Feelings presented in dreams
DREAMS
A. Introduction
Every night, every person around the world "watches" a unique movie in the form of interrupted stories, made up partly of memories, with frequent shifts of scenes. The "watcher" may sometimes even take part in the movie. This sort of movie is called a dream. Dreaming is a form of mental activity occurring during sleep that is different from thoughts while one is awake. Even though dreams are imaginary, they are usually related to real experience in the dreamer's life. Dreams can be pleasant, some annoying, and others frightening.
The reason why people dream is not fully understood. Some scientists have suggested that biological discoveries about dreaming have made psychological theories false. An excerpt taken from the World Book Encyclopedia states that "dreaming sleep may play a role in restoring the brain's ability to handle such tasks as focused attention, memory, and learning." Dreaming, therefore, can be very meaningful and helpful in life.
B. Brain Waves and Different Stages of Sleep
In 1953, American sleep researchers Eugene Aserinsky and Nataniel Kleitman have shown that a dream takes place in a biological state of its own. Dreaming, like all mental processes, is a product of the brain and its activity. Regardless of whether a person is awake or asleep, electrical waves are continuously given off from the brain. These waves are measured with an instrument known as an electroencephalograph.
There are five different stages of sleep where brain waves vary:
* Stage one sleep is the transition stage between wake and sleep lasting 1 to 5 minutes and occupying 2 to 5% of a night's sleep.
* Stage two, occupying 45 to 60 %, is when one is actually asleep.
* Delta sleep, or stages three and four are "slow wave" sleep, which lasts approximately 15 to 30 minutes. Brain activity slows down dramatically when compared to the waves in stage two. These two stages are completed within the first three hours of sleep. These are the deepest stages of sleep and the most restorative. They can occupy up to 40 % of all sleep time.
* Stage five, REM-Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep), is when dreaming takes place.
After that, the sleeper goes back into a deep stage four sleep. Again, the sleeper goes into an REM stage after a short period and cycles through REM and stage 4 until the sleeper is woken up. These five stages are essential in a night's sleep. Each, in it's own way, helps in the body's restoration processes.
C. REM-Sleep
Eugene Aserinsky was the first who discovered REM-sleep (rapid-eye-movement sleep) when he was watching an infant sleep. It seemed as though the child's eyes were moving under its eyelids quite rapidly at regular time intervals. It is a very active stage of sleep where breathing, heart rate, and brain wave activity quicken. REM-sleep occurs every 90 to 100 minutes, 3 to 5 times a night, and lasts longer as the night progresses. The final REM period may last up to 45 minutes. Together, REM-sleep usually occupies 25 percent of the night's sleep.
During this stage, the person's eyes move rapidly as though the sleeper is watching a series of events. If one is awakened during REM-sleep, the person is most likely able to recall the details of a dream. Dreams usually include events and feelings that the dreamer has experienced. These can be events from the day before or minor incidents that took place in the hours before sleep.
The body cannot move during an REM period. This is caused by the blocking of nerve impulses from the brain to the muscles. Even though one cannot move, the senses ...
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During this stage, the person's eyes move rapidly as though the sleeper is watching a series of events. If one is awakened during REM-sleep, the person is most likely able to recall the details of a dream. Dreams usually include events and feelings that the dreamer has experienced. These can be events from the day before or minor incidents that took place in the hours before sleep.
The body cannot move during an REM period. This is caused by the blocking of nerve impulses from the brain to the muscles. Even though one cannot move, the senses are greatly present during dreams. Visual experience is present in almost all dreams; auditory experience in 40 to 50%; and touch, taste, smell, and pain in very small percentages. These senses, such as touch and sound, can be incorporated into a dream if someone else uses these senses on the dreamer during REM-sleep.
D. Nightmares and Night Terrors
Not all dreams are of a perfect fantasy or have a fairytale ending. Some are terrifying and leave a sense of disbelief. These are nightmares, which are the darker side of dreams. A nightmare is defined as a frightening dream from which sleepers have difficulty in arousing themselves. According to Ernest Jones, true nightmares have three cardinal features. The first cardinal feature is a feeling of agonizing dread and sense of oppression. The second cardinal feature is the weight upon the chest leading to difficulty in breathing. The third and final one is a conviction of helplessness.
Many people cannot differentiate nightmares from dreams. Nightmares are very distressing dreams which usually force at least partial awakening. The most common theme of nightmares is being chased by an unknown male figure. Children are normally being chased by an animal or fantasy figure.
Everybody has a nightmare at least once in their life. The majority of people who have nightmares are children between the ages of three and four, or seven and eight. Adults are less common to have nightmares. About 5 to 10 % of adults have nightmares once a month or frequently. Nightmares in adults are more severe and more frequent for men than for women.
The causes of nightmares are sometimes unknown, but some are caused by certain drugs or medications, or by rapid withdrawal from them. Some physical conditions such as illness or fever can affect dreams. Early childhood nightmares reflect the struggle to learn to deal with normal childhood fears and problems. Also, children's nightmares are caused because of the fear of the unknown world and the child manifests these fears into the form of dreams. Causes of nightmares can also occur after traumatic events such as surgery, the loss of loved one, assault, or severe accidents. Stress can also cause nightmares in people's waking lives.
Children have trouble getting rid of nightmares because of their inability to articulate to their parents about what had happened in the dream. They receive more comfort when older because they are able to explain the nightmare. The cure for nightmares depends on the source of the nightmare. If the child is suffering from recurrent or very disturbing nightmares, therapists may be required to come in and help with the problem. Nightmares which repeat traumatic events reflect a normal psychic healing process and diminishes as recovery processes. Techniques for reducing the distress of nightmares include writing them down, drawing or painting the dream, or reciting it over several times.
