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PubMed1978

The single-mindedness and isolation of dreams.

Dreams are descirbed as "single-minded," meaning that they tend to be unaccompanied by other, simultaneous streams of thought and imagery. Four manifestations of single-mindedness are discussed: (1) the absence of a reflective awareness that one is dreaming while the dream is in progress; (2) the absence of alternative images and thoughts while attending to the primary dream content; (3) the tendency for dream content to stay on a single thematic track; (4) the absence of a set to remember the dream while it is in progress. This isolation of dream content, from other thought systems is then considered as but one manifestation of a more generalized relative isolation of dream content, which includes isolation from presleep stimuli, contemporaneous stimuli, organismic state, and autonomic and motor activity. Some of the implications of dream isolation for dream psychophysiology and theories of dreaming are outlined.

Arousal↗
PubMed1982

Analysis of the dream contents in Japanese college students by REMP-awakening technique.

An experiment was performed on 39 college students aged from 19 to 21 years using the REMP-awakening technique. The contents of 297 dreams were analyzed according to the Hall-Van de Castle scale. The recall rate was 76% (home) and 85.5% (laboratory). The dream with past experiences was 75% (home), 64.9% (laboratory) and the bizarre dream was 30.5% (home), 28.8% (laboratory) and the dream experiment was 3.6% (home) and 11.7% (laboratory). Emotional and color dreams were noted more in females than in males. Female dreamers tended to be the victim of aggressive dreams as compared with the males. In our student dreams, there were more characters and they dreamed more about food and less about movement activity than in the American students of Hall & Van de Castle. From the polygraphic records, the relation between verbal activity and submental EMG activity, the pulse rate variability and emotionality in dreams, the number of reported dreams and the amount of body movement, eye movement density and the vividness of dream contents were revealed.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Perception of dreams and subjective sleep quality in patients with myasthenia gravis.

OBJECTIVES: Recent reports have led to the hypothesis of a central nervous system involvement in myasthenia gravis (MG). As the central cholinergic system also plays an important role in sleep/wake rhythms and in the regulation of REM sleep, sleep perception and dreaming may be altered in MG patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventeen consecutive patients with MG (mean age 49.5 +/- 13.6 years) and 14 healthy controls (mean age 50.5 +/- 16.0 years) were investigated by means of the Self-Rating Depression Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Quality of Life Index, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale as well as a self-rating questionnaire for sleep and awakening quality and dreaming for 2 weeks. RESULTS: Subjective sleep and awakening quality and sleep efficiency were reduced (p < 0.05), and the number of nocturnal awakenings (p = 0.02) as well as dream recall frequency (p = 0.02) were increased in patients with MG. Patients reported more often body-related and tactile sensations during dreaming (p = 0.001) and dreamed less often visually (p = 0.04). Dream content, emotions, and dream sources did not differ between both groups. Whereas the number of awakenings was related to dream recall frequency in healthy controls, no such a relationship was found in the patient group. CONCLUSION: There is no clear evidence for the arousal-retrieval model of dream recall in patients with MG, but more for the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. Other factors such as the functional state of the brain, possibly related to a central cholinergic involvement in MG or its anticholinesterase treatment, may be important in explaining dream recall in this patient group.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Psychoanalytic dream theory and recent neurobiological findings about REM sleep.

I have reviewed Hobson and McCarley's activation-synthesis hypothesis of dreaming which attempts to show that the instigation and certain formal aspects of dreaming are physiologically determined by a brainstem neuronal mechanism, their reasons for suggesting major revisions in psychoanalytic dream theory, and neurophysiological data that are inconsistent with their hypothesis. I then discussed the concept of mind-body isomorphism pointing out that they use this concept inconsistently, that despite their denials they regularly view physiology as primary and psychological processes as secondary, and that they frequently make the error of mixing the languages of physiology and psychology in their explanatory statements. Finally, in order to evaluate Hobson and McCarley's claim that their findings require revision of psychoanalytic dream theory, I examined their discussions of chase dreams, flying dreams, sexual dreams, the formal characteristics of dreams, the forgetting of dreams, and the instigation of dreams. I concluded that although their fascinating physiological findings may be central to understanding the neurobiology of REM sleep, they do not alter the meaning and interpretation of dreams gleaned through psychoanalytic study.

Brain Stem↗
PubMed2000

[Neurological interpretation of dreams] .

