Dream Patterns Research Articles

A New Way of Analysing Dreams on Its Profoundest Level: The Development of Motif Analysis and Phase Model (MAP) as an Extension of Structural Dream Analysis (SDA).

Dream research today assumes that there is a connection between dreams and waking life. However, the structural alteration of dream motifs in connection with the psychotherapeutic process and waking life has not yet been researched extensively. This study depicts the development of the new Motif Analysis and Phase Model (MAP), a dynamic method which allows research on the previous aspects. The following question was investigated as an accompanying key issue: can a connection be established between the course of the dream patterns and the agency of the dream ego as well as the dream contents and the course of the psychotherapies of the dreaming person as a whole? Four hypotheses were formulated and tested. The data material consists of 217 dreams of a male test subject. The motifs were analysed using Structural Dream Analysis (SDA) at first. Thereafter, the content was linked to the test subject's waking life in a guided interview. The findings show a strong connection between the dream content and the psychotherapies as well as the test subject's waking life. Five motifs with structural changes were found, through which the Phase Model with four phases was developed. At turning points, the transformative child motif also appears in the dreams. The course of the dream patterns and agency of the dream ego, however, has not changed. The results, the method and the generalisability were critically discussed and recommendations for future research were formulated.

Orchestration of dreams: apossible tool for enhancement of mental productivity and efficiency.

Deciphering the significance of dreams, remains a dream till date. A little is known about its underlying mechanism, brain regions involved and implications with wake life. This review is aimed to investigate the latest developments to summarize the differences in nature of dreams in Rapid eye movement and Non rapid eye movement sleep, possible role of dreams in day to day life with larger focus on Lucid Dreaming- its significant role in elevating productivity and efficiency. To carry out this review, combination of keywords like Lucid Dreaming, Rapid eye movement, Non rapid eye movement, Sleep Cycle, Dream Patterns, molecular mechanism of dreaming etc. were entered in databases like National library of Medicine, Google Scholar etc. Nature and composition of dreams are distinct in different sleep phases and it tends to influence cognitive skills, memory consolidation, mood and personal temperaments. It was observed that dreams in distinct phases, can be directly/indirectly related to development of cognition, skill enhancements, learning, healing, and even stress management affecting overall performance and productivity of an individual. Understanding the nature of dream contents in different phases can possibly inculcate insights for not only recovery aid in several mental illnesses but for elevated efficiency and productivity in normal individuals as well. Realising dreams as an effective tool for its contribution in daily activities might help organising our mood and overall mental well-being, a foremost component to thrive in the contemporary world which is currently undergoing the chaos of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Exploring the dream pattern among the nightshift workers: A qualitative study

Nightshift workers are increasing day by day, but many times, people forget the health and sleep effects caused by the nightshift. One such impact is the altered circadian rhythm, which is very important for proper functioning of the body and a good sleep. This altered circadian rhythm can have an impact on waking and sleep life of the nightshift workers. This qualitative study is to find the dream pattern among the nightshift workers and to find the frequency in dreaming among this group. Dreams are the reflections of the waking life and dream patterns are seen among groups sharing similar wake life experiences. This study is conducted with nine nightshift and nine dayshift workers, dream journal was used to collect the dreams from the participants. The frequency of dreaming is seen more among the nightshift workers. The dream patterns among both the groups are similar but there are dreams that make the nightshift group different from the dayshift. The dreams of the nightshift group includes mainly their friends and the feelings of being stuck/in danger. Also, their dreams were more fantastic in nature and have more emotional content. The study shows that sexual dreams are seen majorly among the nightshift group. This finding can be further used to conduct researches on the impact of nightshift on the sexual health and overall well being of nightshift workers and the reflection of the same in their dreams.

This new algorithm can find the hidden patterns in your dreams

This new algorithm can find the hidden patterns in your dreams

Jungian theory of dreaming and contemporary dream research - findings from the research project 'Structural Dream Analysis'.

The research method 'Structural Dream Analysis' (SDA) is described which allows for systematic and objective analysis of the meaning of dreams produced by patients in Jungian psychotherapies. The method focuses especially on the relationship between the dream ego and other figures in the dream and the extent of activity of the dream ego. Five major dream patterns were identified which accounted for the majority of the dreams. The clients' dream series were dominated by one or two repetitive patterns which were closely connected to the psychological problems of the dreamers. Additionally, typical changes in the dream series' patterns could be identified which corresponded with therapeutic change. These findings support Jung's theory of dreams as providing a holistic image of the dreamer's psyche, including unconscious aspects. The implications for different psychoanalytic theories of dreaming and dream interpretation are discussed as well as implications for the continuity hypothesis.

