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Mark Hagen, MA
Clinical Use of Dreams
Dreams have been used as a conceptual vehicle for literary, artistic, musical, political, scientific and religious points of departure. The medical diagnostic value of dreams continues to be underutilized in our culture. As part of the modern canon of medicine, the dream remains an oddity. Despite the skepticism, we can find psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, marriage and family counselors and other mental health professionals currently working with dreams.
In my own private clinical practice, dreams have provided invaluable insights into the problems that my clients are dealing and coping with. The dream allows the professional to find diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic clues. One of my first private practice clients was a man who suffered a variety of symptoms. The client’s presentation and diagnosis were substantiated by his dreams, which indicated he was suffering from agora- and sociophobia.
The Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM IV), the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual all provide clinical diagnostic frameworks to understand cognitive, emotional, social and psychosomatic symptomatic patterns. We generally cannot treat symptoms; instead we need to treat causes such as those induced by traumatic experiences which underlay many psychological disorders. A symptom reading of dreams uncovers the buried problematic found in the reported dream text. The problematic conditions found in the dream focus on the dream’s lacunae and blind spots. Working through these problems is a central goal of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Far too few books have been written about the use of dreams in psychotherapy. Exceptions include such books as The Dream in Clinical Practice (Joseph Natterson, ed.) that brings together a variety of essays designed to enhance the psychotherapeutic use of dreams. Thomas M. French and Erika Fromm’s Dream Interpretation: A New Approach develops a focal conflict theory of dreaming: conflict shapes and structures a person’s coping skills with life problems. French and Fromm believe that maladaptive defense mechanisms are developed when dealing with cognitive-emotive conflicts; these defense mechanisms become the cause of symptomatic thought and behaviour. The Variety of Dream Experience (Montague Ullman and Claire Limmer, eds.) presents a collection of essays that include the training of therapists in using dreams for the purpose of treatment in clinical practice.
Nigel Hamilton, PhD
The Appearance of Symmetry in Dreams and its Relation to the Psycho-Spiritual Awakening Process
Symmetry is a universal symbol for balance, harmony and beauty in art, mathematics, music and science. Dreams are no exception either. The presence and significance of symmetry spontaneously appearing and developing in the dreams of a woman undergoing spiritual transformation over a period of ten years will be discussed in this paper. Evidence of symmetry appearing through the intra-psychic movements within the dreams will be presented. Such intra-psychic movements have resulted in a balancing of the expressive and receptive, rational and irrational, subtle and gross dimensions of the dreamer’s psyche in every cycle of her dreams. Six major cycles of dreams were detected during this 10-year study. These cycles all showed the appearance of symmetry in the dreams, culminating (in each cycle) in highly symmetrical dream symbols. Furthermore, these symbols corresponded to an increasingly subtle balancing taking place within the dreamer’s psyche, not only in each cycle, but increasingly so with each successive cycle of dreams.
The above-mentioned case is compared with the appearance of symmetry in a number of short-term, solo spiritual retreats and with the appearance of symmetry in the dreams of a psychotherapy client undergoing a psycho-spiritual change over a period of several years.
Overall, the study shows that during a psycho-spiritual transformation process, there is a definite tendency in the dreams towards a symmetrical balancing of the intra-psychic forces within the dreamer. This is reflected in the imagery and structures appearing in the dreams.
Authors:
Dr Nigel Hamilton - Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy Education, London, UK
Dr David Hiles - De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
Tony Hawkins
Intimations of the Infinity of Being from Recollections of Personal Dreams
I begin with early childhood dreams containing such imagery as:
“Human shaped, almost invisible against the sky, they fly away to some wonderful place. I, buried in this so cold, dense baby body, scream to them to take me with them, into them, to the wonderful place where they are going. But I have no voice.”
“...a sense containing all senses. Seeing is hearing is touching is receiving a song. A dynamic, vivid, beautiful darkness...”
“I, a mindless, mote, a tiny black speck of consciousness, crawling through the oppressive, blue-white, sun-bright, sky-waves force-fields of two gigantic minds, like two elements of a single self, like eyes.”
I go on to the Vision of the Carrot Man (1968). After reading Beverley d’Urso et al, I see this as a super-lucid dream of encountering God. Correspondence with Jung’s later encountered Cosmic Christ and a precognition of the Moon landing and a correct prediction of its historical evaluation, plus subsequent resonance in many dreams, give credence to this being a ‘God-level’ event.
The Law of the Fox (1982) is a multi-psi dream like a children’s moral fable about a farmyard bird-run ruled by a rapacious fox, which is transformed by the song of a rabbit. The birds turn into happy people, the fox into a china figurine, and the fox’s charnel house into a multi-eyed winking dancing object which I interpreted as future communications, and which strikingly corresponds with the Internet, developed from the military Arpanet.
This brings me to the Monte Ullman Event at the 2008 Psiberdreaming Conference, where a dream I initially ascribed to the reincarnation thread was later associated with the 1968 God image and became linked with the Tribute to Monte Ullman and strongly linked with Monte’s black hole dream-source and Ryan Hurd’s imageless source of dreams Void.
I now consider the power of the Void. Dreams and thought take place in/emerge from the Void. Our bodies emerge from the Void, which has, particularly for very young children, the overwhelming beauty of our mothers. I propose that intimacy is not a result of complex, bio-chemical interaction but a sharing of the Void. The moment of climax in intimate relations is a disappearance from which emerges the witnessed universe. Our lives return into the Void.
I suggest that psi phenoma in dreams are the result of an unseen timeless dimension, which means that our lives have a timeless perpetuity exactly as they are, though the nature of the timeless state cannot be like ordinary human consciousness. Here our life is extended through a process of evaluation and change. Though this does not prove immortality, it is very suggestive that such might be the case. My earliest baby dream (above) foretold the whole of my life as a writer, though not its outcome.
This amounts to a radical re-evaluation of the spiritual significance of 'ordinary' human nature and of consciousness.
Deborah Armstrong Hickey, PhD, LMFT, RPT-S
Mutual Dreams as Footprints in the Sands of the Universe
This workshop begins with a brief presentation about historical beliefs and practices around the experience of mutual dreams. Included in this conversation the following perspectives will be covered:
Religious & spiritual beliefs from a range of origins
A visual journey through well-known mutual dreams from past and more current history
Research in PSI phenomenon as it pertains to mutual dreaming
Informal statistical reports from the presenter’s classroom experiences (over 20 years)
Presenter’s personal history involving mutual dreams
Material from Sue Watkin’s book, Dreaming Myself, Dreaming a Town
Ending with a conversation about science and reluctance to study this phenomenon, with special consideration to William James and how he might have approached this topic.
