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Revision of the theory of dreams
Revision of the theory of dreams
Dream analysis psychodynamic theory
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The average person spends over one-third of their life sleeping, and over this period of time he or she can have over 1,825 dreams (Wicklinski). By definition, dreams are mental images, thoughts, or emotions that are experienced while sleeping. In the beginning, dreams were thought to be messages sent from the gods or spirit world. Researchers now have many theories explaining why people dream. Many of these theories explain that dreams can resemble an individual’s sensory experiences or even secret wishes. All people dream, but only 42% of people can recall their dreams from the night before (“Dreams”). The study of dreams is a topic that is constantly being debated by researchers for many reasons. Dreaming is important because it can impact people’s health, provide insight into what they are feeling, and reveal information about their behavior.
It is very important that people dream if they want to remain in good health. Sleepers can cycle through five stages of sleep continuously throughout the night, one of the most important being Rapid Eye Movement (REM). REM sleep can last for up to five minutes at a time, and is entered multiple times throughout sleep. On the other hand, the brain stem, which controls a person’s emotions, memory, and desires, is very active during sleep. However, the “reasoning brain” is shut down. A person’s brain also cuts off all signals from the senses and blocks messages sent to the muscles, which prevents someone from acting out his or her dreams (Andre-Clark). Dreams occur during the REM phase, the most restful time of sleep. For this reason, scientists have concluded that dreaming is beneficial to an individual’s health. Robert J. Hoss, author of Dream Language, states, “dreaming is...
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... said, “Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.”
Works Cited
Andre-Clark, Alice. "Why Do We Dream?" Sirs Discoverer. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
"Dreams." Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Student Resource Center - Junior. Gale. Central Dauphin Senior High School. 13 Mar. 2014.
"Greater Good." The Influence of Dreams. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Kettelkamp, Larry. Dreams. New York: W. Morrow, 1968. Print.
"Oneirology: Understanding the How, the Why and the What | DreamDoze." DreamDoze Oneirology Understanding the How the Why and the What Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
"Scientific Study of Dreams: Sample Chapter." The Scientific Study of Dreams: Sample Chapter. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
"Sigmund Freud." Theories. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Wichlinski, Lawrence J. "Dream." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014
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...heory, reverse learning theory, and activation synthesis model, others focus on the mental exercise and simulations that dreams bring to us in the evolutionary theory of sleep. While many of the theories agree that dreams are a representation of ideas and thoughts from the unconscious mind, no single theory has been formed as the single primary authority on the matter of dreams despite more support for some of the theories. The fact of the matter is that despite the rampant research and discourse on the concept behind dreaming, these theories are merely speculations. But these speculations feed the curiosity on dreams and will hopefully lead to the expansion of dream analysis to not only better develop the current understanding of dreams, but also to help people around the world by possibly expanding dream analysis to become an early identifier of mental illness.
In a (Scientific American,2009) article, they described one viewpoint of what dreams are," dreaming is simply an epiphenomenon that is the mental activity that occurs during REM sleep. I do not believe this is the most fruitful approach to the study of dreaming."
...n and development throughout history. After the research, I learned that while most dreams are fairly coherent, patterned, which include everyday settings, people, activities, and events, they may involve relatively unusual and perhaps bizarre aspects. Altogether, these images would allow people to have the most revealing and distinctive view of who they are and what they know in daily life by telling stories in the brain. However, while I still feel that no theory can exactly interpret what dreams’ meanings really are, it is interesting to know more how human brain’s activity (dreaming) function when people sleep. Moreover, I have decided to see my dreams as a television show with different episodes at night. That way, I will be able to enjoy the dream without ruining the fun that my brain offers because I would love to see what and how my brain wants me to see.
Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Dreams occur during a certain stage of sleep known as REM. Several different psychologists, including Freud and Hobson, have studied dreams. Psychologists have provided many theories as to what dreams are and the meanings behind them.