Dream content corresponds with dreamer’s psychological problems and personality structure and with improvement in psychotherapy: A typology of dream patterns in dream series of patients in analytical psychotherapy.

Dream content corresponds with dreamer’s psychological problems and personality structure and with improvement in psychotherapy: A typology of dream patterns in dream series of patients in analytical psychotherapy.

Emotion, emotion regulation and sleep: An intimate relationship.

In recent years, research has witnessed an increasing interest in the bidirectional relationship between emotion and sleep. Sleep seems important for restoring daily functioning, whereas deprivation of sleep makes us more emotionally aroused and sensitive to stressful stimuli and events. Sleep appears to be essential to our ability to cope with emotional stress in everyday life. However, when daily stress is insufficiently regulated, it may result in mental health problems and sleep disturbances too. Not only does emotion impact sleep, but there is also evidence that sleep plays a key role in regulating emotion. Emotional events during waking hours affect sleep, and the quality and amount of sleep influences the way we react to these events impacting our general well-being. Although we know that daytime emotional stress affects sleep by influencing sleep physiology, dream patterns, dream content and the emotion within a dream, its exact role is still unclear. Other effects that have been found are the exaggeration of the startle response, decrease in dream recall and elevation of awakening thresholds from rapid eye movement (REM), REM-sleep, increased or decreased latency to REM-sleep, increase in percentage of REM-density, REM-sleep duration, as well as the occurrence of arousals in sleep as a marker of sleep disruption. Equally, the way an individual copes with emotional stress, or the way in which an individual regulates emotion may modulate the effects of emotional stress on sleep. The research presented here supports the idea that adaptive emotion regulation benefits our follow-up sleep. We thus conclude the current review with a call for future research in order to clarify further the precise relationship between sleep, emotion and emotion regulation, as well as to explain further how sleep dissolves our emotional stress.

Dream Recall Frequency and Unusual Dream Experiences in Early Adolescence: Longitudinal Links to Behavior Problems

Unique dream patterns are related to psychopathological distress in adults. In adolescence, this was investigated almost exclusively regarding nightmares. This longitudinal study examines developmental trajectories of various adolescent-reported dream patterns, and their associations with parent-reported psychopathology (internalization and externalization problems) in early adolescence. Ninety-four 10- to 11-year-old normally developing children completed a week of sleep, dreaming, and pubertal development assessments. Parents reported behavior problems. Assessments were repeated after 1 and 2 years. Reports of unusual dreams decreased over time, and dream recall decreased among girls. Internalizing symptoms longitudinally predicted an increase in dream recall and unusual dreams. Moreover, unusual dreams longitudinally predicted increased behavior problems (internalization and externalization). Assessing dream patterns during early adolescence may help early detection of covert psychopathological distress.

False awakenings in light of the dream protoconsciousness theory: a study in lucid dreamers.

The results of a web-survey aimed at analyzing the phenomenology of False Awakenings (FAs) (sleep-related experiences in which the subjects erroneously believe that they have woken up, only to discover subsequently that the apparent awakening was part of a dream) were revised in light of Hobson’s recent dream protoconsciousness theory. A web-questionnaire had been previously submitted to three web-sites dedicated to lucid dreamers, a kind of subjects in which FAs have been reported to occur with high frequency. Ninety consecutive complete forms were analyzed. All the respondents were habitual lucid dreamers, 41% reported experiencing FAs at least monthly, 79% had experienced a FA in the last month and 46% in the last week. Some stereotyped dream patterns were found to recur repeatedly in FAs, including representations of normal awakenings, start-of-the-day routines and other realistically depicted activities (exploring, wandering) within the sleep environment. This finding is consistent with Hobson’s hypothesis that dream content feeds itself from innate schemes, enacted on the basis of subjective experiential memories. A possible evolutionary interpretation of FAs is proposed.

The emotional brain and sleep: An intimate relationship

Research findings confirm our own experiences in life where daytime events and especially emotionally stressful events have an impact on sleep quality and well-being. Obviously, daytime emotional stress may have a differentiated effect on sleep by influencing sleep physiology and dream patterns, dream content and the emotion within a dream, although its exact role is still unclear. Other effects that have been found are the exaggerated startle response, decreased dream recall and elevated awakening thresholds from rapid eye movement (REM)-sleep, increased or decreased latency to REM-sleep, increased REM-density, REM-sleep duration and the occurrence of arousals in sleep as a marker of sleep disruption. However, not only do daytime events affect sleep, also the quality and amount of sleep influences the way we react to these events and may be an important determinant in general well-being. Sleep seems restorative in daily functioning, whereas deprivation of sleep makes us more sensitive to emotional and stressful stimuli and events in particular. The way sleep impacts next day mood/emotion is thought to be affected particularly via REM-sleep, where we observe a hyperlimbic and hypoactive dorsolateral prefrontal functioning in combination with a normal functioning of the medial prefrontal cortex, probably adaptive in coping with the continuous stream of emotional events we experience.

