss, 1993a; Weiss, Sampson, & the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group,
1986). CMT stresses how dreams reflect the person’s efforts to adapt to reality; their production is regulated by a safety principle and is an expression of human unconscious higher adaptive functions.
According to this model, dreams represent our unconscious attempts to find solutions to emotionally relevant problems. In dreams people think about their main concerns, particularly those concerns
that they have been unable to solve by conscious thought alone, and they try to develop and test plans and policies for dealing with them. After having introduced the reader to the main concepts of CMT,
we will illustrate the different facets of the CMT model of dreams with several clinical examples.
Finally, we will describe the core elements of recently developed models of dream functions and meanings based on empirical research on sleep and dreams, and we will show their substantial
compatibility with hypotheses proposed by CMT.
... The NM often depicts an unrelenting threat, whether being pursued by an aggressor , an out-of-control car, or an imminent tidal wave. The NM's main theme and imagery seem to grow more potent and imposing over time, with an increase in emotional arousal, and a resistance to the associative fluidity that normally permeates dreams [32]. This characterization of NMs as being associationally restricted is in line with findings in the literature on waking cognition, which shows that positive emotion increases associative access while negative emotion restricts and slows it [33,34]. ...
... Even in the waking state, NM participants report more bizarreness in their daydreams – bizarreness has been likened to broad semantic access, as in the AB task [22,24]. NM sufferers are also characterized by " thin boundaries, " a personality construct that includes creativity and artistic expression, both of which seem to draw more flexibly and frequently upon unusual associations [32]. Together, such findings support the expectation that NM sufferers may demonstrate an expansion of associational processing relative to control subjects. ...
... Domhoff (2011) posed the question as to whether these contents might be "cognitive glitches"; maybe related to the relative deactivation of the prefrontal cortex in REM sleep. In this sleep stage, the brain is hyper-associative and not capable of congruent plots and therefore sudden scene-changes, condensations (different people merged together), known settings with new elements in it and so on are likely to occur (Hartmann, 2011b;Hobson et al., 2000). As these features can also be found in daydreaming, it should be noticed that comparable phenomenology is not necessarily based on similar brain processes -as Domhoff (2011) might imply. ...
... Schredl and Doll (1998), for example, found that dream emotions were underrated by external judges looking at the dream reports compared to the dreamer's own estimation of his/her emotions within the dream. Similarly, the number of bizarre elements was lower • Dreams as epiphenomenon Flanagan (2000b) • Iterative Programming Jouvet (1998) • Guardian of Sleep Freud (1987Freud ( /1900 • Compensation Jung (1979) • Reverse learning hypothesis Crick and Mitchison (1983) • Mastery hypothesis Wright and Koulack (1987) • Mood regulation Kramer (2007), Cartwright (2010) • Systematic desensitization Perlis and Nielsen (1993) • Threat simulation theory Revonsuo (2000) • Memory consolidation , Hartmann (2011b) • Protoconsciousness theory Hobson (2009) ...
The ten commentaries to my discussion with J. Allan Hobson about the continuity and discontinuity between waking and dreaming (Hobson & Schredl, 2011) are very stimulating and I would like to thank all contributors. This reply will focus on four aspects: Defining continuity and discontinuity, how does the relationship between waking and dreaming work, possible functions of dreaming, and how to study the continuity (or lack of) between waking and dreaming empirically. Even though the question about possible functions is the most interesting one, I believe that much research is needed before this enigma can be solved. As dream research is such a small field, it is necessary that researchers discuss their theories openly and replicate each other’s findings, applying different methodological approaches for studying the same phenomena.
... patients I use writing to help open and expand therapeutic dialogues and to rework themes of grief. Just as art provides an emotional bridge between the artist and the viewer (Hartmann, 1999(Hartmann, /2011, so can writing offer both a transitional and a linking space for the thoughts, memories, and associations of the patient and the therapist. In this space, feelings can be brought from the inside to the outside, ideally allowing previously inhibited and repressed experiences to emerge, to be processed, tolerated, understood, and hopefully to be shared with others (Farber, 2005). ...
... patients I use writing to help open and expand therapeutic dialogues and to rework themes of grief. Just as art provides an emotional bridge between the artist and the viewer (Hartmann, 1999(Hartmann, /2011, so can writing offer both a transitional and a linking space for the thoughts, memories, and associations of the patient and the therapist. In this space, feelings can be brought from the inside to the outside, ideally allowing previously inhibited and repressed experiences to emerge, to be processed, tolerated, understood, and hopefully to be shared with others (Farber, 2005). ...
Writing offers opportunities to remember, witness, honor, memorialize, and work through various permutations of trauma and loss. The author demonstrates, via clinical and personal vignettes, how finding a “literal voice” can deepen and advance the treatment in unique ways for both the patient and the therapist. Analytic termination is also explored as a preparatory experience for dealing with subsequent parental loss. Various theorists as well as literary sources are cited to further illustrate creative ways to deal with the mourning process.
... [18][19][20] While some still posit that that dreams merely reflect the by-product of neural activity related to other processes, 21 the consistent presence of memory content in dreams and the relationship that has been identified between dreams and learning 13,[22][23][24] have led many contemporary theorists to suggest that at least one potential function of dreams is to aid in the consolidation and integration of memories into long-term storage and to facilitate novel connections and associations (e.g., the NEXTUP model proposed by Stickgold and Zadra 25 ). In this way dreams may aid in developing the framework of our autobiographical memories, 26 helping to shape who we are and how we view ourselves and the world around us. Moreover, the incorporation of past events in various novel scenarios may also act as preparation for the next time we are faced with similar challenges. ...
... Consequently, this function works by making emotional experiences less stressful. Hartmann refers to this function as "weaving" new material into the old one (Hartmann, 2008) or as adding new experiences to preexisting memories (Hartmann, 2007). Similar considerations are also held by other researchers. ...
The paper focuses on dreams containing images of natural elements. In theory and research, it is based on the extensive works by Ernest Hartmann, who discovered that these dreams appear with increased frequency in people after various traumatic events. The publication considers a broader framework of this knowledge. It assumes that intense dreams with natural elements appear as a result of any extremely intense emotional energy that has remained unexpressed or unexperienced in the dreamer, not just the traumatic one. These assumptions are verified on the basis of three case studies. The first case study contains a dream with the image of a tornado, the second a dream with the image of a storm and the third a dream with the image of a hurricane. Thanks to the analysis of these dreams, which resulted from current scientific knowledge, assumptions have been accepted that dreams with natural elements can be associated with unexpressed or unexperienced emotional energy.
... Alternatively, it is possible that a third variable explains the relation between DDs and psychosocial adjustment. This would be consistent with suggestions that DDs represent a failure in the emotional regulation function believed to occur during normal dreaming (126)(127)(128). Psychosocial maladjustment problems are also known to be related to problems in emotional regulation (74,(129)(130)(131). ...
Although frequent disturbing dreams, including bad dreams and nightmares, have been repeatedly associated with poor psychological well-being in adults, considerably less information exists on their psychosocial correlates in children. Recent empirical and theoretical contributions suggest that the association between disturbing dream frequency and psychosocial adaptation in children may differ as a function of children's negative emotionality. The current study assessed the moderating effect of very early negative emotionality (17 months of age) in the relation between disturbing dream frequency and psychosocial maladjustment (i.e., externalizing + internalizing behaviors) in a sample of 173 11-year-old children. Mixed-model analyses revealed that disturbing dream frequency was associated with some internalizing behaviors but that the association between disturbing dream frequency and most externalizing behaviors was moderated by early negative emotionality. The latter result indicates that the relation between disturbing dream frequency and externalizing behaviors was significant in 11-year-old children showing moderate negative emotionality early in life, but particularly strong in those children with high early negative emotionality. Whereas, a moderating effect of early negative emotionality was not found between disturbing dream frequency and internalizing behaviors, the findings highlight the more specific role of early emotional negativity as a developmental moderator for the link between disturbing dreams and externalizing behaviors in children. The results are discussed in light of recent models of disturbed dreaming production.
... Given that emotions are present in a vast majority of home and laboratory dream reports 7,14-17 and that some theorists [18][19][20] believe that affect plays a key role in structuring dream content, elucidating why people experience negatively toned dreams on some nights and positively toned dreams on others is of prime importance. Among the most studied factors hypothesised to influence dream valence are stress [21][22][23][24] , trait or personality characteristics [25][26][27] , history of traumatic experiences [28][29][30][31] , and psychological well-being 7,18,32,33 . ...
Although emotions are reported in a large majority of dreams, little is known about the factors that account for night-to-night and person-to-person variations in people’s experience of dream affect. We investigated the relationship between waking trait and state variables and dream affect by testing multilevel models intended to predict the affective valence of people’s everyday dreams. Participants from the general population completed measures of personality and trauma history followed by a three-week daily journal in which they noted dream recall, valence of dreamed emotions and level of perceived stress for the day as well as prior to sleep onset. Within-subject effects accounted for most of the explained variance in the reported valence of dream affect. Trait anxiety was the only variable that significantly predicted dream emotional valence at the between-subjects level. In addition to highlighting the need for more fine-grained measures in this area of research, our results point to methodological limitations and biases associated with retrospective estimates of general dream affect and bring into focus state variables that may best explain observed within-subject variance in emotions experienced in everyday dreams.
... As to dreaming, a fundamental property of this activity is that of making connections (see, e.g., Hartmann, 2010). The memory sources of a dream generally refer to recent or remote events in the dreamer's life, including significant "present concerns." ...
... Die Rolle des Traumes bei der Bearbeitung von Affekten und Emotionen wurde ebenfalls hervorgehoben (vgl. Hartmann 1998;Hartmann 2014;Kramer 2007). Seit den 1950er Jahren wurden parallel zu den kli- nischen Weiterentwicklungen der Traumtheorien, experimentelle Untersuchungen von Träumen unter kontrollierten Bedingungen im Labor durchgeführt. ...
Ungefähr ein Drittel seines Lebens verbringt der Mensch im Schlaf, und diese Zeit erscheint keineswegs verschwendet. Obwohl nicht alle Funktionen des Schlafes verstanden sind, ist dennoch unumstritten, dass Menschen schlafen müssen, um überleben zu können. Schlaf wird häufig als Ruhezustand interpretiert, in dem regenerative Prozesse stattfinden, die unter anderem das Immunsystem betreffen, das Nervensystem, den Knochenaufbau oder den Stoffwechsel.