Cerebral cortical activity is constant throughout the entire human life, but substantially changes during the different phases of the sleep-wake cycle (wakefulness, non-REM sleep and REM sleep), as well as in relation to available information. In particular, perception of the environment is closely linked to the wake-state, while during sleep perception turns to the internal domain or endogenous cerebral activity. External and internal information are mutually exclusive. During wakefulness a neuronal mechanism allows attention to focus on the environment whereas endogenous cortical activity is ignored. The opposite process is provided during sleep. The function external attention-internal attention is coupled with the two modes of brain function during wakefulness and during sleep, providing two possible cortical status: thinking and dreaming. Several neurological processes may influence the declaration of the three states of being or may modify their orderly oscillation through the sleep-wake cycle. In addition, endogenous information and its perception (dreams) may be modified. Disturbances of dreaming may configurate in different general clinical scenarios: lack of dreaming, excess of dreaming (epic dreaming), paroxysmal dreaming (epileptic), nightmares, violent dreaming, daytime-dreaming (hallucinations), and lucid dreaming. Sensorial deprivation, as well as the emergence of internal perception may be the underlying mechanism of hallucinations. The probable isomorphism between hallucinations and dreaming is postulated, analyzed and discussed.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed2004

[Mechanism and function of dreams].

Man has been fascinated by his dreams for ages. The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep revived the interest in dream research. The objective study of dream content allowed the characterization of the main features of human dreams: its perceptual content, its pervasive emotional background, its oddity. The particular pattern of cerebral activity observed during REM by functional neuroimaging seems to match these features. Firstly, the perceptual aspects of dreams would be related to the activation of posterior (occipital and temporal) cortices. Accordingly, patients with occipito-temporal lesions may report a cessation of visual dreams imagery. Secondly, emotional features in dreams would be related to the activation of amygdalar complexes, orbito-frontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. Thirdly, the activation of mesio-temporal areas would account for the memory content commonly found in dreams. Fourthly, the relative hypoactivation of the prefrontal cortex would explain the alteration in logical reasoning, working memory, episodic memory and executive functions that manifest themselves in dream reports from REM sleep awakenings. Despite these recent results, the precise neural correlates of dreaming remain elusive. Likewise, the functions of dreams are unknown, although usually related to the functions of sleep itself.

Brain Injuries↗
PubMed1993

Pain in dreams.

Little is known about pain in dreams. Some studies indicate that it is rare and that it may be beyond the representational capability of dreaming. However, the present study describes experiences of dreamed pain that were reported incidentally in experiments on the effects of somatosensory stimulation administered during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreams were selected from five subjects who had reported at least one instance of dreamed pain in these studies. The subjects had undergone 42 stimulation trials over 20 nights and had reported a total of 13 dreams (31%) with one or more references to pain. Most often, these references appeared to be direct, untransformed incorporations of real sensations produced by stimulation. Pain was the principal motivating agent in a majority of these dreams and was in many cases associated with strong emotion--typically anger. Dreams often depicted the subjects' attempts to obtain relief from pain, in some cases by repetition of actions, in others by metaphoric renditions of the goal. The results indicate that although pain is rare in dreams, it is nevertheless compatible with the representational code of dreaming. Further, the association of pain with dream content may implicate brainstem and limbic centers in the regulation of painful stimuli during REM sleep.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Enhancing dream pleasure with Senoi strategy.

A strategy to increase pleasure and reduce displeasure in dreaming and dream-related behaviors involved three skill sessions in which participants (N = 63) practiced (a) positive expectations for content and outcome of dreams; (b) thought stopping for unpleasant dreams; and (c) self-suggestion that dreams would be recalled and would be pleasant. Findings from pre- and post-survey schedules (pleasure and displeasure ) and from a daily dream behavior check list showed that dreaming and behaviors associated with dreaming were significantly more pleasurable 12 weeks after the dream interventions and maintenance of a daily dream record. A 6-month follow-up showed the changes to be still in effect.

Cognition↗
PubMed1996

Direct interpretation of dreams: neuropsychology.

Although the role and importance of the interpretation of dreams has been de-emphasized in clinical discussions for the past several decades, new models of dream physiology suggest the central role and importance of dreams in the regulation of behavior. According to a body of current research, dreams potentiate new pathways of problem solving. A review of the neurophysiological literature pertinent to direct interpretation suggests dreams are sustained by midbrain anatomical networks with feed-back and feed-forward links to the cortex. The anatomical networks are termed the endogenous-intraorganismic system, the exogenous-transactional system, and the relational system that correspond to subjective, objective, and relational dreams in direct interpretation. Just as ordinary thought is the province of the dominant or left hemisphere, dreams are the province of the nondominant or right hemisphere. During REM states new pathways of problem solving are laid down by the nondominant hemisphere. In the awake state, thought and behavior about content that relates to dream material follow these pathways. The new neuropsychology of dreams reaffirms the central role of dreams in the organization of affect, emotion, intention, and general adaptation.