Another form of distressing dreams are night terrors. Night terrors and nightmares are quite different. Nightmares occur after several hours of sleep whereas night terrors occur during the first couple hours of sleep. Loud screaming and thrashing out are very common with night terrors. The sleeper is harder to awaken and they normally remember more than just an overwhelming feeling or a single scene. Children who have night terrors have a tendency to sleepwalk and/or wet the bed. Though uncommon, night terrors in adults may be a result of stress. The cause of night terrors is not fully understood, but research is being done to find the source.
E. Recurring Dreams
Once in a while, people have the same dreams over and over again. These types of dreams are called recurring dreams. Almost everyone has experienced one or more dreams that contain anxiety or outright fear. These experiences can be very traumatic and may become recurring. Some unpleasant dreams can repeat themselves exactly as the original dream. For others, the content may change while the theme of it remains the same. Common recurring dreams are falling, being attacked, being late, unprepared for class, or for an exam. Research has shown that most recurring dreams are described as being unpleasant. These types of dreams can be associated with lack of progress by the dreamer to solve related conflicts in life. To get rid of them one must try to solve, recognize, or come to terms with the problem.
F. Lucid Dreams and Out of Body Experiences
Lucid dreams occur when one realizes in a dream that she or he is dreaming. Lucid dreams can be mistaken for out of body experiences, because of the close connections between them. Oliver Fox calls lucid dreams "Dreams of Knowledge" because one has the knowledge that one is dreaming. The longer someone knows that they are dreaming they will start to feel pain in their "astral body."
Out of body experiences usually start when a person is awake rather than asleep. OBE's tend to be more clear and crisp rather than unclear like lucid dreams. Lucid dreams are more symbolic while OBE's are realistic and vivid. Out of body experiences report greater events and have more control. One example of an OBE is the flying dream. Leslie Nadon describes the flying dream as freedom of one's emotions or it is believed that one is leaving their body in freedom. The falling dream is a resemblance of the flying dream. When one falls off a cliff one may also notice that she or he wakes up before she or he hits the bottom. This occurrence happens because if one was to land on the bottom of the cliff the mind thinks that she or he has landed on the bottom. The mind will go two ways. If one is having a lucid dream, she or he will simply wake up in a panic. But if one is having an out of body experience there is a great chance that she or he has died in real life. The human body simply can't live without the soul.
G. Irma's Injection: Freud's First Dream Interpretation
During the night of July 23-24, 1895, Freud dreamed a historic dream. He called it "Irma's Injection." Four years later, Freud concluded that dreams are wish fulfillments. This was the first dream he had "submitted to a detailed interpretation" (Gay, P. 1998).
Freud was living at Bellevue, a resort villa in a Vienna suburb, at the time of the dream. He was very hard at work when this dream occurred. The dream was of family
news and professional concerns. "It was a large hall in which we were receiving many guests, among them 'Irma', a friend of the family. A young lady I had been treating psychoanalytically" (Gay, P. 1998). Freud reproaches her for not accepting his "solution" and tells her that if she still has pains, "it is your fault." She replies that the choking pains in her throat, stomach, and abdomen are more severe than of what he knows. Freud studies her and wonders if he has not perhaps overlooked some organic ailment. He looks down her throat and finds a white patch and some grayish scabs formed like the turbinal bones of the nose. The dream scene then grows crowded with physician-friends of Freud's; Oscar Rie, Breuer, and Fliess. Somehow all these doctors, except for Fliess, proved to have been responsible for Irma's persistent pains. He dreams that Rie has thoughtlessly given Irma an injection with a syringe that was not clean Freud interpreted a lot from this dream. "I will not claim that I have completely uncovered the meaning of this dream or that its interpretation is without gaps" (Gay, P. 1998). He recalled the reception of guests as an anticipation for his wife's birthday party. The chemical trimethylamin that was used reflected on his friend, Fliess' theories about sexual chemistry because the dream involved a woman. The unclean syringe showed his excessive pride in the way he carefully kept his syringes clean.
He concluded that the dream can be labeled as, "worry over health, one's own and that of others, and a doctor's conscientiousness" (Strachey, J. 1968). The burden of the wish the dream portrayed was that Irma's suffering should be truly seen as not his fault but the fault of others.
H. Interpretation of Dreams
A survey was completed in Ms. Melville's second period class, consisting of twenty-three students and Ms. Melville. Eighty-eight percent stated that they dreamed of kissing someone or being kissed by someone. Kissing someone is interpreted as suggesting an acceptance of that person as potentially a new relationship. It can also mean that you are seeking to develop a quality belonging to that other person in yourself. Being kissed by someone indicates that you are appreciated and loved for yourself. A single kiss, an example is a kiss on the forehead, symbolizes a blessing of a spiritual kind. Kissing a dead person is an omen for a long happy life. On the other hand, kiss a baby and something you thought was difficult will go well.
I. Why are Dreams Forgotten?
Most people take very little interest in their dreams. "Anyone who pays attention to their dreams over a period of time will have more dreams than usual. It means memory of dreams is easier" (Strachey, J. 1968). Only the things that are odd and stand out in dreams are remembered. When a dream is forgotten in the morning, it may never be recollected during the course of the day. It is important to remember all details to make out what the true meaning of the dream might be. Twenty-nine percent of the class stated that they remember their dreams, while 67% said that they don't, and 4% said that dreams are sometimes remembered.
J. Conclusion
Many psychologists believe that feelings presented in dreams - usually a single emotion such as fear, anger, or joy - may play a role in the brain's ability to handle various tasks in life. Hidden feelings are often surfaced, which helps people to understand themselves better. When we understand our dreams we can understand ourselves. This is the significance of dreaming. Therefore, contrary to some belief, dreaming can be very meaningful.