... Metaphorical analogies were also used as a transformative practice. The concept of metaphors originates from the Greek word " metaphora " meaning " transference " , and serves as a bridge, or threshold (limina) to another reality, as it involves a shift in beliefs, values or relationships (Hartmann, 2011). Lakoff and Johnson (1980) are of the opinion that metaphors not only make our thoughts more vivid and interesting, but they actually structure our perceptions and understanding. ...
Curriculum leadership is a complex and demanding practice, which goes beyond the research and disciplinary expertise of the curriculum leader. Engaging and leading educators in a process of curriculum change is not easy: it can be a difficult, and sometimes chaotic journey which is often characterised by philosophical debate, the calling into question of current practices, fear, and even openly acknowledged resistance. In order for change to succeed, leaders of curriculum change must facilitate a shared ownership of the change process. This will require the bringing together of individuals with different personal priorities and rallying them around a common goal, e.g. designing quality Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) programmes. Our curriculum renewal journey involved the use of problem-posing pedagogies and required us to employ transformative types of leadership strategies. In this paper, we reflect critically, on our roles, as members of the ‘Abakhwezeli’, in stoking the fires of curriculum change in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Faculty of Education. Furthermore, this paper will highlight particular defining moments during the curriculum renewal journey, where stakeholder consultation and the use of transformative methodologies assisted in prompting deep, critical reflection on the (re)designing of our B.Ed programmes. © 2016, Foundation for Education Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
... This high activity in the limbic system or "emotional brain" has led researchers to believe that «dreams selectively process emotionally relevant memories via interplay between the cortex and the limbic system» (Seligman & Yellen, 1987). Interaction of the hippocampus and amygdala supports that dreams weave new material into established memory guided by emotion, organizing that memory, based on what is emotionally important to us (Hartmann, 2011). ...
Per inquadrare correttamente la presentazione si illustrano i paradigmi sistemici di riferimento oggi disponibili per una ricerca scientifica senza confusione paradigmatica, con i dovuti riferimenti storici ed operativi. Vengono presentati due esempi di un problema di double-bind attualmente presente nell’area di ricerca della tecnologia dell’informazione e della comunicazione computazionale (CICT) e l’ipotesi di percorso risolutivo che ha portato al superamento del problema, grazie ad un approccio creativo supportato da MPE. Sulla base dei successi applicativi di MPE illustrati e di evidenze neurofisiologiche, si avanza una ipotesi originale di ricerca sulla verifica della funzione neurofisiologica del sogno e della creatività dei sogni in applicazioni di problem-solving complesse.
... Cognitive and therapeutic studies of dream have confirmed the general existence of condensation phenomena in dreams: this data has a phenomenological value, which is independent from the validity of the theory in which Freud inserted his observations. In particular, Hartmann (1998 Hartmann ( , 2010) has underlined the frequent occurrence of condensation with examples taken from his own experience and from the literature and has interpreted this phenomenon theoretically as a manifestation, enhanced during dreaming, of the basic brain property of making connections. Chapter 7 of Hartmann (2010) has the significant title ''Connection as combination; connection as condensation; connection as metaphor; the dream as picture- metaphor''. ...
This paper, which is limited to the art of painting, aims to support the idea that a substantial insertion of concepts and methods drawn on dream psychology and dream neuroscience can contribute to the advancements of Neuroesthetics. The historical and scientific reasons are discussed that have determined the so far poor role played by the dream phenomenon in the developments of Neuroesthetics. In the light of recent advancements in psychophysiological research, a method of analyzing artistic products is proposed that is based on the recognition of precise features proper of the dreaming experience. Four examples are given for application of this method, regarding works by Giorgione, Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer, and Millais, respectively.
... So, even something as wondrous as the production of metaphors in dreams, as caused by the incorporation of separated single attributes into new contexts, followed by the waking life appreciation of such metaphors, could be analogous to the procedures involved in forming and discussing a Tarot card array, and then confabulating new knowledge from the array. (c) Hartmann (2011) ...
This commentary argues firstly that we are so far from an account of what causes dream content that we should be cautious in linking that partial knowledge to a quest for function. Secondly, that it may be that all current data on the causes of dream content allow for the null hypothesis of dream function, that is, dreams do not have a function and dreaming has not been selected for during evolution. Thirdly, that the difficulty in investigating dream function is that the experimental designs currently used are of necessity correlational rather than a random assignment to dream content conditions. And, fourthly, that the continuity/discontinuity continuum needs to be augmented by an insight dimension.
... A way to understand how dreams work and " think " is to work with typical themes of dreams (Domhoff, 1993), which can be considered prototypes of affective categories expressed through central images (Hartmann, 2007). Typical has different meanings: It might refer to something that is recurrent, or universal, or typical of dreams. ...
This study investigated the specificity of dream content and its continuity with waking life. For each subject (125 men and 125 women, between the ages of 19 and 29 years), a dream and a waking episode were collected according to “the most recent dream” method (Hartmann, Elkin, & Garg, 1991), which was also applied to “a recent life episode.” Both kinds of narratives were analyzed through the application of the Hall–Van de Castle System (1966) and a typical content analysis (a compendium of the most important typical dream taxonomies). In dreams, typical situations involved the dreamer trying to perform some physical action, most frequently with difficulties in mastering the task. Affective relationships and hostile interactions with an enemy were shared by both narratives, but cognitive activities were uncommon in both cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... REM sleep and phasic activity have been related to dreaming . The highly-distributed, related activation that links almost all recording sites may favor broader connections that create innumerable links so that many new and unplanned associations of context and past experience may be generated (Fuster, 2003; Hartmann, 1997), whereas uncoupling between the anterior and posterior associative areas represents a putative physiological basis for impaired reasoning and logical thinking in the dream state (Corsi-Cabrera et al., 2003). ...
EEG and MEG REM sleep gamma activity was studied immediately before rapid eye movement onset (PRE-EM), during REM sleep with eye movements away from eye movement onset -phasic-REM (Ph-REM)--and during REM sleep without eye movements, or tonic REM (T-REM). For this purpose, activity was segmented into three different time windows: of 62.5, 250 and 500 ms. Two strategies were used: one a statistical comparison of changes between T-REM, Ph-REM and PRE-EM; the other a descriptive approach using principal component analysis. Significant findings showed that both EEG and MEG gamma activity are higher directly before eye movement onset in PRE-EM periods and during Ph-REM than during T-REM; temporal coupling of electrical activity between the frontal and parietal regions is decreased, while temporal coupling between the right frontal and midline is increased. Just before eye movement onset, larger recording sites become related. For the first time, results showed a close temporal link between power and temporal coupling of fast oscillations andrapid eye movements in REM sleep, indicating increased activation, uncoupling between the left frontal executive areas and posterior sensory association regions and increased coupling between the right frontal attentional and midline alerting systems. Brain activity is reorganized by phasic events.
Memories of waking-life events are incorporated into dreams, but their incorporation is not uniform across a night of sleep. This study aimed to elucidate ways in which such memory sources vary by sleep stage and time of night. Twenty healthy participants (11 F; 24.1 ± 5.7 years) spent a night in the laboratory and were awakened for dream collection approximately 12 times spread across early, middle, and late periods of sleep, while covering all stages of sleep (N1, N2, N3, REM). In the morning, participants identified and dated associated memories of waking-life events for each dream report, when possible. The incorporation of recent memory sources in dreams was more frequent in N1 and REM than in other sleep stages. The incorporation of distant memories from over a week ago, semantic memories not traceable to a single event, and anticipated future events remained stable throughout sleep. In contrast, the relative number of recent versus distant memory sources changed across the night, independently of sleep stage, with late-night dreams in all stages having relatively more remote memory sources than dreams earlier in the night. Qualitatively, dreams tended to repeat similar themes across the night and in different sleep stages. The present findings clarify the temporal course of memory incorporations in dreams, highlighting a specific connection between time of night and the temporal remoteness of memories. We discuss how dream content may, at least in part, reflect the mechanisms of sleep-dependent memory consolidation.
Although we are beginning to understand the neurocognitive processes that underlie the emergence of dreaming, what accounts for the bizarre phenomenology of dreams remains debated. I address this question by comparing dreaming with waking mind wandering and challenging previous accounts that utilize bizarreness to mark a sharp divide between conscious experiences in waking and sleeping. Instead, I propose that bizarreness is a common, non-deficient feature of spontaneous offline simulations occurring across the sleep-wake cycle and can be tied to the specific characteristics of spontaneous thought as being dynamic, unconstrained, (hyper)associative, and highly variable in content. Rather than misrepresenting waking reality, bizarreness can be employed to investigate the very building blocks of spontaneous cognition. The absence of bizarreness in thought processes is imposed by automatic and deliberate cognitive constraints. By contrast, thought and memory processes operating on their own without such constraints are inherently marked by different degrees and types of bizarreness.
C. G. Jung gab der Arbeit mit Träumen eine zentrale Bedeutung. Träume geben Hinweise, wohin die Entwicklung gehen könnte, ermöglichen wieder Interesse am Leben, neue Sinnerfahrung, verweisen aber auch auf Verdrängtes. Sie regulieren Emotionen, besonders auch im Zusammenhang mit Beziehungen, und sind auch zentral wichtig für die therapeutischen Beziehung. Jung stellte eine Verbindung zwischen den Tagträumen und dem Traum in der Nacht her, indem er auf die grundlegende Bedeutung der Fantasie, der Imagination, verwies und deren enge Beziehung zu den Komplexen, den dysfunktionalen, emotionsbetonten Beziehungsmustern. Er postulierte, dass wir auch im Wachen unter der Schwelle des Bewusstseins weiter träumen – und dieses Phänomen brachte er in Verbindung mit unbewussten Komplexen. Diese Sicht wird durch aktuelle neurowissenschaftliche Forschungen gestützt, die ein Kontinuum zwischen Tagträumen und dem Träumen in der Nacht sowie eine Beziehung zur Kreativität postulieren und die in einer Analogie zum Verständnis von Imagination und Traum bei Jung gesehen werden können. Für die praktische Arbeit regt dies dazu an, den Nachttraum noch intensiver auch zusammen mit Imaginationen und den entsprechenden Emotionen wahrzunehmen und zu entfalten, und von da aus neue vielfältige Verbindungen mit dem alltäglichen Leben und aktuellen Schwierigkeiten zu erkennen und zu erfahren.
As part of the interdisciplinary project Atlas of Dreams, I created a series of artistic maps, that both show the places where 400 dreamers recounted their memorable dreams and also depict the emotional impact of these narratives in the grid of cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Atlas of Dreams aims at uncovering the emotional life of cities. I present, from my perspective as both a visual artist and an ethnographer, how the embodied art practices of derivé and the Surrealist techniques of frottage contributed to recreate the dream process, as well as to the creation of a multimodal ethnography.
