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Psychology: Dreams And Dreaming Essay, Research Paper

Psychology: Dreams and Dreaming

January 13, 1997

Dreams, a nightly gift and a part of the natural process of being alive,

are being rediscovered by our publisher. The meaning and value of your dreams

will vary according to what you and your society decide. Our society is

changing. We used to only value dreams in the context of psychotherapy. There

are also a few assumptions about dreams. One is that you are always the final

authority on what the dream means. Others can offer insight, suggestions and

techniques for exploration and expression, but no one knows what the final

meaning and value of the dreams will be for you, except you. Another assumption

is that dreams come in the service of wholeness and health. If you find an

interpretation that does not fit this, perhaps you need to change methods of

interpretation. Dream interpretations that lead you toward self-criticism,

depression or despair are simply wrong and if these conditions persist you may

wish to seek help from others. Finally, there is no such thing as a dream with

one meaning. If you feel stuck on one meaning or feel another person is pushing

one meaning, it is time to reconsider your methods and approach. (Lemley p. 17).

Clinical dream work is done within the context of psychotherapy and

clinical and sleep research have different approaches and goals than peer dream

work. (Koch-Sheras p.16).

A dream is a period of spontaneous brain activity usually lasting from

about 5-40 minutes that occurs during sleep several times a night usually about

90 minute intervals (Barret p.8).

There are also certain types of dreams. There are fantasy, daydream and

waking dreams. There are also lucid dreams, nightmares and night terrors.

There are also certain stages in the dream cycle. In the first stage, your body

temperature drops, your eyes close and your brain waves begin regular alpha

rhythms, indicating a relaxed state. Muscles lose their tension, breathing

becomes more even and your heart rate slows. Second, random images begin to

float through your mind mimicking the dream state. Jolting or involuntary

movements will take place at this time. Third, muscles lose all tightness,

breathing becomes slower, heart rate decreases and blood pressure falls. At

this point, it will take a loud noise or disturbance to wake you up. You are

now fully asleep. Finally, you are in a deep sleep. This is the most

physically rested period of sleep and longest in duration. (Time-Life Books p.

97).

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Whether awake or asleep, one of the brain’s most critical functions is

the construction of the model of the environment that we perceive as our

conscious experience (Barret p. 9). While we sleep, very little sensory input

is available, so the world model experience is constructed from what remains,

contextual information from our lives, that is, expectations derived from past

experience, and motivations. As a result, the content of our dream is largely

determined by what we fear, hopeful and expect. From this point of view,

dreaming can be viewed as the special case of dreaming constrained by sensory

input (Koch-Sheras p. 15). Dreaming experience is commonly viewed as

qualitatively distinct from waking experience. Dreams are often believed to be

characterized by lack of reflection and inability to act deliberately and with

intention. (Barret p. 20).

Although we not usually explicitly aware of the fact that we are

dreaming while we are dreaming, at times a remarkable exception occurs and we

become reflective enough to become conscious that we are dreaming. During such ?

lucid’ dreams it is possible to freely remember the circumstances of waking life

to think clearly, and to act deliberately upon reflection or in accordance with

plans decided upon before sleep, all while experiencing a dream world that seems

vividly real. (Time-Life Books p. 57).

As previously stated, lucid dreaming is dreaming while knowing that you

are dreaming. Lucidity usually begins in the midst of a dream, when the dreamer

realizes that the experience is not occurring in physical reality, but is a

dream. (Lemley p. 3). A minority of lucid dreams are the result of returning to

REM sleep directly from a awakening with unbroken reflective consciousness.

When lucidity is at a high level, you are aware that everything

experienced in the dream is occurring in your mind, that there is no real danger,

and that you are asleep in bed and will awaken shortly. With low level lucidity

you may be aware to a certain extent that you are dreaming, perhaps enough to

fly or alter what you are doing, but not enough to realize that the people are

dream representations, or that you can suffer no physical damage, or that you

are actually in bed. (Time-Life Books p. 58).

Lucid dreams usually happen during REM sleep. Research has been

demonstrated that most vivid dreaming occurs in REM sleep. It is characterized

by an active brain, with low amplitude, mixed frequency brain waves, suppression

of skeletal muscle tone, bursts of rapid eye movements, and occasional tiny

muscular twitches (Barret p. 20).

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The sleep stages cycle throughout a night. The first REM period

normally happens after a period of delta sleep, approximately 90 minutes after

sleep onset, and

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