In this paper I hope to open a window to the vast and mysterious world of dreaming. To most people, information about dreams isn’t common knowledge. In researching this subject though, I found that everybody has and reacts to dreams, which are vital to your mental health. You will also find how you can affect your dreams and how they affect you.
Hall, C. S. (1984). “A ubiquitous sex difference in dreams” revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(5), 1109-1117.
II. (Introduce Topic) Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to understand the different functions of the human body, how we move, talk, and even act. Many of these physiological behaviors have been explained to some extent. However, one area of the human body that has baffled researchers, is that of the mind. Many things that go on inside the mind that don’t make sense, and serves no real explanation as to why or how things happen. One of the most fascinating and mysterious sections of psychology is that of dreaming. Even though there are numerous theories about dreams; whomever you are, wherever you live, you will dream. Whether it's a good dream or a nightmare is up to your mind, but there must be some reasoning behind dreams, right?
Every individual is subject to REM sleep, and some suffer from REM Sleep Disorder. The disorder involves a severe attachment to a person’s dreams. Dotto reports that while sufferers consist mostly of men over fifty years of age, it can affect anyone. She also states that res...
Many associate sleeping with peace and quiet, but actually our brains are found to be more active during sleep than at any other time of the day. After reading the title to my essay many would put this paper down and claim that they have never experienced REM sleep, but that’s not entirely true, we all dream, every time we sleep, yet only 40% of people can recall they had one and only 32% will be able to recall some content with a smaller percentage being able to recall the dream in detail. ‘There's a time limit to how much you can remember about your dream’ .
Why do we dream? How do dreams provide insight into the mind? Are dreams relevant to waking life? “Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the action stems the dream again, and this interdependence produces the highest form of living (Nin).” Dreams can be defined as, “...a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings, that are experienced by the mind during sleep.” On average an adults get about seven to eight hours of sleep a night,a substantial amount of human kinds time is spent asleep. If a person lives a total of 90 years they will have slept for 31 years, 1,624 weeks, 272,910 hours, and will have dreamt for 34,114 hours, so a massive chunk of humanities lives are spent in the sleep cycle.
Dreams The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology. Throughout the years, scientists have been trying to comprehend why humans dream. Researchers have come up with many theories, but none of them have been proven to be one hundred percent true. Some of these theories include: that dreams are a way for people to release their urges and desires, activation-synthesis hypothesis is that dreams do not mean anything, and other say it is necessary for mental, emotional, and even physical health.
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
While we sleep, our brains are able to play out scenes in our mind through our dreams. However, dreaming does not fully expose our cognitive potential. We are only able to watch those scenes while dreaming rather than fully participate. Lucid dreaming gives us not only the ability to participate in our dreams, but allows us to determine what will happen in them and manipulate the entire plot. Lucid dreaming is defined as “the experience of dreaming with consciousness and awareness that one is dreaming (Melton 940).” For a dream to be lucid, the dreamer must realize that they are not in reality or the physical world, but that they are in a dream. Once this realization occurs, the dreamer is able to do whatever they want and manipulate the plot of the dream. The idea of lucid dreaming has existed since the eighth century when Tibetan Buddhists practiced forms of yoga designed to remain fully conscious during a dreaming state (LaBerge, 21). It wasn’t until the 1900’s that scientists began to study sleep cycles and to determine how they affected dreaming and lucidity. These studies led to the development of techniques that would allow people to lucid dream on demand in order for scientists to further study lucidity. Researchers were able to use these techniques and apply them to therapies and treatments for patients with sleeping disorders in an attempt to use lucid dreaming to improve their sleep quality. While further benefits of lucid dreaming are still being studied, current research shows that it can be a useful skill to develop and can be a therapeutic tool for people suffering from sleep disorders.
In this Forum on Sleep and Dreams, we will see how the diversity of academic disciplines can help to answer important questions about sleep and dreaming—questions that may touch the basis of human intellect. The Forum is fortunate in...