Auf den ersten Blick scheint es keiner besonderen Rechtfertigung zu bedürfen, Traum und Schlaf in einem Zug zu behandeln. Wir müssen schlafen, und wenn wir schlafen, träumen wir, wenn vielleicht auch nicht immer. Hamlet schreckt nach der Äußerung eines intensiven Schlaf- bzw. Todeswunsches in seinem berühmten Monolog »To be, or not to be« auf: »Sterben – schlafen – schlafen! Vielleicht auch träumen! – Ja, da liegt’s: Was in dem Schlaf [dem Todesschlaf, Verf.] für Träume kommen mögen ...«.
Das Thema dieses kurzen Kapitels umfasst ein sehr weites Feld. Deshalb soll es eingegrenzt werden (1) auf die Darstellung verschiedener Gedächtniskonzepte. Ein zweiter Teil (2) wird sich der Frage zuwenden, wie Schlaf bzw. Traum Erinnerungen und Gedächtnisprozesse beeinflussen.
Este artigo objetiva analisar os símbolos das manifestações oníricas destacando seu caráter terapêutico e culturalista, pois cada comunidade tem chave própria para interpretar os sonhos, a partir dos códigos de sua herança cultural. Os sonhos fornecem suportes significativos para o equilíbrio e administração da vida. Para sustentar os argumentos sobre estados oníricos, são analisados conceitos relacionados à Multiculturalidade, e alguns conceitos como arquétipo e Inconsciente Coletivo da teoria de C. Jung – indicativos de que, embora os sonhos possuam aspectos universais, temas comuns a todas as culturas – são interpretados pelas particularidades do cotidiano do sonhador e da comunidade na qual está inserido. O presente artigo acrescenta aos estudos em Psicologia que as expressões oníricas nem sempre atuam conforme as disposições internas do corpo, nem conforme os arquétipos e símbolos, haja vista que são episódios ou instantes em movimento, com muitas possiblidades criativas. Tal perspectiva solicita novas metodologias terapêuticas e interpretativas, solicita uma abordagem mais culturalista na investigação sobre os exercícios oníricos. Para a realização deste estudo, foram investigados relatos, vídeos, enunciados de pessoas participantes da cultura religiosa católico-afro-indígena no Brasil. A partir de relatos e códigos da cultura religiosa brasileira, são analisados costumes específicos e práticas simbólicas da cultura brasileira no século XXI. A relação sexual, a alimentação e a conduta cotidiana, por exemplo, são elementos culturais ligados aos estados oníricos e são analisados a partir da teologia simbólica da cultura brasileira. O estudo conclui que as imagens ancestrais e inconscientes fornecem ao organismo humano respostas para conflitos e empecilhos na trajetória de vida. Daí há necessidade de gerar novas pesquisas, a fim de conhecer mais rigorosamente os estados oníricos.
After loved ones are dead and buried, wakeful feelings of loss have no perceivable object of loss. Do dreamed feelings of loss also have no object of loss, or is emotional loss in dreams indirectly pictured, perhaps symbolically? Presently, underlying feelings of loss in 100 student artists' dreams were analyzed in relation to third-party ratings of visible contents in the artists' dream depictions and in relation to artist-identified dream symbols. Dreamer-identified feelings of underlying emotional loss were associated with 2 dreamer-identified "symbolic" objects in their dream-a noose and flowers-as well as third-party-rater identifications of 'nothing but sky' in one frame of a dream's depiction. In addition, rater-identified dream depictions of underlying emotional loss overlapped with dream depictions identified by other raters as visually exhibiting either 'some sky' or 'dearth of greenness'. Possible reasons why these visual dream contents either point to or symbolically represent the 'unperceivable' object of loss are discussed.
The aim of this article is to address the issue of nightmares in the deaf population, given that there are no documented studies on this matter to the best of our knowledge. The study of nightmares in the deaf population is of high relevance given their specific characteristics (impossibility of verbalisation) and the lack of studies with this population. Nightmares are dreams of negative content that trigger an awakening associated with a rapid return to a full state of alert and a persistent feeling of anxiety and fear, which may cause significant distress. Various studies show that the deaf population has dreams with more negative imagery and emotions, are more exposed to interpersonal traumas and have higher rates of dissociation, than hearing people. These concepts seem to be connected given that, in the presence of traumatic events, dissociation may act as a defence mechanism and nightmares may operate as an adaptive coping strategy.
TBeing in a relationship is a potent modulator of dream content. The present study analyzed a series of 521 partner dreams recorded over a period of seventeen years. Within in this period, there have been three relationship periods with the same partner. The results are mainly in line with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, e.g., being separated within the dream was found more often in dreams stemming from the separation periods whereas doing something together occurred more often during relationship periods. The percentage of erotic dreams and the emotional tone of their interactions within the dream did not vary with waking-life relationship status; this might be explained by the effect of waking fantasies on dream content. The exploratory findings regarding composite/merging dream characters including the partner indicate that it might be very fruitful to study these types of dream elements (merges, composite characters, metamorphoses) in more detail because they might give clues to a possible function of dreaming like "weaving in" or integrating new information to adapt to existing cognitive and emotional schemata.
Could it be that the rationalism of Western modernity was inspired by a dream? In 1619, a twenty-three-year-old soldier named René Descartes separated himself from society to undertake a kind of personal philosophical retreat. More than fifteen years would pass before Descartes published the Discourse on Method, a seminal work of modern philosophy proposing that truth can only be attained through the disciplined application of doubt and human reason.1 On one memorable November night during his retreat, however, the young man experienced three vivid dreams in rapid succession. The first two dreams featured frightful forces of nature such as buffeting winds that blew him sideways and sparks of fire. They also incorporated baffling elements, like a stranger who offered him an exotic melon from a faraway land. In the third dream, Descartes was presented with a succession of Latin books and poems and invited to ponder his life's calling. This last dream culminated in a striking realization that the treasury of wisdom left by the ancients (represented by the Latin books) was contradictory and incomplete. Writing about these dream experiences later in a personal notebook, Descartes concluded that dream images so distinct, memorable, and persuasive were surely messages sent "from above. The irony of all this, of course, is that when Descartes reflected on his dreams, seeking meaning and guidance for his life, he was engaging in precisely the kind of ancient interpretive practice that his work as a philosopher would ultimately call into question. Descartes, often credited as the founder of rationalist philosophy, seems an unlikely disciple of dreams. Yet in seeking meaning in dreams, he was far from unusual. In the early seventeenth century, many elite, well-educated Europeans like Descartes understood dreams as means through which an individual soul might be touched by supernatural forces. Like people in most of the world's cultures throughout human history, early modern European men and women believed that dreams could be messages from God, the machinations of demons, a visit from the dead, or a vision of the future. Interpreting their dreams in much the same ways as their ancient and medieval forebears had done-indeed, often using the dream guides these forebears had written-they sought to decipher their nighttime visions, rejoicing in the ones heralding good fortune and consulting physicians, clerics, or magical practitioners when their dreams seemed ominous. This volume suggests that people of the early modern era-a period that stretches roughly from 1450 to 1800-had a special interest in the meaning of dreams. Attention to early modern discourses about dreams provides a unique opportunity to better understand a critical era of cultural transition. Historically, many cultures treat dreams as valuable sources of knowledge not available by other means. In some cases, the dream is believed to offer connection to the divine; in others, it has been seen as a pathway to obscure inner resources of the unconscious mind. Yet even when dreams are accorded authority as a source of knowledge, they are also sometimes scorned and marginalized, treated as unreliable, difficult to decipher, even deceptive. Those who interpret them have been dismissed as charlatans, whether they were the dream readers at work in the agoras of ancient Greece, medieval visionaries, Native American shamans treating a suffering patient, or medical men sitting behind a psychoanalytic couch. Given this dual quality, dreams and the struggle to explain them offer a unique vantage point from which to examine the social construction of truth and meaning in a historical period often considered the crucible of the modern world. Although dreaming is of course a universal phenomenon, the essays that follow focus on the role of night dreams and waking visions in the unique constellation of cultures that coalesced around the Atlantic basin during the early modern era. The period witnessed a wave of European colonial expansion into Asia, Africa, and, most extensively, the Americas that launched vast movements of goods and people, instigated conflict, fostered trade, and engendered a new intensity of encounters between cultures that in previous centuries had known little or nothing of one another. Historians use the term "Atlantic World," as a shorthand to refer to the Atlantic side of these global interconnections from the sixteenth century through the eighteenth century. In the Atlantic world, people were drawn into new, often devastatingly exploitative forms of economic exchange and social relations. Simultaneously, European colonial expansion undergirded the construction of modern nation-states and overseas empires.4 Perhaps most important here, the colonial encounter shook the foundations of traditional knowledge about the world, human beings, and the divine for both Europeans and the indigenous peoples they met and sought to dominate. Combined with Reformation contests over religious authority, questions about truth and knowledge became particularly urgent. Even as debates over the meaning and reliability of dreams and visions grew in prominence, scrutiny of reported dreams and visions remained a crucial means of interpreting the meanings of these new encounters. The essays that follow demonstrate that individuals met the world-altering changes of this era by deploying established forms of dream interpretation-forms that they endowed with a new significance. Thus, the early modern world left a mark both on dreams themselves and on efforts to understand them. The essays that follow propose that dreams-as lived, reported, and interpreted-played a significant role in structuring historic change. When men and women experienced dreams, recounted these experiences, settled on meanings, and acted (or not) in response to their nighttime visions, they reimagined the boundaries of their world and negotiated individual and communal responses to changing historical circumstances. These processes go on continually throughout human societies, but they were particularly important in colonial contexts, where European imperialism forced societies with distinct cultures into intimate and uneasy contact with one another; as it did so, indigenous and European ways of reacting to dream phenomena were put to the test in understanding, incorporating, and guiding individuals and communities through the difficult terrain of radical change. Reported dreams and visions, in this sense, played a role in shaping what the early modern Atlantic world would become. The scholars who have contributed their work to this volume approach dreaming in a variety of ways. Dreams constitute evidence of deeply significant personal experiences, to be sure; yet they are also phenomena that mediate between people or between different registers of social life, and they may serve to shape and authorize collective action. Methodologically, what unites the essays gathered here is that all of the volume's authors see dream experience as fundamentally social and deeply rooted in the particular contexts of early modern societies. Each of the essays locates reported dreams and visions within their specific historical world, and all of our authors assume that experiences of dreaming and visioning were not merely epiphenomenal reflections of "real" events, but had the potential to alter the histories of the societies concerned. We have included essays that represent the scope and variety of current scholarship on dreams and related phenomena in this period, but the reader should not think this volume comprehensive. Some areas are well represented, while many topics of great importance are missing from its pages altogether. The varied and powerful traditions of Central and West African peoples, whether in Africa itself or in New World communities created by men and women forcibly transported to the American continents, are wholly absent. Nor is there as much representation of Native American visionary traditions, including historical shamanic practice, as we had initially sought. These gaps and omissions reflect the vagaries of the response to our initial call for contributions, but they also reflect the shape of current scholarship of dreaming. All too often, the study of dreams, rather than being a tool for understanding the transformation of the Atlantic world, has instead remained a sidelight or a footnote to the more concrete concerns of economic, political, and social exchange. But a study of early modern cosmologies, both European and indigenous, proves that dreams, visions, and other related experiences continued to hold a significant-sometimes quite a central-place in these societies' efforts to make sense of the epochal changes in their world. To the extent that the gaps in this collection make clear the missing pieces in scholarship at this time, it could be, we hope, a spur to further study and to the collective endeavor of understanding this crucial period in its own terms. This introductory essay is intended to provide readers with a review of the historical backgrounds and interpretive approaches from which this volume's authors draw. It begins with a discussion of the methodological challenges that attend any discussion of dreams. We next summarize the dream beliefs that would have been familiar to early modern Europeans, as well as the different approaches found in Native American societies, identifying major influences and trends in premodern understandings of dreams. Then we explore the ways in which modern scholars have thought about the dreams and visions of the early modern period, creating a historiographical review of the literature on dreams and visions. Copyright
From angels to demonic specters, astonishing visions to devilish terrors, dreams inspired, challenged, and soothed the men and women of seventeenth-century New England. English colonists considered dreams to be fraught messages sent by nature, God, or the Devil; Indians of the region often welcomed dreams as events of tremendous significance. Whether the inspirational vision of an Indian sachem or the nightmare of a Boston magistrate, dreams were treated with respect and care by individuals and their communities. Dreams offered entry to “invisible worlds” that contained vital knowledge not accessible by other means and were viewed as an important source of guidance in the face of war, displacement, shifts in religious thought, and intercultural conflict.Utilizing firsthand accounts of dreams as well as evolving social interpretations of them, Dreams and the Invisible World in Colonial New England explores these little-known aspects of colonial life as a key part of intercultural contact. With themes touching on race, gender, emotions, and interior life, this book reveals the nighttime visions of both colonists and Indians. Ann Marie Plane examines beliefs about faith, providence, power, and the unpredictability of daily life to analyze both the dreams themselves and the act of dream reporting. Through keen analysis of the spiritual and cosmological elements of the early modern world, Plane fills in a critical dimension of the emotional and psychological experience of colonialism.