The workshop experience will begin with the participants being invited into remembering and bringing forth their own personal experiences. A drumming journey will take place in service of invoking these dreams. Following this images and symbols will be drawn on the walls of the room (which will be covered with a long line of paper) using pastels and chalk). Each participant will then create a movement and sound that evokes the experience of the dream, with everyone in the room mirroring each movement and sound. Finally each participants will be given four cloth squares on which to: (1) write something from the dream from their perspective and from the perspective of the other with whom they ‘shared’ the dream; and (2) a symbol from the dream from the perspective of themselves and from the perspective of the other who ‘shared’ the dream with them.
The next portion of the workshop involves each participant sewing the cloths onto a cord to display the dreams of each participant. The workshop will end with a walking meditation with the dreaming prayer flags being held while the walk is taking place.
Rita Hildebrandt
Dreams and Guided Meditation
In this workshop we approach dream images in an altered state and by doing so bring forth their deeper spiritual essence. This process allows for the spiritualization of any element of the dream--be it a character, an object, a symbol or a landscape.
I begin the process by guiding people into an altered state through meditation. Then I work with one person and her dream at the center of a circle while the group goes into their own experience of this work. Then we share the inner experiences of the group. In the second part of the workshop I utilize one dream--with the permission of the dreamer--and guide the whole group into this dream and then we share the experiences. The whole experience is done in an altered state.
I have been meditating for forty years and the method I use in this workshop is one I have created myself and used in my own dream groups and with my individual clients.
Curt Hoffman, PhD and Tobi Hoffman, MA
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made On: Create Your Own Dream Pillow!
Curt begins with a brief overview of archetypal symbolism and how it occurs in dreams, mostly based on the work of C.G. Jung. He will discuss how using a collage process can bring archetypal images in dreams to life. Tobi will show participants examples of her collages which achieve this. She will provide instructions on how to make a fabric collage on a pre-cut piece that can be made into a pillow.
Participants should bring a dream or dream image to work on. They will be invited to choose from a wide assortment of colored and patterned fabric scraps, cut pieces of which will be used to portray the dream imagery. They may also bring their own fabrics. They will be provided with scissors with which they can cut out fabric pieces, and will then affix them to the background piece of fabric using an iron. As a last step, Tobi will use a serger to close off the pillow edges so they are ready for stuffing. Digital photos of the pillow design and its maker will be available upon request, and (with the participant’s approval) will be posted to the conference website.
Curtiss Hoffman, PhD
Developing the Intuition in Group Dreamwork
Jung once wrote that he found it useful to approach each dream of his analysands with absolutely no preconceived idea of what the dream might mean. This discipline helps to eliminate the interference of the conscious mind in the dreamworking process and allows for the entry of intuitive wisdom. Anyone who has done dreamwork for long enough is likely to have had many of what Jeremy Taylor calls “ahas” – intuitive insights which help not only the dreamer, not only the person commenting on their dream, but the entire group which is working the dream.
By using the Ullman method of group dreamwork as modified by Taylor, which involves assuming that the dreamer knows better than anyone else what his/her dream means, and attempting to elicit the multiple meanings by a question-and-answer methodology without imposing the dreamworker’s views in an authoritative way, these intuitive sparks can be nurtured and the capacity to recognize them enhanced. This is especially likely to occur in a group setting, as the group works together over an extended period (in this case, four days) to generate bonds and interaction patterns that resonate with one another, and their dreams also weave together in mutual patterns.
As a way of augmenting this further, dreams will be explored beyond the personal dimension with reference to the archetypal ideas emerging from the collective unconscious, using the method Jung referred to as “amplification,” which draws historical and mythological and literary material into the orbit of the dreamwork, again in a non-authoritative manner, using the “If It Were My Dream” approach developed by Ullman.
Małgorzata Hołda
Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Dreams
The present study was designed to explore gender differences in attitudes toward dreams. Dream research focuses mainly on the formal characteristics of dreams (e.g., mood, realism, coloring, dream recall) and dream content; rarely does it concern their broader view. Nevertheless, functional aspects of dreams–like the affective response to dreams, the subjectively perceived role of dreams, private concepts of dreams, etc.--seem to be equally important in studying dreams.
The term attitude toward dreams is commonly used in the literature to describe different functional aspects of dreams. However, a clear definition for attitude toward dreams is not specified. Furthermore, different studies take into account different components of the attitude and use different scales to measure it. Due to this ambiguity, my own definition of the attitude toward dreams is proposed, based on the classical, three-component definition of attitude.
The main goal of the present study was to investigate differences in attitudes toward dreams between men and women. The sample consisted of 244 participants aged 19-33 (mean age 21.8); 115 women and 129 men. In order to measure attitudes toward dreams, a 56-item self-report Attitude toward Dreams Scale (ADS) was developed and psychometrically verified. Satisfactory psychometric parameters for the ADS were revealed: Cronbach’s alpha amounted to 0.96 and the correlation coefficient for the retest was 0.91. Factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution, and three subscales were extracted.
Results of the study indicate significant differences in attitudes toward dreams between men and women. Women tend to be generally more involved in their dream life than men. These differences were found for all the aspects of the attitude toward dreams – men and women differed on their global ADS scores and on the scores for all three subscales. The types of attitudes toward dreams are also described and discussed.
Caroline L. Horton, PhD
Continuity of Inhibition in Lucid Dreamers: Evidence from the go/nogo paradigm
Lucid dreamers demonstrate an awareness of dreaming whilst dreaming. This is an example of accurate reality monitoring: a process by which experiences can be determined as internally- or externally-generated. Such reality monitoring is not present in many dreams. Some individuals can lucid dream relatively frequently. They may share a specific cognitive profile, characterised by heightened control processes and executive function in waking.
The present investigation predicted that lucid dreamers, who demonstrate cognitive control and metacognitive awareness whilst asleep, might be especially able to perform well on tests of inhibition whilst awake. 180 students participated as part of a class, completing a questionnaire to determine their lucid dreaming behaviours (involving reporting a lucid dream, if one could be recalled) and a computerised go/no-go task measuring inhibition, whereby a key had to be continually pressed in response to repeated word stimuli, and not pressed when occasional specific stimuli were seen. Not pressing the key at the appropriate times reflected accurate performance, as a repeated behaviour could be inhibited. Emotional trials were also included whereby go and no-go stimuli differed in terms of emotional valence. Participants were divided into three groups of roughly equal sizes: those who reported they had never had a lucid dream, those who report they had but who could not recall one, and those who were able to recall a lucid dream.
Lucid dreamers (those able to recall a lucid dream) performed significantly better than other groups on all go/no-go tasks (emotional and neutral). This illustrates that lucid dreamers may be able to monitor and control their thoughts and actions continually over the sleep-wake cycle. These behaviours are typical of enhanced metacognitive processing. Results will be discussed in relation to the cognitive profile of dreaming generally and the continuity of metacognitive and control processes over the sleep-wake cycle. This investigation also demonstrates the usefulness of standardised cognitive tests in the dreaming literature.