Brain↗
PubMed2001

Dreams in obsessive-compulsive disorder: an analysis of semantic and emotional content compared to controls.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the content of the dreams of obsessive-compulsive outpatients in the light of the following postulate: if dreams play a role in the processing of information and mental storage of events of the day, the dream recollections of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients should present evidence of diurnal obsessive or ritual themes. METHOD: On seven successive mornings, immediately after awakening in their home environment, 10 nondepressed OCD patients and 11 controls recorded their recollections of the night's dreams on an audiotape. After randomization of dreams, two judges were asked to carry out a blind evaluation of the emotional characteristics perceptible in these dreams and the presence of obsessive or ritual themes. RESULTS: 47 dreams were collected in the OCD group and 55 in the control group. No differences were found between the two groups regarding anxiety, sadness, the theme of failure, or the presence of obsessive or ritual themes. About 60% of OCD patients and 73% of the control group recounted dreams expressing anxiety, sadness, or failure. Most surprisingly, in the control group as well as in the OCD group, about one-third of subjects presented obsessive or ritual themes in their dreams. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that there is no evident link between diurnal mental activity and the morning recollection of nocturnal dreams regarding anxiety, failure, sadness, and obsessive-compulsive themes.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Dream screen phenomenon in psychotherapy and artistic work.

The aim of this article is to offer a point on the meaning of the dream screen phenomenon in psychotherapy and artistic work. Some current theories of early ego development, the formation of the dream screen and dream imagery seem to match the theories of symbol formation, artistic and literary creativity. In actual dreaming, the dream screen can exist in the form of empty sheets of paper, but also in the form of a landscape, hills or mountains. The activation of the dream screen is presented in the light of the psychotherapy of two depressed patients. Dreams implying activation of the dream screen have been interpreted to signify a turning point during psychotherapy. Dream screen can be considered as a phenomenon with different elements. Examples of dream screen symbols in Aleksis Kivi's poems and in Paul Cézanne's paintings are presented.

Art↗
PubMed1989

Effects of dream reflection on waking affect: awareness of feelings, rorschach movement, and facial EMG.

The clinical and research literature suggests that waking dream reflection increases awareness of feelings. To examine this possibility, 16 male and 16 female participants spent a single night in the sleep laboratory while rapid eye movement (REM) sleep physiology and facial electromyogram (EMG) were monitored. Participants in the dream imagery condition were awakened from REM sleep and asked to reflect on their dreams. Participants in the fantasy imagery condition were awakened from REM sleep and asked to reflect on guided fantasies modeled on dream narratives. Participants were asked to reflect either on the affective connotations of their imagery or on the cognitive aspects of their imagery. Unexpectedly, self-reported awareness of feelings was less common during either affective or cognitive reflection on dreams than during such reflection on fantasies, especially for females. Also, kinesthetic sensitivity, as indicated by Rorschach movement responses, was less after dream reflection than after reflection on fantasy imagery, again especially for females. In contrast, facial EMG activity was greater during dream reflection than during fantasy reflection. Since facial EMG during REM sleep and during dream reflection was correlated with self-reported orienting within dream imagery, these results are understandable as evidence for the "carry-over" of REM orienting activity during dream reflection, resulting in reduced affective/kinesthetic sensitivity and reduced awareness of feelings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Frightening dreams and dosage schedule of tricyclic and neuroleptic drugs.

One previous study reported that psychiatric inpatients on bedtime-only doses of tricyclic or neuroleptic drugs reported more frequent frightening dreams than did those on divided daily doses. As a further test of this hypothesis, and in order to see whether differences in frequency of frightening dreams were a function of differences in total dream recall, we administered a questionnaire to outpatients in a Veterans Administration Hospital Mental Hygiene Clinic, asking about frequency of dream recall, frequency of frightening dream recall, and doses and times of any medications taken. Questionnaire reports of medications were checked with the medical record of the patient; for 48 patients on tricyclic or neuroleptic drugs the reports agreed, and the data of these patients were analyzed. Our findings corroborated the previous report of more frequent frightening dreams in patients on bedtime-only dosage schedules (p less than .01). In addition, we found no significant difference between the two groups with respect to frequency of dream recall; thus a difference in the affect of dreams, rather than a difference in quantity of dream recall, constituted the difference between the two groups. When a patient on bedtime doses of tricyclic or neuroleptic drugs has undesirable frightening dreams, the clinician should consider a change to divided daily doses.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Dreaming during anaesthesia in children: incidence, nature and associations.