The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the concentration camps experience and Holocaust survivors' dreams during and after their imprisonment. It is an interdisciplinary approach, which brings together history with philosophy and psychology, trying to identify how dreaming in Holocaust survivors was affected by traumatic events. Twenty-two Holocaust survivors from Northern Transylvania were interviewed during the years 2006- 2009. Their memory of past events was investigated both through their post- Holocaust discourse, as well as through the dreams described by the survivors in the interviews conducted by the author of the proposed study.
Dreaming is the cognitive state uniquely experienced by humans and integral to our creativity, the survival characteristic that allows for the rapid change and innovation that defines our species and provides the basis for our art, philosophy, science, and humanity. Yet there is little empiric or scientific evidence supporting the generally accepted dream-based theories of neuroconsciousness. Dream Science examines the cognitive science of dreaming and offers an evidence-based view of the phenomenon. Today, such evidence-based breakthroughs in the field of dream science are altering our understanding of consciousness. Different forms of dreaming consciousness occur throughout sleep, and dreamlike states extend into wake. Each dream state is developed on a framework of memories, emotions, representational images, and electrophysiology, amenable to studies utilizing emerging and evolving technology. Dream Science discusses basic insights into the scientific study of dreaming, including the limits to traditional Freudian-based dream theory and the more modern evidence-based science. It also includes coverage of the processes of memory and parasomnias, the sleep-disturbance diagnoses related to dreaming. This comprehensive book is a scientific exploration of the mind-brain interface and a look into the future of dream science.
Da die Träume unsere ganze Wirklichkeit abbilden und kommentieren, wir Menschen aber nicht aus der Zeit fallen können, solange wir leben, bilden sie auch die ganze Zeit ab. Das tun sie aber in ihrer ganz bestimmten Weise. Träume bilden aber nicht nur ab; Träume schaffen etwas Neues, sind kreativ, besonders weil sie verschiedene Gedächtnissysteme miteinander verknüpfen. So wird die Vergangenheit im emotionalen Erleben aktualisiert und für die Zukunft geöffnet. Wenn wir Träume als kreativ verstehen, dann ist v. a. ihr finaler Aspekt wichtig und beantwortet die Frage, wozu der Traum geträumt wird. Deshalb sind Träume zu Beginn einer Therapie so bedeutsam. Träume beschäftigen sich oft mit dem Umschlag von der Vergangenheit in die Zukunft. Wenn unser Erleben von dysfunktionalen Beziehungsmustern geprägt ist, sind wir von der Vergangenheit bestimmt, in den Träumen, die sich mit diesen Mustern und den damit verbundenen Emotionen beschäftigen, werden neue Perspektiven sichtbar, zeigt sich eine Ahnung von Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten.
In den Träumen erleben wir die Zeit auch sehr geheimnisvoll: Jederzeit kann hier das ganze Spektrum der Zeit gleichzeitig erlebt werden; Verstorbene erscheinen uns im Traum in der Gestalt, die sie in ihren „besten Jahren“ hatten. Es gibt nicht nur die getaktete Zeit; es gibt auch die Dauer. Und nicht zuletzt: Träume, in denen die Zeit thematisiert wird, handeln von der Begrenzung der Zeit, vom Enden und damit von der Kostbarkeit des Lebens.
Religion in Personality Theory makes clear the link between theory and research and personality and religion. Presently, most personality texts have a limited discussion of religion and reference few theorists other than Freud and Maslow in relation to the subject. This book reviews the theory and the empirical literature on the writings of 14 theorists. Every chapter concludes with a summation of the current research on the theoristâ??s proposals. Reviews: "Frederick Walborn has written an excellent text that explores the degree to which classical personality theorists were personally influenced by and focused upon religion in developing their personality theories. Each theorist is presented in sufficient detail so that their personal views of religion are seen to influence the theories they developed. In addition, the current status of the empirical evidence in the psychology of religion is explored in the context of the theorist and theory to which the data is most relevant. Current and up to date, this text is appropriate for either a course in Personality or as an introduction to the Psychology of Religion. The author's own comprehensive theory of religion and spirituality creatively integrates the positive contributions of the classical personality theorist to the contemporary psychology of religion." -Ralph W. Hood Jr., Professor of Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. "In this interesting and accessible book, Frederick Walborn thoughtfully probes the place of religion and spirituality in the writings of a broad range of classical psychological thinkers and offers an insightful critique of current empirical research on the complex relation of religion and spirituality to individual well-being." -Michele Dillon, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire.
In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep, including consolidation into long term memory structures and integration into pre-existing memory networks; that dreaming reflects these emotion assimilation processes; and that the associations between memory fragments activated during sleep give rise to measureable elements of dream metaphor and hyperassociativity. The latter are a direct reflection, and the phenomenological experience, of emotional memory assimilation processes occurring during sleep. While many theories previously have posited a role for emotion processing and/or emotional memory consolidation during sleep and dreaming, sleep theories often do not take enough account of important dream science data, yet dream research, when conducted systematically and under ideal conditions, can greatly enhance theorizing around the functions of sleep. Similarly, dream theories often fail to consider the implications of sleep-dependent memory research, which can augment our understanding of dream functioning. Here, we offer a synthesized view, taking detailed account of both sleep and dream data and theories. We draw on extensive literature from sleep and dream experiments and theories, including often-overlooked data from dream science which we believe reflects sleep phenomenology, to bring together important ideas and findings from both domains.
The aim of this research was to test Ernest Hartmann's hypothesis that dreams have quasitherapeutic potential. I have examined 100 elderly people from nursing homes in Poland using both quantitative (Hall/Van de Castle coding system) and qualitative analyses. The results show clearly that their dreams differ from the Hall and Van de Castle norms, especially with respect to a considerably more frequent appearance of familiar and friendly characters (usually close family members) and positive emotions. This fact, contrasting with the feeling of loneliness and failure declared by most residents, suggests that their dreams perform the simplest possible therapeutic function: The dreams do not enable the dreamer to adjust to his or her new life situation, but, by denying the present situation, they "bring" the dreamer back to his or her happy past. A definite majority of the dreams entailed meetings with those close to them (alive or not) and most often described memories of real events. It is interesting that these memories are not nostalgic or unhappy for the dreamers; on the contrary, they make them more comfortable and happier in their present situation. It seems that to successfully accept a situation of exclusion (being put into a nursing home) depends on the effectiveness with which one is able to transfer one's interest from the present and the future to the past and that dreams can be truly helpful in this.
The dialog between Michael Schredl and Alan Hobson (Hobson, Schredl 2011) addresses a number of questions relating to the continuity hypothesis and Hobson's alternative hypothesis of discontinuity (based on his protoconsciousness theory). The dialog eventually focuses on the question that if continuity and discontinuity are both present in dreaming, and thus if dreaming is not entirely derived from waking experience, then just what is the source of the anomalous content and what is its function? My commentary addresses the dialog surrounding this question by referencing the arguments to a psychological model, not previously introduced into the dialog, but which has enjoyed a lengthy history and which incorporates the synthesis of both continuity and discontinuity similar in any many ways to the descriptions the discussants use in their dialog. The model does not necessarily provide conclusive answers but rather provides an alternative psychological construct for reflection and further exploration of these questions.
Pour la therapie des schemas, les premieres experiences de la vie relationnelle sont primordiales. Elles menent a la creation de memoires, en grande partie implicite. Par la suite, ces memoires sont reactivees dans des contextes specifiques, et tres souvent gerees a travers des strategies qualifiees de dysfonctionnelles. La therapie des schemas cherche a modifier ces memoires definies comme schemas. La therapie d’acceptation et d’engagement (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-ACT), de son cote, vise a modifier le rapport avec nos reactions decoulant de nos histoires d’apprentissage et a developper une plus grande flexibilite par rapport aux experiences internes comme les pensees, les sensations et les emotions. Plusieurs de ses outils sont inspires des methodes de pleine conscience qui cherchent a favoriser la position de temoin de l’individu relativement a sa propre experience. Malgre leurs paradigmes de depart differents, il est possible de faire jouer ensemble ces differentes approches. Le schema se manifestant a travers des reactions somatiques, des pensees, des affects, des tendances a l’action, il devient possible de chercher a changer notre rapport a ceux-ci avec la philosophie et les methodes de la therapie ACT, notamment la pleine conscience. Cet article presente une reflexion theorique sur l’integration des principes de la troisieme vague a la therapie des schemas.
