The Biology of Dreaming

1. Dream Interpretation: The Royal Road to the Unconscious or Random Firing of Neurons?Psi Beta Speaker PresentationCollin County Community CollegeNovember 10, 2004

2. The Biology of Dreaming • Neurobiologists and neuropsychiatrists tend to think of dreaming sleep as shaped by the activation of brain neurons. This activation synthesis model, proposed by Hobson and McCarley in 1977, states that dreams are reactions to random nervous system stimuli which the brain interprets as bizarre images and other sensory hallucinations. The activated brain-mind does its best to attribute meaning to the internally generated signals of the brain.”

3. The Biology of Dreaming • Crick and Mitchison (1983) believe that the brain’s neural memory systems are easily overloaded and that REM eliminates cognitive debris. Dreams are a mechanism for the nervous system to clear the brain of unnecessary, even harmful memories. Remembered dreams are nothing more than an accidental by-product of this REM function.

4. The Biology of Dreaming • David Maurice, Ph.D. (1998), suggests that humans experience REM sleep to supply oxygen to the cornea of the eye. The aqueous humor, the clear watery liquid in the chamber just behind the cornea, needs to be “stirred” to bring oxygen to the cornea. “Without REM, our corneas would starve and suffocate while we are asleep with our eyes closed.”

5. The Psychoanalytic Response • “A scientist can develop an understanding of the physiological function of dreaming and still not know anything about the meaning of dreams. One is a physiological phenomenon and the other is a psychological phenomenon. One hundred years of psychoanalytic research and experience show that there is much that can be learned about the mental and emotional lives of people by dream interpretation and other psychological methods.

6. The Two Phenomena are Not Mutually Exclusive REM is associated with many physiological processes: changes in breathing, blood flow to the brain, and changes in brain activity. Discovering yet another proposed physiological purpose of REM sleep (oxygenation of the cornea) does not invalidate the principles of psychoanalysis.

7. The Theoretical Controversy Continues • Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Ramon Greenberg and colleagues state: Neither the classical psychoanalytic approach nor the physiologic attacks on it have been able to explain fully the purpose or function of dreaming.” • The controversy about the purpose of dreams continues

8. The Freudian View The dream represents an ongoing wish, along with the previous days activities. The dream may portray wishes that have been with us since early childhood. Every dream is partially motivated by a childhood wish. Dreams are derived from instinctual needs and personal experiences. Dreams occur in a state of “ego collapse” when the demands of the ID and Superego converge upon the EGO. If we have been too reliant on defense mechanisms in our waking life, the internal conflict continues to build and causes a dream to take place. The dream prevents us from building up intolerable states of psychological tension in waking life.

9. Freud’s View Freud did not believe dream interpretation was possible by the dreamer; dreams could only be interpreted by a trained psychoanalyst. A primary method for gathering information about the meaning of the dream was through free association.

10. A Connection between the Physiological and the Psychoanalytic Allen Braun, M.D. has discovered that regions of the brain which control emotion and motivation are highly active during REM sleep. Regions of the brain central to self-discipline, delay of gratification, and impulse control, are relatively inactive. Thus, the prefrontal cortex is unable to carry out its waking task of censoring material. Is it possible the person who is the most inhibited when awake would have the least active pre-frontal cortex when asleep? This would fit the model of psychoanalysis, which suggests that if you repress during the day, the material will most likely come oozing out during dreams.

11. Carl Jung’s Theory Jung believed in the psychological significance of dreams. Like Freud, he viewed dreams as an important gateway to the unknown parts of the self. The dream was a direct message from the personal unconscious.

12. Jungian Analysis Unlike Freud, Jung believed the dreamer could interpret his/her own dreams using a process involving the analysis of dreams over time. He suggested taking similar dreams from the dream journal and merging the dream images together to form a larger dream. In addition, Jung encouraged the dreamer to brainstorm all the different symbolic associations for each aspect of the dream. Another stage of Jungian dream analysis is active imagination. The dreamer mentally evokes a character from the dream and asks it questions.

13. Fritz Perls’ Theory • According to Fritz Perls, dreams are seen as being projections of parts of oneself. Essentially, as the creator of the dream, you are everything in the dream. Dream analysis involves much dialogue and acting out. The dreamer is encouraged to act out the dream from the perspective of each animate and inanimate element. All dream symbolism is unique in that it comes from the dreamer, and only the dreamer can truly interpret it.

14. Dream Symbolism • According to Jung, universal symbols are those rooted to the experience of all humankind and are, therefore, common to everyone. • Jung considered the archetypes of the collective unconscious to be universal symbols.