In previous studies, the incidence of dreaming during anaesthesia in children was reported to be between 9.7% and 19%. These limited studies were performed over 15 years ago using outmoded anaesthetic techniques. No recent studies have examined the nature of dreaming or its impact on children. In this prospective cohort study of 864 children, we determined the incidence, nature, predictors and behavioural consequences of children who reported dreaming during anaesthesia. Children aged 5-12 years who had undergone general anaesthesia were interviewed for dreaming on three occasions. Dreaming was reported by 10.4% of children. The content of the dreams was mostly pleasant and unrelated to their hospital experiences. Dreaming was more common in younger children and in children who had also experienced awareness during anaesthesia. No association was found between dreaming and the anaesthetic drugs used. Dreaming was not associated with an increased risk of behavioural disturbances postoperatively. Anaesthetists should be reassured that dreaming is a common occurrence that does not appear to distress children.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2006

Changes in dreaming induced by CPAP in severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients.

To study dream content in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and its modification with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy. We assessed twenty consecutive patients with severe OSAS and 17 healthy controls. Polysomnograms were recorded at baseline in patients and controls and during the CPAP titration night, 3 months after effective treatment and 2 years later in patients. Subjects were awakened 5-10 min after the beginning of the first and last rapid eye movement (REM) sleep periods and we measured percentage of dream recall, emotional content of the dream, word count, thematic units, sleep architecture and REM density. Dream recall in REM sleep was similar in patients at baseline and controls (51.5% versus 44.4% respectively; P = .421), decreased to 20% and 24.3% the first and third month CPAP nights, and increased to 39% 2 years later (P = 0.004). Violent/highly anxious dreams were only seen in patients at baseline. Word count was higher in patients than in controls. REM density was highest the first CPAP night. Severe OSAS patients recall dreams in REM sleep as often as controls, but their dreams have an increased emotional tone and are longer. Despite an increase in REM density, dream recall decreased the first months of CPAP and recovered 2 years later. Violent/highly anxious dreams disappeared with treatment. A dream recall decrease with CPAP is associated with normalization of sleep in OSAS patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The pattern of dreams of a sample of Nigerians.

In order to highlight the pattern of dreams, the psychosocial factors associated with it, and the meaning attributed to dream contents, 431 Nigerians were interviewed, consisting of undergraduates and government workers. While 6.9% could not recall ever having had a dream experience, over one-third of subjects had had at least three dream experiences in the previous three months. The most important factors associated with increase in frequency of dreams were conditions involving a high degree of expectation, emotional disturbance and happiness. About one-half of subjects claimed their dreams were predictive of what would happen in real life, while 61% claimed that their dreams related to what they were thinking about. The more highly educated and younger subjects dreamt significantly more frequently. Although life events and GHQ-12 scores were not significantly associated with frequency of dreams, those who reported recurrent disturbing dreams had significantly higher GHQ-12 scores. Relating the dream reports to life experiences, we were able to discern the following themes: expectation of positive material rewards; sexual themes; religious themes; sickness and death themes; disappointment and general guilt themes; and abstract manifest contents. Guilt themes were the least frequent. The social and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The informational value of dreams and associations.

The manifest dream has usually been the object of study by researchers, while psychotherapists mainly have paid attention to the latent content of the dream, reached through free associations. The question is which aspects of the dream, manifest content or associations, yield information about the dreamer's psychic life. In the present study it is suggested that the manifest dream to a large extent maintains thematic continuity with the dreamer's associations. However, with regard to emotions, there is no clear overlap between the information contained in the manifest dream and in its associations. The associations make the dream into the dreamer's own personal dream. Associating to a dream changes strangers into known people in the life of the dreamer. The dreamer comes to recognize aspects of himself or herself in these people. In associations, the dreamers portray themselves as more responsible of emotions, while they in dreams rather ascribe emotions to others, and they themselves become objects of these emotions. The author argues for the value of both the manifest dream in its own right and the enhanced experiental closeness afforded by the dreamer's associations.

Adult↗
PubMed2007

Dreaming in posttraumatic stress disorder: A critical review of phenomenology, psychophysiology and treatment.

This review summarizes the available knowledge on the phenomenology of posttraumatic dreams. Posttraumatic nightmares are reported by up to 70% of individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An extensive review of polysomnographic studies suggests that neither this high incidence nor the occurrence of posttraumatic nightmares throughout the sleep cycle can be explained by altered REM sleep parameters. The assumption that a reduction of dream recall may serve as a coping mechanism in PTSD patients is questionable. About 50% of posttraumatic dreams comprise exact replications of the traumatic events. Therefore dreams in PTSD do not have stereotypical content. Data characterizing non-replicative posttraumatic dreams and indicating a change in dream content over time must be considered preliminary. Occurrence of posttraumatic dreams is associated with psychopathological developments. Imagery Rehearsal Therapy has repeatedly been proven to be a valuable tool in treating patients suffering from posttraumatic dream disturbance. A deeper knowledge of posttraumatic dreams is essential for any theory of PTSD as well as for a better understanding of the overall function of dreaming.

Adult↗