Notwithstanding the progress in dream science, key questions concerning the individual significance and functions of dreams are still open in dream research and theory. Unlike adults’ common dreams, where interpretation is hindered by the bizarreness of their content, the simple forms of children’s dreams may help us understand the functions of dreaming. This study analyses the frequency and types of wish-fulfillment dreams of young children and their respective daytime experiences to which these dreams seem to refer, collected systematically to identify their daytime sources and develop a hypothesis about the functions of these dreams. The results show that children’s dreams often fulfill a wish originated in recent daytime, where it was associated to an intense affective state. Through such hallucinatory fulfillment, these dreams apparently resolve the associated affective state (the “affective-reestablishment” hypothesis). These results are consistent with Freud’s emphasis on wishes in the dreaming process, as well as with Solms’s neuropsychoanalytic model, where dream processes are initiated by the motivational mesocortical–mesolimbic system. The observed motivational and emotional nature of the sources of children’s dreams upholds the neuroimaging data that provide evidence of a greater activity of the brain regions involved in the reactivation of the affective components of memories during dreaming state. The affective-reestablishment function shown by children’s dreams is consistent with the dream-function hypothesis formulated by Freud and is compatible with emotional adaptive theories on dreaming. Furthermore, the affective-reestablishment function fits in with recent studies on the role of sleep in “dissipating” the emotional charge of recent daytime life and reducing next-day subjective emotionality.
Every dream makes new connections, and every dream is a creative product, not a replay. This article summarizes evidence that even dreams usually thought of as replays - recurrent or repetitive dreams and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dreams - turn out to be new creations, rather than replays. This article discusses the implications of this view for the functions of dreaming and for the clinical use of dreams.
A dream is always a creation — a work of imagination similar to a work of art — or at least the beginning of a work of art. And a dream is in many ways similar to a fantasy, reverie, or daydream: it lies on a continuum of mental functioning (and cerebral cortical functioning) running from focused waking thought at one end to dreaming at the other end. A dream is not a series of perceptions to which we respond logically or non-logically.
Hobson and Schredl's (2011) discussion on continuity and discontinuity between waking life and dreaming raised important issues about the nature of continuity. We will address several of the points from the debate, drawing on some preliminary data that has been collected investigating the nature of continuity between dreaming and waking. The present commentary will address the following: factors that affect continuity; themes of continuity; the protoconsciousness theory; 'disguised' continuity; discontinuity; and continuity of emotions. The findings presented will propose that emotionality and metaphor are key aspects to continuity; that the continuity hypothesis and protoconsciousness theory are complementary if one takes into account how dreams both reflect waking-life concerns and help the dreamer to progress with them; and that it may be useful to try to identify and talk about types and gradations of continuity and discontinuity, rather than simply continuity and discontinuity as two opposing concepts.
p>
Hobson and Schredl’s dialogue (2011) raised important questions concerning the operationalisation of continuity across sleep and wake, especially in contrast to discontinuity, and questioned the potential functionality of such continuity. We expand on these issues by focussing in particular upon the incorporation of different kinds of waking life experiences into dreams as both a methodological tool and a means by which the function of memory consolidation processes in sleep can be better understood. By drawing upon a theoretical framework of autobiographical memory, we propose that “discontinuity” needs to be operationalised carefully, and that a conception of discontinuity across sleep and wake can still provide insight into, and evidence for, underlying mechanisms of consolidation.</p
Scientific study of dreams requires the most objective methods to reliably analyze dream content. In this context, artificial intelligence should prove useful for an automatic and non subjective scoring technique. Past research has utilized word search and emotional affiliation methods, to model and automatically match human judges' scoring of dream report's negative emotional tone. The current study added word associations to improve the model's accuracy. Word associations were established using words' frequency of co-occurrence with their defining words as found in a dictionary and an encyclopedia. It was hypothesized that this addition would facilitate the machine learning model and improve its predictability beyond those of previous models. With a sample of 458 dreams, this model demonstrated an improvement in accuracy from 59% to 63% (kappa=.485) on the negative emotional tone scale, and for the first time reached an accuracy of 77% (kappa=.520) on the positive scale.
Le premier objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer la relation entre l’alexithymie et différents troubles du sommeil chez des patients diagnostiqués (N= 580) selon la polysomnographie et la classification de l’American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) et chez des sujets contrôle (N= 145) en utilisant l’Échelle d’Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items (TAS-20). Le deuxième objectif était d’estimer le lien entre l’alexithymie et des caractéristiques de rêves suivant un Questionnaire sur les Rêves de 14 items. Les résultats confirment un lien entre l’alexithymie et les troubles du sommeil. Sa prévalence était supérieure dans le groupe clinique comparativement au groupe contrôle, et était différente selon les troubles. Les hommes cotaient plus haut que les femmes à l’Échelle d’Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items (TAS-20) et sur ses sous-échelles DDF (difficulty describing feeling) et EOT (externally oriented thinking). L’EOT pourrait être impliquée dans les troubles de sommeil en étant l’unique sous-échelle, où un effet principal des diagnostics était significatif dans le groupe clinique. Pour les rêves, le score du TAS-20 corrélait positivement avec le facteur « détresse des cauchemars »; et négativement avec « rappel de rêves » et « signification des rêves ». Les sous-échelles du TAS-20 avaient des corrélations différentes: positive entre DIF et « détresse des cauchemars », négative entre DDF et « rappel de rêves » et EOT avec « signification des rêves ». À part quelques exceptions, ces modèles sont obtenus pour les groupes cliniques et non-cliniques, et pour les hommes et les femmes dans ces deux groupes. Ces résultats suggèrent un modèle consistant, et reproductible, de relations entre l’alexithymie et les composantes des rêves. Using a large clinical group of patients suffering from sleep disorders (N= 580) and non-clinical comparison subjects (N= 145), the first aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between alexithymia and several different sleep disorders diagnosed from polysomnography following the American Academy of Sleep Medicine classification system and using a Canadian French translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20). The second objective was to evaluate the link between alexithymia and dream characteristics using a 14-item Dreaming Questionnaire. Results confirm a relationship between alexithymia and sleep disorders. Its prevalence was higher in the clinical than the non-clinical group and differed according to sleep disorder diagnoses. Men scored higher than women on the TAS-20 total score and on the DDF (difficulty describing feeling) and EOT (externally oriented thinking) subscales. EOT could be implicated in sleep disorders pathology as it was the only subscale for which the sleep diagnosis effect was significant in the clinical group. Concerning the second objective, TAS-20 total score correlated positively with nightmare distress and negatively with dream recall; and correlated negatively with dream meaning. TAS-20 subscales were differentially correlated with the 3 dream factors of the Dreaming Questionnaire: DIF with increased nightmare distress, DDF with decreased dream recall and EOT with decreased dream meaning. With some exceptions, these patterns were obtained for clinical and non-clinical groups and for men and women. These results suggest a consistent and replicable pattern of relationships between alexithymia and dreaming components.
"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." --John Steinbeck Scientific research confirms what people have always known: answers, ideas, and inspiration do come to us in dreams. Harvard psychologist and world-renowned dream specialist Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., offers this rich collection of examples of how the world's most creative practitioners in art, music, film, science, literature and other fields have used the revelations of their dream life to inform their work. Dr. Barrett offers insights showing us how to encourage lucid, meaningful dreaming, and how to apply the meanings of our dreams to solving problems--from the everyday to the extraordinary. This is the stuff dreams are made of. In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Kahn dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King's haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee's tunes. In science, physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the Nobel Prize. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams reflect our past. In The Committee of Sleep, Barrett reveals how dreams can also tell us about our future potential--and how to reach it. Read this book, sleep on it, and see what transpires!
Subjects incubated dreams addressing problems chosen by the dreamer nightly for one week Approximately half recalled a dream which they judged to be related to their problem; a majority of these believed their dream contained a solution. Problems of a personal nature were much more likely to be viewed as solved than ones of an academic or general objective nature. Independent judges rated slightly fewer dreams as either addressing or solving the problems than did the dreamers, but the trends of their conclusions followed the same patterns as those of the dreamers.
The relationship between sleep states and memory consolidation has recently been of great interest. There are 2 basic types of memory-declarative and nondeclarative-subserved by different neural systems. Within these 2 memory types, there are several distinct subtypes. Efficient memory consolidation is differentially benefited by different stages of posttraining sleep, depending on the type or subtype of learning task involved. Because sleep is accompanied by dreams (sleep mentation), it is possible that dreams also are involved with the memory consolidation of recently learned material. An examination of this hypothesis suggests that dreams may reflect the ongoing memory consolidation process, but results do not support the idea that dreaming enhances this process.