Robert J Hoss, MS and Lynne M Hoss, MA, EHP-C
The Intertwining Roots of Dreamwork and Energy Psychology: the Dream to Freedom Technique
According to many researchers, theorists and psychologists, dreams tend to focus on the most important unfinished emotional processing of the day. As such, dreamwork has become an important means of quickly and effectively identifying a critical issue, as opposed to peeling away at surface-level problems and emotional layers until the critical issue surfaces. While dreamwork is useful for identifying or experiencing inner emotions, unless it is part of a more encompassing therapeutic process, dreamwork by itself does not necessarily deal with those emotions or reducing the barriers to progress that they impose. The field of Energy Psychology, on the other hand, provides some relatively simple approaches for reducing emotional conditions and stress once the condition is identified. By integrating these the two disciplines, using specific approaches which complement each other, both identification and reduction of emotional barriers and stress can be affected.
This bridging of disciplines may also have a natural neurological synergy. While dreams appear to reflect the nocturnal processing of unresolved emotional issues, involving the limbic system among others, energy psychology targets similar centers in the brain with methods intended to reduce emotional stress and anxiety. Neural plasticity theory and clinical reports indicate that energy psychology is able to produce neurological shifts which neutralize emotional patterns in the limbic system, formed when the amygdala responds to waking life experiences.
In this workshop, participants will learn both a uniquely scripted Gestalt-based dreamworking technique as well as a specific Energy Psychology protocol – and learn how to combine them in their professional or personal practice, to reduce stressful reactions to emotional memories that may surface while working with a dream. The workshop will demonstrate: 1. a scripted 6-step Gestalt-based dreamwork method for identifying an emotional issue the dream is working on; 2. application of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to the dreamwork process, which uses self-stimulation of acupressure points while holding the problem in mind, to reduce any emotional stress surrounding the issue the dreamwork reveals; and once the stressful barriers are reduced, 3. a means for closure which uses the dream to stimulate a closure metaphor, and definition of next steps.
A discussion of the theoretical and research underpinnings and some examples, illustrating the basis of the combined methodologies, is provided in the first half hour of the workshop. This will be followed by a case study demonstration of the technique followed by a step-by-step experiential session, for those attendees who wish to learn the protocol using one of their own dreams. The workshop will include a handout and worksheet. The workshop is applicable to professionals or anyone interested in the unique synergy of disciplines for working with dreams.
Robert J Hoss, MS
Content analysis and the potential significance of Color in Dreams
The potential significance and source of color in dreams was postulated from a content analysis of color in spontaneously recalled dream reports. The analysis was performed on 15,245 dream reports in the DreamBank.net database, plus 12,841dream reports from long-term dream journals. One objective was to determine, to the degree possible from dream content, whether dream color reports simply reflect our waking visual experience or if the colors reported are influenced by physiological or psychological factors or both. The conclusion from the observed data was that the color recalled from dreams is neither a direct reflection of the waking visual spectrum nor does it reflect personal associations alone, but rather dream color appears to be derived from common neurological or physiological mechanisms which may in turn be influenced strongly by individual emotional or psychological factors.
INTRODUCTION
Color has been reported anywhere from 83% to over 95% of the time in both awakening subjects from the REM state (cited in Van de Castle, 1994 and Schredl, 2008). In contrast, a study by Hall of color in 3000 spontaneous dream reports (normal daily dream recall) indicated a significant decline on the order of 29% (cited in Van de Castle, 1994, p. 298). A study by Schredl et. al. (2008) that asked the dreamer to record the color of all dream elements immediately upon waking resulted in 100% of dreams containing some color, but not all dream elements contained color. Although our dream colors may generally reflect waking reality (grass is green and the sky is blue for example) in accordance with the continuity hypothesis (Schredl 2003), the association of a particular color (or no color) with a dream element, or the recall of that dream color, may be influenced by other neurological and psychological factors.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study were to explore both neurological and psychological connections with dream color, to the degree that content analysis patterns could shed some light on each of these areas. Although a content analysis alone cannot provide definitive answers, it was hoped that comparing dream colors recalled from large diverse populations, as well as from individual long-term journals would identify patterns which might weaken some hypothesis and strengthen others. The study was designed to explore dream color as influenced by five possible factors: 1) dream color as a reflection of our waking visual experience; 2) dream color as a reflection of learned experience; 3) dream color influenced by the neurology of color perception: 4) dream color as symbolic of a psychological process; 5) dream color as a reflection of the emotional human response to color.
METHOD AND RESULTS
I performed three database content analysis trials on two databases, a large group population database and a long-term journal database, to look for patterns of the relative count of colors reported, which I refer to herein as a color pattern or color profile. The first large database trial included 15,245 dream reports from the DreamBank.net database (Schneider & Domhoff, 1999) which included a large population dreamers of varied demographics. The second large database trial included 12,841 dream reports from a small population of eight long-term journaling subjects. The third content analysis was on each of the eight long-term journal data sets in order to study individual differences, in comparison with each other and to the larger composite databases.
Large Population Database Trial
The initial content analysis resulted in 6,237 individual color reports from 15,245 dreams of a large population of dreamers of varied demographics, contained in the DreamBank.net database (Schneider & Domhoff, 1999). The result is shown in Figure 1 for the nine most reported colors plus purple. This sample represented a broad, but primarily U.S. base of dreamers, and contained 35% reports from males and 65% from females. The analysis was performed using a simple count of named colors from the composite of all dreams in the database. The study found that on average black and white (as colors) are reported most often (approximately 20% each) and in near equal percentages, followed by a frequency grouping of the colors red, blue, yellow and green, over twice that of most other colors with the exception of brown which appears about 5% of the time. A sort of the DreamBank database for gender resulted in essentially the same results within a percentage point or two, with the exception of the color blue which dropped to 8% for males and increased to about 13% for females.
Small Population Long-Term Journaling Database Trial
A second content analysis, using the same methodology as with the large population trial, was performed on 12,841 dream reports from a small population of eight subjects, three male and five female, who were long-term journalists (Hoss & Hoffman, 2004). A sort for the ten most reported colors is shown in figure 4. Comparing this result with Figure 1 for the large population DreamBank database, we can see that the two contain a near identical pattern. This close result, within about 2%, is notable considering data collection variables in population size, recall differences and color naming.
Content Analysis of Individual Journals
A content analysis was performed on the dream color sets for each of the eight subjects making up the long-term journal database. The results from three of the subjects are plotted in figure 6 as a representative result so that the pattern similarities and differences can be seen. The count of each color from the total dream reports of each subject is represented as a % of all colors reported. Note that although there were differences in data collection variables, all eight subjects showed the same dominant pattern as with both the DreamBank and LTJ composite averages shown in figures 1 and 2. All subjects, with one minor variation, recorded dominant and a near equal grouping of black and white (the exception was one who recorded a lesser percentage of white than black). Also each of the eight profiles (with the possible exception of yellow in one subject) illustrated the next dominant color grouping to be the four color grouping of red, yellow, green and blue. In contrast with the large DreamBank and LTJ composite databases, however, there is a significant variance in the relative frequencies of those four colors from individual to individual.