Sleep and dream patterns of political liberals and conservatives.

Sleep and dream patterns of political liberals and conservatives.

Aaron T. Beck’s Dream Theory in Context: An Introduction to His 1971 Article on Cognitive Patterns in Dreams and Daydreams

Aaron T. Beck developed a rudimentary theory of dreams in the early years of cognitive therapy (1969-1971) that he presented to both psychoanalysts and behavior therapists. This article will examine the historical conditions that fostered Beck’s cognitive dream theory. Beck’s early psychoanalytic dream research taught him the virtues of social science research and catalyzed his shift towards the cognitive model. Once the cognitive model was in place he returned to dreams to help position himself politically in the national therapeutic scene. The 1971 article reprinted in this special issue is evidence of his effort to reach out to psychoanalysts with his new cognitive model. Beck’s dream work, once he allied with behavior therapists, fell out of public view, but the current interest in psychotherapy integration has brought renewed attention to dreams in cognitive therapy.

Cognitive Patterns in Dreams and Daydreams

1. Dreams are wish fulfillment. Alternatively, following Freud, dreams are the guardian of sleep. 2. Dreams are an attempt at problem solving. This has been particularly elaborated by French. 3. Dreams are a manifestation of certain psychological processes of which the dreamer is totally unaware; that is, dreams spring from the unconscious. 4. The content of dreams is continuous with the content of the individual’s waking ideation and behavior (Adler). Or the opposite view has been advanced, namely that the content of the dream is reciprocal to the waking behavior.

Dreams in the acute aftermath of trauma and their relationship to PTSD

AbstractDreams following trauma have been suggested to aid emotional adaptation, yet trauma‐related nightmares are a diagnostic symptom of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There is little published data relating dreams to PTSD soon after trauma. We assessed dreams and PTSD in 60 injured patients after life‐threatening events and obtained follow‐up assessments in 39 of these participants 6 weeks later. Ten of 21 dream reports from morning diaries were rated and described as similar to the recent traumatic event. The participants reporting these distressing “trauma dreams” had more severe concurrent PTSD symptoms than those reporting other categories of dreams and had more severe initial and follow‐up PTSD than those without dream recall. These findings along with our preliminary longitudinal observations relating changes in dream patterns to outcome, suggest a relationship of dream characteristics and early adaptive versus maladaptive patterns of processing traumatic memory.

Dream features in psychiatric patients on multiple psychoactive drugs.

An investigation into dreams was conducted in 100 subjects involving 50 psychiatric in-patients and fifty normal volunteers with the help of a questionnaire. The dream patterns of the two groups were compared. Results revealed that dreams of the patients were different from normal individuals even before the onset of psychiatric illness. The dreams in normal subjects were mostly related to present life situations whereas, the dreams of the patients were less frequent in this respect. On the other hand, frightening dreams, repetitive dreams and vision of snakes in the dreams were more frequent in patients. These differences became more conspicuous with the onset of illness. The dreams were suppressed in 78% patients after the institution of drug therapy. Most of the patients were getting three to four psychoactive drugs which alter the sleep pattern and may therefore affect the dreaming process. Thus, the qualitative changes in dreams of a person may serve as an early warning for an impending future illness. The suppressant effect of psychoactive drugs on dreams demands further investigations.

Isolated sleep paralysis, vivid dreams and geomagnetic influences: II.

This report describes a test of the hypothesis that significant changes in the ambient geomagnetic field are associated with altered normal nighttime dream patterns. Specifically, it was predicted that there would be a greater incidence of isolated sleep, paralysis or vivid dreams with abrupt rises and falls of geomagnetic activity. The author's (JC) and a second subject's (KC) daily reports of dream-recall were analyzed in the context of daily fluctuations of geomagnetic activity (K indices). Two analyses of variance indicated (i) significantly higher geomagnetic activity three days before a recorded isolated sleep paralysis event and (ii) significantly lower geomagnetic activity three days before an unusually vivid dream took place. Conversely, geomagnetic activity did not fluctuate significantly for randomly selected days. Testing a large sample over time is required for confirmation and extension of this work.