15. Common Universal Symbols • House: the self • Weather: what one is going through in life • Water: the emotions, the unconscious, the source of all life. Type of water and movement of water give clues about what is happening in the feelings and the unconscious. • Time of day: the time of one’s life or one’s state of being. (Dawn: youth, optimism; dusk: withdrawal, approaching death)

16. Dream Symbols Continued • People known to you: a particular quality of yourself • Strangers: qualities of yourself that you do not own • Animals: compulsive or habitual ways of thinking and acting. • Death: change • Black horse: refusal to exercise free will • Vehicles: information about your physical body

17. Dream Symbols Continued • Shoes: your mental or spiritual foundation • Clothing: one’s outer expression • Naked: you have opened up in your waking life or let the walls down. Represents a desire to communicate more deeply with others • Flying: exercising free choice • Running away and finding your feet and legs are moving, but you are not moving forward: trying to do too many things at once and never seeming to get ahead. • Moving at will: being decisive, goal-oriented

18. Silly Dream Themes • Alligator: treachery • Animals: your own physical characteristics, primitive desires, and sexual nature; the untamed and uncivilized aspects of self. • Crocodile: hidden danger • Dog: skill that you have ignored or forgotten. Also might mean intuition, loyalty fidelity. • Eel: issues with commitment.

19. Dream Symbol Dictionaries Are Useless • Even universal meaning and generalized definitions are of minimal value in relation to self-understanding and personal growth. • Only through discovering one’s own translations of symbols and images can the individual effect change or insight. • Symbols change meaning according to the context in which they appear and the personal experiences of the dreamer

20. Personal Symbols • Personal symbols are formed in the unconscious and are tailored to reflect the person’s life experience and emotion. The unconscious is able to create a symbol to illustrate a particular inner message. • Understanding personal symbols is one of the primary goals of dream work.

21. Helpful Hints for Better Dream Recall • Before going to sleep • Expect to remember your dreams • Review past dreams • Get ready to record your dreams • Be prepared to stay awake to make a record • Review the previous day back to morning Upon waking • Follow your dream backwards • Try and remember all the dreams you can • Think of events that may have triggered dreams • Write it down

22. Dream Recall • Daily Attitudes • Value each dream • Accept all dreams • Approach recall as a skill • Expect to recall dreams during the day

23. Procedures for Recall • Keep a pad of paper and pen beside your bed. Date the paper. When you awaken, write something down. • When you go to bed, relax your body and review the day in reverse. • As you are getting close to falling asleep, repeat over and over, “When I wake up, I will remember my dream.” • When you wake in the morning, don’t move. Relax and let your mind drift close to the dream. • Once you begin to recall the dream, start writing.

24. Dream Interpretation • What were you doing in the dream? • What are the major contrasts and similarities in the dream and how do they relate? • What are the major symbols and relationships between these symbols? • What are the issues, conflicts, and unresolved situations in the dream? • What relationship does this dream or the symbols in the dream, have to do with any other dream?

25. Interpretation Continued • How are you acting in the dream? • What are the different feelings in this dream? • What are the major actions in this dream? • Who or what is the adversary in this dream? • What is helping in this dream? • What would I like to avoid in this dream? • What actions might this dream be suggesting? • What does this dream want from me? • Why did I need this dream?

26. How to begin your own interpretation • What are the unusual or personally significant images in your dreams? • What are the primary emotions in your dreams? • What are the conflicts and/or unresolved issues in the dream? • What is currently happening in your conscious, waking life? • Are there any associations between your conscious life and your dreams? Explore. • Do any common patterns or themes exist in the dreams that could tie them together? What are they? • What have you learned about yourself from this exercise in dream interpretation?

27. Completing the Plot: another method of interpretation • The dreamer rewrites the ending or completes the plot of his/her dream in a waking state. Learning to take control and create positive options in your dream life enhances your ability to do that in your waking life.

28. Lucid Dreaming • When you feel yourself awakening, try to focus your thoughts on the last dream you were having. Recall details, feeling, experiences. Then spend ten to fifteen minutes reading, meditating, or doing something that requires full wakefulness. Then while lying in bed, say to yourself: the next time I dream, I want to recognize that I’m dreaming.” Visualize your body lying in bed, sleeping. See yourself back in your last dream, but know that you are dreaming. • Once in the lucid dream, recognize that you control the dream.

29. Prophetic Dreams • Seventy years ago, Harvard psychologists Murray and Wheeler tested the prophetic power of dreams. They invited the public to report dreams about the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s baby. • 1300 people responded: 5% envisioned that the child was dead • 4 of the 1300 anticipated the location of the dead child.

30. Prophecy? • In 1990’s tabloid psychics missed the big events of Oklahoma, 9/11. 65% of police departments never use psychics. Of those who had hired psychics, none found the information useful. • We tend to notice, interpret, and recall events that confirm our expectations. Weird coincidences capture our attention and are available in memory. All the nonevents are unnoticed and not remembered.

31. Barbara Lusk Professor, Psychology Collin County Community College District Blusk@ccccd.edu (972) 548-6809