Conclusions
The emergence of a common pattern in large populations as well as individual dreamers, but with wide variations between individuals, leads to the speculation that there may be a common factor influencing dream color creation or recall, which is in turn influenced by other factors at a personal level. Each of the potential hypotheses was compared with the data in order to better isolate the factors involved.
The Common Influence
a) Our Waking Visual Experience
The data does not support our waking visual experience as a strong influence on dream color. The dominant four-color pattern, plus black and white, that emerged does not fit well with an expected pattern of colors from our natural environment. While the continuity principle may still apply for certain dream colors (grass may still appear as green, and sky as blue), some other mechanism may more heavily influence the creation or recall of colors from our dreams.
b) The Neurology of Color Perception
The color pattern that emerged hints that the neurology of color perception may have an influence on dream color. The opponent-process theory of color perception(Schiffman, 1976) contends that the eye-brain system processes the trichromatic information from the eye at a more complex level based on hue cancellation between three opponent channels: red versus green, blue versus yellow, and black versus white. The four colors, red, yellow, blue and green are often termed the “psychological primaries” because they are perceived by the mind to be primary, likely due to this processing phenomenon. It is notable that the content analysis revealed a dominant dream color pattern containing the same colors as involved in the opponent-process theory of color perception.
c) Psychological Processes
In exploring contemporary psychological theory, there is very little in the literature on color in dreams other than some discussion by Carl Jung and Fritz Perls. Both observed the appearance of the same four “psychological primaries” in dreams, and considered it psychologically significant when they appeared together as a group. They regarded the presence of this balanced pattern of four colors as evidence of a balance of forces within the psyche, or an evolving state of completion within the personality (Jung, C. G., 1972, Jung, C. G., 1973, Perls, F. S., 1974). Jung also assigned a symbolic significance to the appearance of black and white in dreams; blackness representing the unconscious realm, and white or light representing the conscious realm or conscious material (Jung, C. G., 1973). He contended that when black and white appeared as a pair or in a pattern, that an integration of conscious and unconscious material was taking place leading towards a balancing within the psyche.
It is notable that these same color groups were apparent in both large and individual dream databases. If indeed balance and integration are dominant psychological forces during dreaming, then perhaps these forces provide a common influence for these colors to dominate our dreams. It is also likely that, although the color pattern may have a neurological basis, it may take on a symbolic role in representing the psychological forces that Jung describes. For example, the equal presence of all four colors would neurologically be equivalent to the balanced totality of our visual color experience. The balanced presence of these four colors in a dream, therefore, might symbolic represent the balanced totality within our personality, as Jung and Perls contended. Whatever the relationship is between the neurology and psychology, the pattern of dream colors recalled across large populations and individual dreamers, supports both the neurological and psychological hypotheses as a common influence on dream color creation and recall.
Individual Factors
While we saw a common pattern within all databases, there were wide variations within the four-color grouping between individuals, which point to the influence of individual or personal factors. Even in the large databases other factors appear to be involved since the four-color grouping was not perfectly balanced and other colors were present to a good degree as well.
a) Our Personal Experience with Color
The data does not support individual learned associations with color as a strong influence over the dominant colors reported from dreams. If it were so then the content analysis, between large databases as well as between individual journals, should show a fairly broad and random result due to the random and varied nature of individual associations.
b) Psychological Factors
The data from the long-term journal studies again appears to support the theories of Jung that attributes psychological significance to color. It is notable that the individual long-term journal patterns show a wide variation between the four “psychological primaries” yet a near equal pairing of black and white which is constant between seven out of the eight individual studies. Jung attributes the integration of unconscious and conscious material (symbolic of the black and white) to a deeper collective unconscious process, less affected by personality factors, and therefore it might be expected to be more constant between individuals. On the other hand, Jung associated each of the “primaries” to what he called the four orienting functions of consciousness: red relating to feeling, yellow relating to intuition, blue relating to thinking and green relating to sensation (Jung, C. G., 1972). These “functions” would vary widely from individual to individual as a factor of personality. This variation is demonstrated by wide personal differences in Myers-Briggs personality test results (The Myers and Briggs Foundation) which was based on Jung’s theory and these four functions.
c) The Human Emotional Response to Color
Early studies on the human response to color provide significant evidence that color illumination in the waking state results in fairly predictable physiological and emotional responses (Lűscher, 1971; Birren, 1961; Riley, 1995; Birren, 1978; Brown, 1974; Ertel, 1973; Goldstein, 1942). Lűscher (1971) and Birren (1961) both cited studies where color was shown to evoke a physiological response in the autonomic nervous system, which occurs below our threshold of awareness. Brown (1974) determined that our brain responds directly to color in a similar manner, as does our nervous system. These influences may carry over into the dream state. A connection between physiological response and emotion in the dream state was made by Hobson and McCarley (1977) who hypothesized that the intensity of dreams is reflected in the dreamer’s respiratory rate, heart rate and skin potential.
These color-to-emotion associations common in the waking state may carry over into the dream state due to similar brain centers being involved in both states – in particular the limbic system and the amygdala. Hobson (Hobson, Pace-Schott, Stickbold, 2003, p. 17) indicates that the findings of Nofzinger et al. (1997), Braun et al. (1997) and Marquet et al. (1997) suggest that REM sleep plays a role in the processing of emotion via a cortical interplay with the limbic system. Marquet (Hobson 2007, p. 16) proposes that the amygdala functions to selectively process emotionally relevant memories in dreams. In the waking state the amygdala calls attention to important sensory information by placing an emotional “tag” on every stimulus (including color) that we come in contact with (Ratey, 2002). The amygdala would therefore create meaningful associations between color and emotion, which would possibly influence the colors assigned to a dream image, and likely the colors we most recall from our dreams.
The premise that emotion influences dream color creation or recall is consistent with the wide variation seen between individual journals. If emotion influences dream color then widely varying emotional states between individuals would be reflected in widely varying color profiles between individual journals. Some preliminary studies (beyond the scope of this paper) were performed to test this premise and determine whether there was any indication of emotion and or personality as a factor.
Earlier studies by this author had shown evidence of an emotional linkage with dream color (Hoss, 1999, 2005). The emotional responses from subjects as they enacted a Gestalt role-play of color dream images were compared with: a) the feelings the subject experienced in a recent waking situation, plus b) a description of common emotional state associations with color from color psychology studies and more specifically the Lűscher Color Test (Lűscher, M., 1971). While the comparisons were qualitative, since they involved comparing narratives and self-scoring for accuracy by the subjects, a strong relationship was observed between the color of a dream image and the expected emotional state.