Extends the work of L. M. Giambra (1974, 1977–1980, and 1979–1980) by examining intraindividual changes in dream frequency over a 6–8 yr interval and cross-sectional age differences with an increased sample size at all ages. Dream recall was measured retrospectively using the Night Dreaming Scale of the Imaginal Processes Inventory. A cross-sectional sample of 1,065 men and 1,263 women (aged 17–92 yrs) found fewer dreams recalled with increasing age. Women recalled more dreams and showed a less rapid decrease in frequency than men. In the longitudinal sample of 217 men, aged 24–77 yrs, and 116 women, aged 24–71 yrs, changes over 6 to 8 yrs were not wholly consistent with cross-sectional age differences. Many fewer dreams were recalled in senescence, although the reduction in recalled dreams began well before senescence. Men showed neither general nor age contingent intraindividual change over 6–8 yrs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A review of the literature in the area of hypnotic dreams suggests that physiological correlates of hypnotic dreams are better established than content characteristics. A study is also reported that examined the content of hypnotic dreams in relation to that of nocturnal dreams and daydreams from the same Ss. Ss were 16 undergraduates divided into deep-trance and medium-trance groups. Deep trance Ss' hypnotic dreams were similar to their nocturnal dreams and different from daydreams on a wide variety of characteristics including length, emotional themes, characters, setting, and amount of distortion. Medium trance Ss' hypnotic dreams were found to fall between their nocturnal dreams and daydreams on most of these measures. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reports of lucid dreaming (i.e., dreaming while being conscious that one is dreaming) were verified for 13 Ss (aged 21–51 yrs) who signaled by means of voluntary eye-movements that they knew they were dreaming while continuing to dream during REM sleep. Physiological analysis of the resulting 76 signal-verified lucid dreams (SVLDs) revealed that elevated levels of automatic nervous system activity reliably occurred both during and 30 sec preceding the onset of SVLDs, implicating physiological activation as a necessary condition for reflective consciousness during REM dreaming. It is concluded that the ability of proficient lucid dreamers to deliberately perform dream actions in accordance with presleep agreement makes possible determination of psychophysiological correspondence during REM dreaming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the lucid dreams of 50 Ss as to whether they are also fully lucid for the following corollaries: people in the dreams are dream characters, dream objects are not real, (i.e., actions will not carry over concretely upon awakening), the dreamer does not need to obey waking-life physics to achieve a goal, and memory of the waking world is intact rather than amnestic or fictitious. Many lucid dreams were too brief to evaluate on all corollaries. Only about half of the lengthier accounts were lucid for any particular corollary and less than a quarter were lucid on all 4. A related and reciprocal category of dreams that are lucid in terms of some of these 4 corollaries but miss the realization that "I'm dreaming" were also examined. The correlations among the corollaries, between correlations and length of lucid dreams, and between awareness and degree of experience with lucidity imply that they are on a cohesive continuum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Twenty participants hand-wrote reports of their dreams and waking life events and used an extensive lexicon of emotion words and types to rate the emotions experienced in each scene of each report. From these ratings, the incidence and intensity of 22 different emotion types in the two kinds of report were assessed. The incidence of emotion categories specified by a cognitive model of emotions was also assessed. Emotions were found to be present in virtually all scenes of all dream reports and only one of the 22 emotion types was never used in the ratings. The incidence of most of the emotion types was similar to that of reports of important life events. There was also evidence that the incidence of positive emotions was lower in dream reports than event reports, while the incidence of fear was higher. Specifically, the mean number of positive emotions per scene was lower and the proportion of fear was higher in dream reports than in event reports.
On the basis of previous findings of dream recall frequency being associated with thin boundariness and sensitivity we assessed the association between DRF and variables that appear related to these two measures. Data from 93 participants (47 males, 46 females, mean age 21.3 yrs., SD = 3.5) show that dream recall frequency (DRF) correlates marginally with neuroticism (r = .20) and interrogative suggestibility (r = .21), the latter result indicating that DRF obtained by questionnaire may be subject to demand bias. DRF had very low correlations with various other personality variables (need for cognition, personal locus of control, hypochondriasis, morningness-eveningness), and with narrative memory, confabulation of narrative memory, and habitual sleep length. DRF correlated positively with POMS elated (-depressed) for males (r = .31) but negatively for females (r = –.19), this significant difference in correlations may be due to sex differences in DRF in response to stress. The frequent findings of small or nonsignificant correlations between DRF and personality are discussed in terms of similar low correlations in personality psychology, but we conclude that DRF is usually sampled adequately, and that the results of no simple relationship with personality (except boundariness, creativity, and positive attitude towards dreams) are therefore robust and may indicate that dream recall is mainly determined physiologically.
To assess concordance between the Hartmann Boundary Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Inventory, 35 subjects, all musicians, completed both measures. A significant correlation of .50 was found. Thus, the construct of boundaries as an aspect of personality is further validated.
Ernest Hartmann's (1989) thick and thin boundaries are compared to Carl Jung's (1971) psychological types using Hartmann's boundaries questionnaire and the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. Multiple regression showed small correlations between Hartmann's boundary dimension and two of the four MBTI dimensions (sensing-intuitive and thinking-feeling). ANOVA demonstrated that boundaries scores differed for three of the four MBTI subscales (sensing-intuitive, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving). Results suggest that the thinking-feeling dimension is the most closely related to boundaries in the mind. Given the overall low relationships between boundaries in the mind and Jung's psychological types, it appears that the boundary questionnaire measures a personality dimension unique from those measured on the MBTI. Future research is also discussed.
In Experiment 1, while ranking the similarity of paired colors, 126 subjects generated feelings of anger and 115 subjects generated feelings of sadness. Paired reds became more similar during anger, and paired blues became more similar during sadness. This initial finding suggests that, from a first-person perspective, the phenomenal world looks redder during anger and bluer during sadness. On each trial in Experiment 2, while trying to discriminate whether a monochromatic face was liminally presented at the top or bottom of a screen, 30 subjects generated either anger or sadness. Better than chance discriminations were obtained only for the localization of red faces during anger and the localization of blue faces during sadness. This latter finding suggests that, from a third-person perspective, the neural threshold for red sensations is lowered by anger, and the neural threshold for blue sensations is lowered by sadness.
The present study investigated empirically whether individuals with thin boundaries as determined by high scores on the Hartmann Boundary Questionnaire (HBQ) [1] demonstrated heightened access to imagistic stimuli than thick boundary individuals. Two independent samples, visual art students and Wall Street brokers, were administered the Rorschach, a sleep and dreaming questionnaire, and a subliminal perception task which involved the presentation of both a subliminal and supraliminal stimulus. As expected, the majority of the visual artists scored thin boundaried and the majority of Wall Street brokers scored thick boundaried on the HBQ. Boundary thinness on the HBQ was positively correlated with Rorschach boundary disruption, higher dream recall, greater reported dream salience, and increased access to subliminal activation. These data are consistent with previous data [2] and support the contention that boundaries are a useful variable in conceptualizing how individuals process imagistically-based emotionally-toned information.
The Scientific Study of Dream Content. The Hall/Van de Castle System of Content Analysis. The Quality of the Data. Normative Findings on American College Students. Age Differences in Dream Reports. Crosscultural Similarities and Differences. Consistency and Change in Long Dream Series. The Continuity between Dreams and Waking Life in Individuals and Groups. The Repetition Dimension in Dreams and Waking Cognition. Appendix A: The Hall/Van de Castle Coding Rules. Appendix B: The Coding of a Sample Dream Series. Appendix C: Instructions for Reporting Dreams in Written Form. Appendix D: Statistical Appendix. Appendix E: Normative Tables. Index.
EVER SINCE Aserinsky's and Kleit-man's epoch-making discovery¹ dreams have come to be inextricably linked to emergent EEG stage 1 rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.²⁻⁶ Other evidence, however, has indicated that mental activity goes on during all stages of sleep7,8: that what distinguishes REM from non-REM (NREM) sleep is not the presence but the qualitative uniqueness of the mental content associated with REM sleep. According to Foulkes⁷ and Rechtschaffen et al,⁹ REM mentation is more dream-like, more elaborate and complex, more vivid, and more visual than NREM mentation, while NREM mentation tends to be more thought-like, rational, conceptual, and realistic. It is understandable therefore why so much recent interest has focused on distinguishing different sleep stages not only on the basis of neurophysiological and biochemical processes, but also on the basis of the types of thinking that characterize them.
The procedure
Cognitive Science has shown that there is an extensive, unconscious system of conceptual metaphor that is part of our everyday conceptual systems, and that can be thought of as a kind of ‘language of the unconscious.’ This system, for the most part, is not idiosyncratic, but defines conventional modes of thought within a culture and is expressed in the lexicon and grammar of languages. The unconscious metaphor system, since it structures ordinary thought, also structures dreams, connecting the hidden meanings of dreams to their overt meanings and images in a systematic way that makes use of what is important in the everyday life, conscious or unconscious, of the dreamer. Dreams, not surprisingly, typically express desires, fears, and other important concerns of the dreamer. Most dream symbolism makes use of this everyday metaphor system, and familiarity with the system and with the life of the dreamer greatly facilitates dream interpretation.
Almost every published study having examined the association between people’s dream recall frequency (DRF) and their Attitude Towards Dreams has found a positive relation. However, all but two of these studies have relied exclusively on Estimated DRF as the measure of DRF. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the hypothesis that attitude towards dreams is not related to DRF but that it influences the estimated DRF through a process of selective attention. A secondary goal was to evaluate the adequacy of Estimated DRF as a measure of diary DRF as well as in relation to Attitude Towards Dreams. Participants’ (N=82) Attitude Towards Dreams and Estimated DRF were assessed by a self-reported questionnaire while diary DRF was calculated from a dream log. As predicted, Attitude Towards Dreams and diary DRF were independently related to Estimated DRF. In addition, estimations of DRF were found to be inaccurate; individuals with a negative attitude towards dreams were more likely to underestimate their diary DRF. The data show that the choice of DRF measures has a direct and significant impact on the pattern and magnitude of the relation between people’s DRF and their Attitude Towards Dreams.
These studies investigated the relationship between the Boundary Questionnaire (BQ) [1] and measures of object relations (e.g., insecure attachment), interpersonal dependency, trait affect, and interpersonal behavior among undergraduate students. Study 1 (N = 300) examined the association between the BQ and four dimensions of object relations and two dimensions of interpersonal dependency, revealing predicted correlations with thin boundaries. Subsequent stepwise multiple regression revealed that insecure attachment was singly predictive of thinner boundary score. Study 2 (N = 75) was designed as a replication and extension, assessing the same dimensions along with measures of trait affect. Results revealed that thinness was related to trait anxiety, insecure attachment, and interpersonal dependency, respectively. Subjects also participated in a semi-structured interview assessing three dimensions of interpersonal behavior, demonstrating an association between thinner boundary score and interviewer-rated openness, comfort, and positive valence. Stepwise multiple regression revealed that openness and insecure attachment respectively predicted boundary score, accounting for 31% of the variance. These data provide further construct validation for the BQ, and for the concept of thick vs. thin boundaries as a broad personality dimension.
Two experiments investigating the effect of emotion on daydreaming were conducted. In Experiment 1, 44 subjects described a recent daydream and a memorable daydream, a laboratory-generated daydream without concurrent emotion and a laboratory-generated daydream with intensified emotion, plus a recent dream and a memorable dream. Two judges independently rated the dreamlikeness of each description on a blind basis. The daydreams generated during intensified emotion were judged to be significantly more dreamlike than all the other daydreams averaged together. The dreamlikeness scores for the daydreams generated during intensified emotion were almost identical to the drearnlikeness scores for the most recent dreams. In Experiment 2, 62 subjects described a topic-specific dream from memory, a topic-specific daydream from memory, a topic-specific daydream generated without concurrent emotion, a topic-specific daydream generated during intensified emotion, a topic-specific daydream generated after emotion-related thinking, a topic-specific daydream generated under hypnosis, and a topic-specific daydream generated during hypnotically intensified emotion. Two judges independently rated each description on a bizarreness scale and a symbolicvalue scale (ranging from “definitely only one level of meaning” to “definitely more than one level of meaning”). The topic-specific daydreams generated during intensified emotion, averaged across wakeful and hypnotic conditions, were judged to be as symbolic as the topic-specific dreams, and more symbolic than the other daydreams averaged together. This suggests that, when daydreams occur in the presence of an emotion, they picture or contextualize the emotion and appear more dreamlike, more symbolic.