Neuropsychological aspects of oneiric activity: theoretical considerations suggested by clinical features

Based on observations in five patients, we review the main theories concerning dreams and propose a comprehensive theory on their cognitive function. We classify dreams based on the role performed by them in inhibition, stimulation or creation of cognitive strategies around an emotional nucleus. These are stored in the memory bank and retrieved by an elicitation mechanism linking affective experiences on awareness and the strategies processed in previous dreams. We also propose that the changes in logical and emotional patterns in dreams are based on fronto-limbic dominance oscillations during each REM period. Preliminary observations we made show that awakening patients during most rapid frontal EEG activity REM sleep elicits more logical and less bizarre dreams. Contrariwise, when they are awakened during slower REM cortical EEG activity, mainly over the frontal lobes, their dreams are more bizarre and consequently less elaborated from a cognitive point of view.

A classification system for longitudinal analysis of dream patterns.

A classification system for longitudinal analysis of dream patterns.

Depression: Variability of Intrapsychic and Sleep Parameters

In this study we consider the complexity of the condition known as depression. We studied both physiological and psychological aspects of the disorder by using psychodynamically oriented interviews, sleep EEGs, and dreams collected in the laboratory. We found considerable variability in the sleep, psychodynamic, and dream patterns. Some possible relations of these patterns to treatment results were noted. We discuss these findings in relation to recent sleep research and classical psychodynamic formulations of depression.

The fine edge of violence.

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article by Lefer was to discuss and describe the psychiatric nature of violence including types of violent patients. Knowledge about dream patterns in the violence-prone was a central feature of this study. METHODOLOGY: A non-experimental, exploratory design was employed. The author combined pertinent literature and his own clinical experience with and case study examples of violent clients to describe types of violent persons and possible causes for violence. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Review of the literature revealed the following indicators as being possible predictors of adult violence. In children, aggressive temper tantrums, aloneness, and truancy were found to be strong. Families with absent or cruel fathers and/or demeaning mothers in one study were found to create an environment in which children became depressed and expressed other altered reactions. Another study stated that homes in which parents show no love and do show violence will produce children who may later become violent. Humiliation and a sense of powerlessness were also reported by violent offenders. Members of a violent youth gang were found to show verbal and abstract limitations and were exposed to violence, seen as a way of life, at an early age. Dreams of the youth in this study were found to have violent dreams which offered a sense of achievement, contained much anxiety, and displayed some symptoms of classical traumatic neuroses. Acceptance and power were main goals. The study reported that dehumanization of others was critical in the ability to commit violence. Absence of human bonds was also stated as a factor in the enabling of a person to commit violence; violence becomes a means to become important, even in a negative way, to another. Others found that violence was used as a defense against facing conflicts and other unpleasant emotional feelings--a stage of a serious disturbance between neurosis and psychosis. Unable to develop relationships, the a highly emotional appetite is created which can only be satisfied with powerful psychological sensations. To Freudians, violence is the result of a weak superego and an uncontrolled id; violence becomes a catharsis. A typology of personality profiles of the violence prone person was created. Dimensions were strength of repression, suppression, inhibition, reaction formation, rationalization, and conscience. These types were: l) the person who uses violence as a means to an end without inhibition or need for justification, 2) the person who uses violence as a means to an end but must justify it, 3) the person who can only be violent in a drugged or dissociated state, and 4) the person who becomes symbiotic with persons who are prone to use violence as a means to an end and, being in a position of power, aids the other to commit violence. The latter two categories of patients were more likely than those who use violence as a means to an end to have dreams in which they were observers of violence rather than perpetrators of it. Overall patterns of feeling attacked, paranoia, and the striking out against someone who either must be punished for the agony of the perpetrator's childhood or taken out before the perpetrator is hurt--physically or emotionally. AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS: The author recommended that the younger population be targeted to deal with the growing number of violence-prone individuals. Specific areas would be feelings of alienation, lack of importance when violence is not used, helplessness, and depression. Dreams of youth are advocated as a beginning point for study and treatment. EVALUATION: This study reports findings in what could be a very important area in the psychiatric study of violence--dreams. If dreams are part of the subconscious, it would be helpful to be able to identify issues that the patient cannot consciously vocalize. As an exploratory piece, this article lays out some issues for the psychiatric community to think about. It would have been helpful to more clearly delineate the argument and present more data from cases rather than other literature. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Adult Offender KW - Adult Violence KW - Violence Predictors KW - Childhood Predictors KW - Adult Mental Health KW - Psychological Factors KW - Violence Causes KW - Offender Characteristics KW - Sleep Patterns Language: en