Some preliminary trials were also performed to look for possible indications suggestive of personality and emotion as an influencing factor in individual reports. A test was performed with the three long-term journal subjects shown in Figure 3, to determine whether the color profile differences might show any relation to emotional factors characterizing the dreamer’s personality. A year-by-year analysis was also performed on the eleven-year data set from subject #2 to determine if dream color reflected emotional conditions in the dreamer’s life. The Lűscher Color Test was again used in these trials to derive emotional profiles from color profiles. Although emotional profiles were self-scored, there was a strong indication that dream color recall is influenced by the emotional state of the dreamer. In the 11-year study, for example, two periods of emotional “crisis” were identified by a pattern analysis of the dream color alone. These studies (Hoss & Hoffman, 2004; Hoss & Hoffman, 2005) can be found in the “articles” link on www.dreamscience.org and are planned to be reported in an upcoming publication, Perchance to Dream: The Frontiers of Dream Psychology, edited by Dr. Stanley Krippner and Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis.
References
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Ratey, J. (2002). A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Random House, p. 121
Riley, C. A., II (1995). Color Codes. New Hampshire: University Press of New England, pp. 298-320
Schiffman, H.R. (1976). Sensation and Perception: an Integrated Approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 216-220
Schneider, A., and Domhoff, G.W. (1999). DreamBank.net . http://www.dreambank.net
Schredl, M, Fuchedzhiea, A., Hämig, H., Schindele, V. (2008). Do we think dreams are in black and white due to memory problems? Dreaming, 18-3, pp.175-180
Van De Castle, R. L. (1994). Contemporary dream research. Our Dreaming Mind. New York, USA: Ballantine Books
Robert J. Hoss, MS
The significance of language in dreams
Panel participants: Robert J. Hoss, MS, Chair; Deirdre Barrett, PhD; David Kahn, PhD
The expression or representation of language in dreams takes on multiple dimensions. The dream experience or narrative itself appears to present information, in the form of largely visual cross-modal representations and metaphors, which is often perceived by the dreamer to contain meaningful associations with their waking life. Dreams have also been observed to directly structure meaningful phrases or words using visual representations. Finally, spoken and written language is a common experience in dreams. It is most often experiences as thinking in words or discussions with other dream characters (both thought like as well as perceptions of audible speech). Sometimes the verbal or spoken word appears directive and emotionally charged, leaving the dreamer with the sense that the dream has provided a “message” of sorts. This panel will discuss these four aspects of the experience of language in dreams: 1) Dream representations and narrative as an expression of information; 2) visual speech representations in dreams; 3) verbal speech and language use in dreams; 4) directive verbal or written “messages.”
1) Dream Representations as an Expression of Information
Working with dreams, particularly in a clinical and therapeutic setting, meaningful associations are frequently observed between the elements and actions in our dreams and the situations and emotions in our waking life. The dream stories or narratives often take on the aspect of an analogy or metaphor to our waking life story. The dream appears to interact with itself, communicating in a language of its own, a language primarily of visual representation or association although other sensory modalities are certainly present at times. As bizarre as dream stories and imagery may appear, the representations have been found to be quite meaningful when treated and explored as personal association and metaphor, and explored in light of the waking situation of the dreamer.
Dreamwork or dream exploration is often observed to present or organize internal information so as to provide new clarity about the dreamer’s feelings, fears and motivations surrounding a situation that appears to be the focus of the dream. An example is the case of a mother who was reluctant to confront her son about his drug use. She dreamed, “I woke terrified from a dream where my son was killed by a belt that hit him on the head.” Her immediate associations with the dream were: the use of the belt to tie off his arm, and in the dream narrative the word “hit” as referring to the drug use, and the metaphor “hit in the head” as referring to the effect of the drug use. In a visual manner, augmented by the metaphors in the narrative, the dream communicated a clear representation of the situation. The dream went further however in that it communicated an expression of emotion in the proper context of the situation, with a degree of clarity that the woman had been unwilling to express in waking life. The clarity of experiencing her son being killed by this, motivated her to finally confront her son. The communication of internally developed information was succinct and in what might be considered language form of visual and experiential representations.
The representative and experiential nature of this internal language might be linked to centers of the brain that are active and inactive during the dream. While all the functions of dreaming are not fully understood, many researchers now understand that emotional processing plays a significant role. Hobson (Hobson et.al., 2003) indicates that Nofzinger et al. (1997), Braun et al. (1997) and Marquet et al.(1997), all suggest that REM sleep plays a role in the processing of emotion via a cortical interplay with the limbic system. Marquet (Hobson 2007, p. 16) proposes that the amygdala functions to selectively process emotionally relevant memories in dreams. This limbic-cortical interplay stimulates cortical regions such as the visual and auditory association cortex which respond with imagery and auditory associations in context of the material being processes. Dreams in a sense picture our emotions in the context of the situation, as they did in the example above of the “hit on the head” dream.
The principle modality of dream representations appears to be cross-modal associations, mainly using visual imagery and storylines to represent a thought, feeling or concept. When the dream narrated these thoughts, feelings or concepts often become expressed in the form of a metaphor. In the example above, the “hit” was a common figure of speech and the “hit on the head” an action which figuratively captured the essence of the situation. Dreaming of being naked is often seen as a figurative expression of “feeling exposed”, for example. Metaphors are simple and efficient way for our minds to represent complex thoughts and feelings in a figurative and visual manner. According to Domhoff (2003), metaphors map our well-understood basic experiences (such as warmth) to more difficult concepts (such as friendship)--"we had a warm relationship,” for example. They map physiological processes (sweetness) to more complex emotional experiences (pleasure)--for example, "What a sweet deal that was!" He states that each person learns a system of conceptual metaphors, as a result of repeated experiences in the course of childhood development.
We learn common cultural metaphors, or figures of speech, in our everyday lives and use them naturally to represent more complex concepts. There may be a center in the brain, active during dreaming, that contributes to the formation of metaphor in dreams or dream narratives. V.S. Ramachandran, at UC-San Diego, has been investigating cross-modal areas of the brain that give rise to metaphor as an element of language and meaning (Lanier, 2006). His studies directly relates linguistic abstractions that relate otherwise dissimilar stimuli, such as image to a particular sound (a sharp edged shape to a “sharp” sound for example). His studies have shown that the inferior parietal lobe of the brain is involved in processing of cross-modal information and metaphors. The right inferior parietal lobe is found to be active in dreams and suspected to perform a visuo-spatial role in dream imagery formation. Perhaps the activation of this region of the brain in dreams plays a role in the visual structure of the dream in the manner of a metaphor.
Dr. David Kahn will examine the dream reports of subjects, as well as some of his own dream reports, for their narrative content and language. The narrative content of the dream is compared to what is likely to occur in our wake lives. The language used in the dream is compared to the language that is likely to be used in real life. We provide evidence from brain imaging and other brain-based measures to suggest that the changed interactions between specific brain regions operating under a modified chemical milieu are important for the form and narrative content of the dream. During dreaming, specific brain regions act in the same way as they do when awake; others do not. The resulting complex interaction between the two results in a dream that contains waking reality that is mixed in with the fantastical. It is suggested that language as expressed in the dream is a result of this complex interaction between specific brain regions, some of which are operating in the same way as when awake while others are not. Finally, we wonder whether the strange and unusual events and language of the dream are metaphorical, or do we turn to metaphor to find meaning for events and language that might otherwise seem meaningless?