This article reviews and summarizes a number of published studies as well as recent unpublished work by the authors on Boundaries (Thin vs. Thick Boundaries) and various aspects of dreaming. Analysis of data by groups as well as by individuals demonstrates a surprisingly high correlation between thinness of boundaries and dream recall frequency. Thin boundaries appears to be the only personality measure clearly related to dream recall frequency. We also demonstrate a relationship between thin boundaries and dream content. Dreams of persons with thin boundaries are rated more dream-like, more emotional, and more bizarre in a number of studies. Thin boundaries are correlated especially with Central Image Intensity—a measure that is elevated in powerful dreams, dreams after traumatic events, and dreams after 9/11/01. These results strengthen our view that the “trait” continuum running from very thick boundaries at one end to very thin boundaries at the other is closely related to the “state” continuum running from focused waking activity at one end, through waking fantasy and daydreaming, to dreaming at the other end.
The behavioral and polygraphic characteristics of wakefulness and sleep were studied in 9 premature guinea pigs, delivered by hysterotomy, between the 58th and the 66th day of gestation. In the 58 days old premature, the electrocorticographic patterns of sleep were already similar to those of the full term neonate; but signs of immaturity of the sleep-wakefulness rhythm were present: the percentage of time spent in paradoxical sleep (PS) was high (30 per cent); the periods of wakefulness were infrequent and short lasting (23 per cent), whereas the frequency of appearance of the periods of waking and sleep was very high. A prenatal organization of the sleep behavior was achieved between the 61st and the 63rd day of gestation. During this critical period, an increase in the duration of wakefulness periods was observed and the percentage of PS decreased abruptly down to the neonate rate (7 per cent). These observations suggest that cerebral maturation plays a role in the organization of the rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.
Affect appropriateness was determined for representatively sampled (REM) dream reports. Seventeen young adults were studied for two nights each. The following data were collected: dream reports; accounts of feelings experienced while dreaming; judgements of feelings appropriate to the dreamed situations had they occurred in wakefulness; and ratings of the correspondence of dream and waking-appropriate feelings. Outside judges given access to both the dream and its feelings rated correspondence in the same manner. Other judges were given access only to dream events and attempted to predict the dreamer's feelings. Where the dream had feelings and the dream situation was judged to require them, these feelings were judged both by the dreamer and the outside judges to be generally similar. The major feeling anomaly was affectless dreaming of situations requiring affect. Dream feelings were relatively difficult to predict, but not more so than waking ones.
The CI (Central Image or Contextualizing Image) can be considered the emotional center of the dream. The CI can sometimes be seen as picturing the emotion behind the dream—as in the paradigmatic “Tidal Wave Dream.” The CI is the best-remembered part of the dream. CI Intensity, rated on a reliable scale, is higher after trauma, after 9/11/01, and in dreams considered “important” by the dreamer. In this study we examined CI Intensity, as well as “dream-likeness” and “bizarreness,” of recent dreams, dreams that stand out, and earliest dreams in 40 students, 20 who scored very “thick” and 20 who scored very “thin” on the short form of the Boundary Questionnaire. Results showed, first of all, that for the group as a whole, CI Intensity was rated higher in dreams that stand out, and in earliest dreams, than in recent dreams. “Thin” students had higher CI Intensity than “thick” students in recent dreams and dreams that stand out, but not in earliest dreams. In “dreams that stand out,” there was a significant positive correlation between CI Intensity and how long ago the dream had occurred. The same was true for bizarreness but not for dreamlikeness. There was a significant interaction between thick versus thin boundaries and earliest versus recent dreams: in the earliest dreams (generally reported as occurring at age 5-7) thick and thin students had equal CI Intensity, but in recent dreams (experienced usually at age 18-20) there was a great difference between the groups, thin students having a higher CI Intensity. This is consistent with the view that all children may start with fairly thin boundaries, but that some undergo more change (”thickening“) than others between age 6 and 18.
in the wake of the [1991 East Bay Firestorm we] initiated an investigation designed to analyze the patterns of unconscious responses to a disaster / a further intention of our project was educational and therapeutic—to offer psychological assistance to the participants and education and guidance to the community of firestorm survivors / volunteers ranged in age from 23 to 68 / the 42 experimental Ss included 28 who lost their homes (fire survivors) and 14 others who lived in the burn zone but whose homes were miraculously spared from destruction (fire evacuees) / a control group of 18 individuals who lived outside the evacuation zone also participated / all Ss were given standardized instructions for completing a "Two Week Dream Journal"
for disaster survivors, remembering and exploring their dreams provides access to earlier emotional wounds that shape their post-traumatic response patterns / for the clinician and for the dreamer, making linkages between the present trauma and its emotional roots in the past can stimulate vital insights that may promote the resolution of both present and past traumas (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examines the use of the Boundary Questionnaire ([BQ] E. Hartmann; see PA, Vol 79:23456), which correlates ego boundary thickness with measures of dream recall and the tendency to experience nightmares, with a sample adolescents. The psychometric validity of the BQ was investigated, as well as whether the scale could differentiate between adolescents in a manner consistent with adult findings. 180 14–19 yr olds completed the BQ and the Sleep and Dreaming Questionnaire. Internal consistency of the overall BQ, as well as World and Personal Total subscores, was demonstrated. Similar to results obtained for adults, Ss with thinner boundaries on the BQ tended to be female and to report greater levels of dream recall, nightmare frequency, and nightmare disturbance when compared to a group of thicker boundary adolescents. Results are discussed in the context of ego boundary development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews the book,
The dream experience: A systematic exploration by Milton Kramer (see record
2007-01084-000). This book was written by an exceptional scientist and clinician and is based on 46 years of productive work in the field of dream research and sleep medicine. Milton Kramer presents some preliminary data about two patterns that describe changes in dream content over one night: the progressive-sequential dream pattern and the repetitive-traumatic dream pattern, each illustrated with an example. The first pattern reflects some kind of progression reflecting a successful coping with the problem of the first dream. The second pattern repeats one topic but without introducing successful coping strategies. Milton Kramer's book is a comprehensive overview of dream research over the last 50 years and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in pursuing this field of research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychology has had some success in describing personality differences, but the picture often appears incomplete, and it has been hard to find links between personality and the organization of the brain. This book proposes a broad and eminently useful new way of looking at individual differences. "Boundaries," according to Ernest Hartmann, pervade our lives: they separate inner from outer experience, past from present, sleeping from waking. The concept applies to both normal and abnormal behavior, to relationships, attitudes, states of mind and body. Boundaries may be a function of the biology of the brain.
Do your thoughts and feelings blend into one another? Do you like stories that have a definite beginning, middle, and end? Do you believe that "beauty is subjective"? Renowned psychiatrist Ernest Hartmann argues that the answers to questions like these reveal whether you have "thin" or "thick" boundaries and can tell more about your personality than more conventional psychological measures. People with thin boundaries slide easily from one feeling to another; they are both more vulnerable and more open to new ideas. People with thick boundaries, on the other hand, tend not to merge in relationships.
Hartmann uses vivid case histories and an in-depth questionnaire to explore the connection between boundaries and such things as age, gender, creativity, madness, and job choice.