2) Picture Words or Visual Speech Representations
When we speak in waking life we use word symbols or name and identify things. We combine word symbols to represent thoughts and concepts. In the dream state, however, the speech centers in the left hemisphere are inactive, thus the dreaming brain may not have ready access to the word symbols and names it needs to express thoughts and concepts. The dreaming brain appears to overcome this limitation by communicating a thought or concept in a more right-hemisphere fashion, as an association or visual representation. Dreams have been observed on occasion to actually “spell out” a concept or thought by combining visual symbols as one might combine words to make up a sentence. This dream serves as an example. The dreamer, who was concerned about the future of his engineering degree, dreamed of an image of a slide-rule with a thermometer on it. The dream combined visual associations to represent the literal phrase “engineering degree”; the slide-rule associates with “engineering” and the thermometer associates with “degree.”
In another example, letters and numbers were combined with an image of a license plate, as a combination of a literal spelling within a figurative visual metaphor, to represent the emotional concern the dreamer was dealing with. “I dreamed I saw a license plate with the words ‘HIDE 45’.” In waking life the dreamer had just reached his 45th birthday and admitted he was looking for a valid way (a “license”) to hide the fact.
c) Speech and Language Use in Dreams
While dreams tend to communicate meaning in a symbolic visual manner, the experience of social interaction using speech or language is also central to dreams (Foulkes,1993). Snyder (1970) found 80% to 100% of REM dream reports to contain speech (cited in Foulkes 1993). Often the words are sometimes perceived as being heard, but also may takes on more of a thought form, that of understanding the words or thoughts being communicated without an auditory sensation. Heynik (1983) reported dream language does retain the characteristics of being both grammatically well formed and contextually appropriate (cited in Foulkes 1993). In describing language in dreams, Foulkes (1993) states that dreaming reflects high levels of information analysis and integration. Although the sensory pathways and various other speech centers appear relatively inactive in the dream state, dream speech still appears to retain the perception of being heard and although meaning may be distorted, or take on a cross-modal representations, dreaming brain activity appears adequate to provide the understanding and information processing aspect of speech.
Dr. Deidre Barrett will present a collection of examples of verbatim language in dreams, with analyses of how this is altered relative to waking language. Grammar is well-preserved in these dreams while meaningfulness is distorted relative to waking criteria. Novel nouns receive special emphasis as do extra-vocal cues such as voice tone. Dreams with verbatim language tend to be unusually long, vivid, and emotionally salient, though this may be a byproduct differential dream recall affecting both. The present findings will be compared to past research data on language in dreams, and discussed in relation to what's known about brain areas involved in dreaming and areas involved in different linguistic processes.
The experience of dream speech with multi-lingual dreamers will be discussed briefly with reference to a number of research studies.
d) Directive Words in Dreams
Sometimes the experience of spoken or written words will dominate a dream with a degree of intensity or emotional salience, so as to appear to the dreamer as a “message” of sorts. The spoken word in this case often is perceived as auditory or as a readable sentence. Since these dreams often contain an emotional charge which results in an immediate awakening, it is possible that the nearness to consciousness is responsible for the more sensory nature, however, a good majority of these “messages” are found not to be literal when examined in waking life context, but maintains the nature of a metaphor as typical of the dream experience.
In the following dream the verbal message was grammatically well structured and appropriately linked to the context of the dream, but the meaning of both the words and the dream, when examined in the context of the dreamer’s waking life, was a metaphor (Hoss, 2005). “I dreamed it was the end of the world and I was stranded on an island of land with water rising all around me. I was terrified of drowning. Suddenly a voice said ‘the water is your unconscious, jump in and you will be fine’.” In life, the dreamer was having a difficult time dealing with some new feelings that were surfacing, fearing that if they let them go they would be overcome and metaphorically drown. The message was literal within the context of the dream, but not literal to waking life. It was not a literal suggestion that the dreamer should jump in a lake, but rather to metaphorically let go, that the fear was simply of their own unconscious.
Sometimes the directive message is literal but only when the context of the dream is examined as a metaphor, in the context of the waking life situation. The dream occurred as the dreamer struggled with a side of themselves that they considered evil, a side they continually tried to suppress. “I dreamed that this evil person was alive again and realized that an ‘entity’ was at work. I went through a ritual of exorcism, but the more I tried, the darker the sky became. Suddenly a loud voice said, ‘stop - you are only making it worse’.” When the dream was examined (Hoss, 2005) the message “stop you are only making it worse” was appropriate as a literal message, but only when the context of the dream was compared as a metaphor to the context of the dreamer’s waking life situation. Once the analogies were established (the evil person associated with the part of herself she considered evil; the ritual in the dream associated with her suppressive actions) then the message became clear and appropriate.
References
Hobson, J. A., Pace-Schott, E. F., Stickbold, R. (2003). Dreaming and the brain: toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states. In E.F. Pace-Schott, M. Solms, M. Blagrove, S. Harnad (Eds.), Sleep and Dreaming (pp 1 – 50). New York, USA, Cambridge University Press
Hobson, J. A. (2007). Current Understanding of Cellular Models of REM expression. In D. Barret & P. McNamara (Eds.), The New Science of Dreaming: Vol. 1. Bilogical Aspects (pp. 77-80). Westport Connecticut, Praeger
J. Lanier (2006), “Jaron’s World, Discover Magazine, December 2006, p25
G. W. Domhoff (2003), The Scientific Study of Dreams, American Psychological Association, Washington DC, pp 9 - 38
Hoss, R. (2005). Dream Language: Self-Understanding through Imagery and Color. Ashland: Innersource
D. Foulkes (1993), Linguistic Phenomena and Language Selection in the REM Dreams of German-English Bilinguals, International Journal of Psychology, 1993, 28 (6), 871-891
Ryan Hurd, MA
Lucid Nightmares: the Dark Side of Self-Awareness in Dreams
Lucid nightmares are a subset of lucid dreams that end with disturbed sleep awakening. This experience, although not uncommon, is under-reported in contemporary dream studies literature. Features of lucid nightmares include disturbing imagery, intense emotions, and themes of death, decay, and confrontation. Lucid nightmares are also characterized by self-awareness in the dream with feelings of not being in “control.” As such, this experience is at odds with mainstream lucid dreaming culture, which may explain why it is under-reported. Lucid nightmares also share features with frightening Near Death Experiences, which is another visionary state of consciousness that is marked by disturbing imagery that runs counter to the prevailing culture that values light and love, while regarding terror and confrontation as a psycho-spiritual “failure.” By reviewing the history of nightmare treatment, as well as cross-cultural practices of lucid dreaming that do not place a negative value on disturbing imagery, we can find alternative ways to frame this experience. One such way is viewing the lucid nightmare as a neuro-gnostic phenomenon that was cognitively conceived in the deep prehistoric past yet still bubbles up in contemporary minds despite a lack of cultural framework that accounts for the experience. Finding ways to work with and honor these disturbing dreams may lead to self-growth and self-knowledge, as well as opportunities to re-connect with our present environmental condition.
Elizabeth Jeffries, BA, Nicholas E. Brink, PhD, Clinical Diplomate, ABPP
The Roots of Healing Dreamwork in Welsh Mythology
This workshop examines as a dream of our ancestors the first half of Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion (1). The first three branches of the Mabinogion were examined in a similar manner at the last three IASD conferences. Portrayed in this story is the extensive use of magic, of casting magical spells, of shape shifting and of the two powerful magicians of this story changing the shapes of the adversaries. It is a story of the deceptive use of magic for control, selfish gain and retribution.
What seems illogical in conscious life is the real magic of dreams. In dreams, as in this Welsh myth, we have the ability to do what in conscious life would be considered irrational, that is to change shape and to change the shape of others, the real experiences of magic.
This is the story of Math, lord over parts of Northern Wales, and his two nephews, the brothers Gilfaethwy and Gwydion. One feature of Math is that in order to live he must either have his feet in the lap of a maiden or he must be experiencing the turmoil of war. Gilfaethwy, though, is in love with his uncle’s maiden, Goewin. To assist his brother in having time alone with Goewin, Gwydion sets the stage for the turmoil necessary to separate Math from Goewin. To do this, Gwydion tells Math about Pryderi’s unusual swine obtained from the other world. We first met Pryderi, the ruler of parts of Southern Wales, in the first branch of the Mabinogion. Gwydion then goes to the court of Pryderi to get these swine for Math, and through acts of magic leaves with the swine. But after the magic wears off, Pryderi and his men travel north to fight Math and Gwydion. It is during this battle that Gilfaethwy invites himself into Goewin’s bed. The war ends with Gwydion killing Pryderi, and when Math returns to put his feet in the lap of Goewin he learns that she is no longer a maiden since she was raped by Gilfaethwy. Math, also a powerful magician, punishes Gilfaethwy and Gwydion by turning them into the male and female of three different animals, deer, pig and wolf, each for a year. At the end of each year they return to Math and he takes their offspring while turning them into the next animal. After three years, Math declares that they have been punished enough and they become friends, with Math seeking Gwydion’s advice as to who should become his maiden, but that is the beginning of the story for next year’s workshop of magic and intrigue.
This workshop as a dream group will explore this story of Math as a dream/myth. It is our belief that we each gain much in personal growth by experiencing the myths of our culture when we examine and understand them as dreams.
Clare Johnson, PhD
Lucid dreaming, synaesthesia, and sleep disorders: Dreaming into fiction
The presenter’s doctoral research into the connection between lucid dreaming and creative writing forms a basis from which to discuss the ways in which lucid and non-lucid dreams can be worked with to provide insights and inspiration in the writing process, particularly when writing about conditions that one has not personally experienced: How can these be adequately represented? Sometimes waking research alone is not enough, but the dreaming mind is gifted at presenting experiential solutions and vivid imagery which can support the writing process.
Lucid dreams are dreams in which the dreamer is aware that s/he is dreaming. Synaesthesia is a sensory condition in which musical notes might be experienced as colours, or textures tasted on the tongue. REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD) is a dream-enacting parasomnia which can be violent, endangering both dreamer and bed-partner. The researcher, whose first novel, Breathing in Colour, involves lucid dreaming and synaesthesia, and whose second novel is about an RBD sufferer, discusses her experiences of dreaming into a subject, and elucidates a series of powerful breakthroughs in the creative process.
The presentation examines dream induction, the possibilities of lucid dreaming, and the wider connection between dreams and creativity. It will look at how actively engaging with the dreaming imagination can help those involved in any creative project to make headway, often with startlingly original results.
Bibliography
Cytowic, R.E. (2003) The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Massachusetts, MIT Press.
Duffy, P.L. (2001) Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens: How Synesthetes Color their Worlds, New York, Times Books.
Epel, N. (ed) (1994) Writers Dreaming, New York, Vintage Books.
Green, C. & McCreery, C. (1994) Lucid Dreaming: The paradox of consciousness during sleep,London, Routledge.
Jay, C. (2009) Breathing in Colour, London, Little Brown Book Group.
Johnson, C. (2005a) ‘The Role of Lucid Dreaming in the Process of Novel Writing’, The Lucid Dream Exchange 34, 18-22.
Johnson, C. (2005b) ‘Lucid Dreaming and the Creative Writing Process’, paper presented at the Dream Writing Conference, University of Kent, 15th-16th October.
Schenk, C. (2005) Paradox Lost: Midnight in the Battleground of Sleep and Dreams. Extreme-Nights, LLC.
Schenk, C. & Dehler, B.(Producers) (2004) Sleep Runners: The Stories Behind Everyday Parasomnias. Slow Wave Films, LLC, MN.
Paula Lippard Justice PhD
Animal Dreams
The future of our planet involves not only human life, but all life. Animals come into our dreams, as into our waking lives, to teach us how to love and be loved unconditionally and to expand our consciousness of what life is. Participants will work with a personal dream containing an animal image. The objective will be to explore, artistically embody, share and perform the continuing message of the dream animal in the dreamer’s life as well as the message the animal brings for others.
Tracey L. Kahan, PhD
Individual differences in reflective awareness (RA) sampled from dreaming and waking
Theorists disagree on whether dreaming is deficient in executive functions such as reflective awareness (the ability to reflect upon or evaluate ongoing experience) or executive attention (the intentional direction of one’s attention). Several studies show that dreaming experiences are not uniformly deficient in executive functions when compared with comparably sampled waking experiences (see Kahan, 2001 for a review). The present study extends prior research and considers whether patterns in RA across dreaming and waking vary for men and women (controlling for variables such as average sleep time, dream recall frequency, and motivation to recall dreams). 188 college student participants used the Metacognition and Cognitive Experience questionnaire (MACE)(Kahan & LaBerge, 1996) to self-rate the incidence of metacognitive events in experience samples obtained from dreaming and waking. Participants also rated the phenomenological qualities of these experiences, including sensory/perceptual details, emotions, and cognitive features using the Subjective Experiences Questionnaire (SERS)(Kahan, 1994; 2000). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed the same general pattern of similarities and differences in metacognition as was observed in prior studies (e.g., Kahan & LaBerge, 1996; Kahan, 2001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that the combination of subjective experiences (sensory, affective, cognitive) that best predicted reflective awareness varied somewhat for dreaming and waking and also for men and women. The importance of considering individual difference factors in theories of dream generation is discussed, as are the implications of these findings for a 24-hour model of cognition.
David Kahn, PhD
Acceptance of the Unusual in Dreams: Functional?