The book explains how boundary types originate, how and why they may change, and how an understanding of this concept can help us better understand and control our emotional lives. "Boundaries in the Mind" is a fascinating scientific tool that sheds fresh light on our relationships and why we behave the way we do. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted sleep studies of 49 Ss going through divorce, 23 women and 26 men, at the time of the initial break-up and 1 yr later. 31 of these were diagnosed as depressed on a combined criterion of meeting the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) and a Beck Depression score above 14, and 18 met neither criterion. The depressed and nondepressed Ss did not differ in Dream-like Fantasy, but did in Affect Strength and type. Depressed Ss who incorporated the ex-spouse into their dreams at the time of the break-up were significantly less depressed and significantly better adjusted to their new life at the follow-up point than Ss who did not. These dreams were rated as having stronger affect. Persons who are depressed during a stressful time in their lives, who dream with strong feelings, and who incorporate the stressor directly into their dreams appear to "work through" their depression more successfully than those who do not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This report describes which emotions are judged to be contextualized or pictured by the imagery of a dream, based on a total of 1,401 dreams. The authors have developed and standardized contextualizing images (CI score). They have shown that the CI score is especially high in people who have experienced trauma. This article examines which emotions are judged on a blind basis to be pictured by the dreams. Data was obtained from 730 Ss. The authors find that the first 2 emotions, fear/terror and helplessness/vulnerability, are the most frequent. The authors also report that the CIs characterized by highest intensity scores tend to be those in which the emotion is judged to be fear/terror and helplessness/vulnerability. Positive emotions are fewer and appear to produce less intense images. The authors report that emotions judged to be pictured were relatively weaker and tended towards more positive emotions in a laboratory-style study, compared to home-reported dreams. In addition, the emotions pictured were more positive in a group of artists and professionals compared to groups of students. Overall, it appears that groups of interest are differentiated more clearly by the CI score than by the type of emotion judged to be pictured. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The aim of the present article is to carefully review the research carried out hitherto regarding factors influencing dream recall. With respect to the hypotheses explaining the variation in dream recall frequency (DRF) and a model of the dream recall process, the empirical data has been divided into two groups, trait factors and state factors. In the first part of the article the studies on the influence of trait factors are reviewed. The second part includes data concerning state factors, new empirical data and some final conclusions. State factors such as nocturnal awakening and focusing on dreams in the morning and trait factors such as fantasy life, creativity and visual memory play a major role in explaining variability in dream recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the relationship between dreaming and thick vs thin boundaries, a personality dimension that has been identified in clinical and research work with adult nightmare sufferers. A study by E. Hartmann et al (see record
1992-24033-001) was replicated, but with methodological alterations (using a dream diary and controlling for dream recall frequency). In a dream diary study, 17–68 yr old (32 females and 18 males) with thin boundaries, as indicated by a boundary questionnaire, reported more frequent dream recall and more intense dreams than did Ss with thick boundaries. Also, thin boundary Ss were more likely to report that they had had nightmares, especially recurrent nightmares, during childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The process by which self-awareness or subjective experience (consciousness) is maintained has been conceptually and phenomenologically associated primarily with the waking state. In the present study the authors investigate, through introspective reports, the existence and variety of self-awareness in dreaming and whether this phenomenon could, under certain conditions, be distinguished into primary and reflective consciousness. For consistency with theory and dreaming research, instead of reflective consciousness we used the term 'reflective awareness.' Findings indicate that self-awareness in dreaming can be found in its both primary and reflective modes. Phenomenologically, primary consciousness exists in four basic modalities: perceptual, experiential, cognitive, and memory-based recognition. Expressions of these primary consciousness modalities are accessible through introspective interviews during waking. Based on participants' statements, reflective consciousness (awareness) in dreaming was initiated by noticing positive and negative feelings and by personally defined oddities. These findings point to a possible oscillation between primary and reflective consciousness in dreaming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews psychological and psychophysiological frameworks for understanding the experience of lucid dreaming (knowing you are dreaming while the dream is ongoing). Several of the psychological approaches take an information processing view of lucid dreaming. One approach sees lucidity in sleep as a cognitive tool whereas others put more emphasis on a model of self awareness. Psychophysiological perspectives show that lucidity is a significantly more aroused REM sleep experience than nonlucid REM sleep. The EEG and lucidity work is based on the association of lucidity to meditation. This sleep experience is also viewed from the framework of spatial skills especially as implicated in vestibular system functioning. The connectionist view of neural nets is another explanatory vehicle. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted a home-based study of children's dream reports in which parents used open-ended interviewing styles to collect 88 dream reports from 14 4–10 yr olds. Particular attention was paid to formal properties, including characters (e.g., family members, human strangers, frightening characters), settings, self-representation, and bizarreness. In contrast to children's dream reports collected in sleep laboratory studies (D. Foulkes, 1982), Ss were able to give long, detailed reports of their dreams that were similar to those of adults in terms of length, number of characters and settings, and presence of dream bizarreness. Data seem to refute claims by both Foulkes and Piaget (1962 [1946]) that young children are unable to actively represent themselves in their dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
After completing a short form of the Boundary Questionnaire, 17 students with high scores indicative of thin boundaries and 13 students with low scores indicative of thick boundaries participated in a testing session in which they reported their most recent dream, their most recent daydream, an outstanding dream, and an outstanding daydream. Dreams and daydreams were rated on 3 8-point scales (bizarreness, dreamlikeness, emotionality) by 2 independent raters who were blind to Boundary Questionnaire scores. The dream reports were rated significantly more bizarre, more dreamlike, and more emotional than the daydream reports. In addition, the thin boundaried Ss' reports were significantly more bizarre than the thick boundaried Ss' reports. Indeed, the recent daydreams of Ss with thin boundaries were as bizarre as the recent dreams of those with thick boundaries. Test-retest reliability for the Boundary Questionnaire using data from 90 students in general psychology classes was satisfactory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Explored the relationship of the personality measure of thin and thick boundaries to dream recall frequency and to dream content among 757 graduates and undergraduates and patients with sleep problems (aged 18–60 yrs). There was a highly significant positive correlation between thinness of boundaries, measured on the Boundary Questionnaire by R. Harrison et al (unpublished manuscript), and frequency of dream recall. A subsample of 64 frequent dreamers (7 or more dreams per week) scored significantly thinner than a group of 69 nondreamers on the Boundary Questionnaire and on each 1 of the 12 content categories of the questionnaire. Dream content was examined in smaller samples of Ss who scored either very thick or very thin. Dreams of "thin" Ss were rated significantly more vivid, more emotional, and with more interaction between characters, compared with dreams of "thick" Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
"Big dreams" are hard to define. This paper considers "big" dreams under several more easily definable subcategories: memorable dreams; important dreams (labeled by dreamer); significant dreams; and impactful dreams. Past studies are reviewed, and five new preliminary studies are presented showing that a powerful Central Image (CI) distinguishes "big" dreams in all subcategories. 1) Dreams labeled "important" by the dreamer have higher CI intensity than dreams labeled "unimportant." 2) Dreams labeled "especially significant" have especially high CI intensity. 3) Impactful dreams (leading to a new discovery) have a very high CI intensity. 4) The dreams of people who score very "thin" on the Boundary Questionnaire (BQ)--sometimes called "dream-people"--have higher CI intensity than the dreams of people who score "thick." 5) In a separate, larger group, there is a significant positive correlation between CI intensity and "thinness." It appears that CI intensity is an important measure of the "bigness" of dreams. The present results are consistent with the Contemporary Theory of Dreaming which states that dreams involve making connections guided by emotion, that the Ci of the dream pictures the emotion, and that CI intensity measures the power of the underlying emotion. "Big" dreams are dreams with great emotional power and have powerful Central Images. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Many similarities are noted between the process of dreaming and the process of psychotherapy as usually practiced in the many dynamic psychotherapies deriving from Freud's work. Dreaming and psychotherapy both involve freeing of associations, prevention of acting out, and making psychological connections in many different senses, all occurring in a safe environment. In REM sleep, safety is provided by the bed and by muscular paralysis; in therapy, by the relationship with the therapist (alliance), the setting, and the rules of conduct. The similarity can be seen particularly clearly in the period following an acute trauma. Dreaming and therapy each give the patient a safe place in which to make connections between the trauma and other relevant memories, themes, and issues so that the trauma and its associated disturbing affect are eventually integrated into the patient's life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In a small-scale study, R. Rados and R. D. Cartwright (1982) found that presleep thought samples, but not postsleep-elicited significant concerns, could be matched with a night's REM dream content on a cross-participant basis. The authors, in an attempt to replicate and expand on the findings of Rados and Cartwright, collected either presleep thought samples or significant concerns for later blind judge matching with 8 female undergraduate students' mentation reports from the night's first REM period over 8 nonconsecutive nights each. Although some Ss' first-REM dreams were successfully identified by judges from presleep ideation, both vs presleep ideation from the same person on other nights and vs presleep ideation from other persons on the same night, there was no overall group pattern suggesting continuity of dream content with presleep ideation. The authors also did not replicate the claimed superiority of thought samples vis á vis significant concerns. Reliable content analysis showed a different proportional distribution of life experiences in waking and dream ideation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A. Kekule's dreams are often cited as the paradigm of how scientific discoveries take shape in dreams. However, the chemist's dream accounts of 1890 have been seriously questioned by recent authors arguing that he did not have the dreams at all, that they arose out of egoistic needs and that dreams were not the primary cause of his scientific achievements. This paper tries to relate the story of the Kekulé dream controversy in the recent chemical literature, and to present a detailed refutation of 2 positivistically-biased anti-Kekulists. The author strongly argues for the view that creative achievements are instigated by dreams or forms of dreaming as the regular case. Spontaneous forms of consciousness try out in a groping manner possible solutions and present them to waking consciousness in sudden Eurekas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Maintains that a wide gap exists between the dream researcher and the dream interpreter that is due to an overemphasis by dream researchers of the biological underpinnings of dreaming sleep and an underemphasis on dreaming as a subjective experience. Findings from the literature in such areas as psychophysiological parallelism and interactions are discussed from the perspective of H. Kohut's (1977, 1984) self psychology, with which they are strikingly consistent. Evidence demonstrates that dreaming serves 3 primary functions: (1) the maintenance of self-cohesiveness, (2) the restoration of a crumbling or fragmenting self, and (3) the development of new psychic structures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The function of dreams in adaptation to stress over time was investigated. 93 male undergraduates were randomly administered either an easy or difficult version of a sham intellectual aptitude test as a differential stress manipulation. Ss' reports of presleep and morning mood, dream pleasantness, and dream content were then examined over a 6-day period following administration of the stressor. It is hypothesized that the pattern of changes observed in mood and dream experience would correspond with the oscillation between mastery and avoidance dreams predicted by the disruption-avoidance-adaptation model of dream function. Results indicate that exposure to the high stress situation was associated with an apparent oscillation in dream pleasantness and concomitant affect over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The three-dimensional “AIM model” proposed by Hobson et al. is imaginative. However, many kinds of data suggest that the “dimensions” are not orthogonal, but closely correlated. An alternative view is presented in which mental functioning is considered as a continuum, or a group of closely linked continua, running from focused waking activity at one end, to dreaming at the other. The effect of emotional state is increasingly evident towards the dreaming end of the continuum.
[Hobson et al.; Nielsen; Solms]
Notes that a contextualizing image (CI) is a powerful central image in a dream which can be seen as picturing, or providing a picture-context for, the dominant emotion of the dreamer. Two sets of dream data were studied. One "most recent dream" was obtained from each of 306 students (aged 18–52 yrs). The CI score measuring presence and intensity of a contextualizing image, scored on a blind basis, was higher among Ss who reported any abuse (physical or sexual, childhood or recent) compared to those who reported no abuse. Second, dreams were collected from 10 Ss who had experienced a variety of acute traumas. In 4 of the 10 cases, the CI score was higher after trauma than before, but the difference was statistically significant in only 1 case. The CI scores in the 10 trauma Ss overall were found to be significantly higher than the CI scores in the overall student group. CI scores in the trauma group were also significantly higher than in an age and gender matched control subgroup of the students. The emotions rated as contextualized by the dream images tended towards more negative than positive emotions. However, this was true in the dreams of students who reported no abuse, as well as those of students who reported abuse and the dreams of the group who had experienced trauma.
Prior studies indicate that a personality dimension reflecting thin versus thick boundaries is related to global ratings of dream vividness, amount of emotion, and amount of interaction. In the present study, these relationships were examined by relating scores from the Boundary Questionnaire ( Hartmann, 1991) to dream content among 80 patients seen at a sleep disorders center. Thinness of boundaries was significantly correlated with dream length, vividness, amount of detail, and amount of emotion, and showed a trend towards correlation with aggressive interaction and nightmare-likeness. When dream length was statistically controlled, the relationships between boundary structure and dream content were no longer statistically significant, although amount of emotion and amount of detail showed a trend in the original direction. A principal components analysis was used to identify three factors in the dream content data (eigenvalues > 1.0). The first factor involved dream length, vividness, detail, and emotion; the second involved love/tender interaction and sexual interaction; and the third involved aggressive interaction. Thinness of boundaries showed a significant correlation with only the first factor. We suggest that the trait continuum ranging from thick to thin boundaries is similar to the state continuum running from focused waking thought to dreaming, and that both continua refer to the same aspects of cortical activity.