Empirical data have shown that we are often unaware of the unusual while dreaming. These empirical data are discussed and interpreted to highlight how unawareness of the unusual while dreaming is functional
I draw on three studies conducted by Allan Hobson and myself and one also co-authored by Ed Pace-Schott. The three published papers are:
David Kahn, Edward Pace-Schott, and J. Allan Hobson, Emotion and Cognition: Feeling and Character Identification in Dreaming in Consciousness and Cognition 11, 34-50 (2002);
David Kahn and J. Allan Hobson, State Dependence of Character Perception in Journal of consciousness Studies 10, 57-68 (2003);
David Kahn and J. Allan Hobson, State-dependent thinking: A comparison of waking and dreaming thought in Consciousness and Cognition 14, 429-438 (2005).
In the Emotion and Cognition: Feeling and Character Identification in Dreaming study there were 35 subjects, 17 men and 18 women ranging in age from late teens to elderly, with the majority in their 20s and 30s, who provided 320 dream reports. Subjects recorded their dreams as soon as possible after awakening over a two-week period. The mean number of reports per subject was 9.14, average word length of the reports was 229 and the mean number of characters per dream report was 3.9 (not including the dreamer).
In the State Dependence of Character Perception study there were 12 subjects, 8 women and 4 men in the age range from the mid twenties to the mid forties. The subjects submitted 106 reports over a two-week period. The mean number of reports was 8.8. The mean number of words per report was 257. The mean number of dream characters per report was 4 (not including the dreamer).
In the State-dependent thinking: A comparison of waking and dreaming thought study there were 26 subjects, the majority between the ages of 18 and 22, 17 men and 9 women. The subjects submitted 178 dream reports containing 747 dream events over a two-week period. The mean number of reports was 223 and the mean number of words per report was 194. The mean number of dream events was 3.76.
The studies focused on dream characters and dream events in subjects’ dreams. The results were that subjects were largely unaware of differences that existed between their dream characters and their waking counterparts, and were largely unaware of the bizarreness of some of their dream events. The question is, why can’t the dreamer get it right? Is there a possible use for not getting it right?
When dreaming, we are afforded a new way of experiencing life. And since these experiences are as believable as those in waking life, they contribute to who we are. In dreams we often try out new things and experience new ways of looking at people and events. By not being constrained to what is possible and what is not, our dream experiences afford us with a way of experiencing the world that is not possible when awake.
David L. Kahn
20th Century Nightmare: Dreams of the Holocaust by Survivors, Their Children, and Everyday People in Modern Times.
This presentation reports on several aspects of dreams of the Holocaust. Examples of dreams by Holocaust survivors will contrast those they had during the Holocaust and those they had after liberation, including years or decades later. This presentation will also focus on dreams of second-generation survivors, recognizing that some survivors spoke openly of their experiences while others kept them hidden. Additional dream examples include modern daydreams, some by Jews and some by those with no apparent connection to the Holocaust.
The information obtained for this presentation comes from a few main sources. One of those sources is The Shoah Dream Project website, with permission given by website owner Arnie Bernstein. Additional documentation is to be provided by Hebrew University student Yifat Erlich, who is currently completing her Master's thesis on dreams during the Holocaust period. Her research includes a quantitative analysis of one hundred dreams, all of which were dreamt during the Holocaust period. Additional examples have come as a result of reading thousands of pages of Holocaust documentation in which I have found dream examples hidden within the pages. Viktor Frankl, Anne Frank, and survivors that participated in the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University are some such examples.
Philip H. King, Ph.D. and Bernard Welt, Ph.D.
Key Issues in Dreams Education
Academic courses provide the most institutionalized and structured environment in which to teach about dreams. Important dreams education also takes place in the larger community outside academia. In this panel we will explore the “nuts and bolts” of teaching about dreams in courses and in community settings, and surrounding issues, concerns and considerations.
We will look at the various contexts and expectations in which dreams teaching takes place. These contexts provide both opportunities and constraints.
Think of a dreams course as operating in the bull’s eye of a target, surrounded by concentric circles. The outermost circle is the society’s culture and institutions. The next smaller circle is the academic culture of education in the society. American schools, colleges and universities display a wide range of resources, programs of study, academic standards and student abilities.
The next contextual level is the type of college or university, which in the United States would include two-year (community) colleges offering the associate of arts or sciences degree, four year colleges offering a bachelor’s degree, colleges or universities offering bachelor’s, master’s and perhaps professional degrees, and full-fledged research universities offering doctoral degrees.
There are also non-credit continuing education and adult enrichment programs offered in otherwise degree-granting institutions, and most recently by IASD itself. These often look for innovative courses appealing to segments of the general public, such as retirees. They may have a lesser bureaucratic gauntlet to run, tend to employ instructors from the outside, and as such may be more receptive to proposals for courses on dreams.
There are primary and secondary schools in which dreams may serve as an appropriate topic in art, writing, literature and science curricula.
There are community organizations from service clubs to churches to senior centers where valuable dreams education can take place.
There are free-standing institutes focusing on dreams education for the lay public and for psychotherapists and counselors of all kinds.
In each of these contexts, education efforts contend with the cultural perception of dreams as a subject matter that is exotic or even vaguely disreputable. In universities there also may be an implicit (although incorrect) assumption that the subject of dreams is insufficiently grounded in empirical psychological theory and research, and comparable scholarship in other sciences and humanities.
In college courses, teachers must consider the course parameters. What will be the class size? How many class contact hours does the course provide, over how many weeks, how many class meetings per week, and of what duration? Are the students lower or upper division? What is their range of majors, and the prerequisite courses they have taken? What skills needed for the course – e.g. empathic, analytical, quantitative, self-knowledge – do they have, and to what degree? What is their general intellectual level? What are their ages and life experiences outside the classroom? What is the gender distribution? Does the class include international students?
A key issue is whether students’ dreams in courses, and participants’ dreams in non-academic settings, should be utilized in dream teaching, and if so, how and to what extent. Is it wise to expect people routinely to encounter their own dreams in a group sharing context? The issue is both ethical (What do participants expect when they sign up for the course or other dreams learning experience?) and clinical (Will the experience be helpful or damaging?) Even if the experience of dealing with one’s own dreams is overwhelmingly positive for the vast majority, it still may not always be an appropriate practice to have dream sharing as a routine activity. Under what circumstances and how should students share and otherwise encounter their own dreams?
Another key issue is the use of electronic technology. What are good uses of film and of the Internet in contemporary dream education?
Still another issue is the question of best approaches to teaching dream interpretation. Is there an over-arching perspective that can order and rationalize the many interpretive theories? What are the responsibilities of dream educators with regard to the validity of interpretive rubrics?
These topics will be presented by the panelists with the audience urged to participate actively in the discussion.
Johanna King, Ph.D.
The Use of Dreams in the Treatment of Trauma: Have We Made Progress?
In my 1996 presidential address, I presented a paper titled “The Use of Dreams in the Treatment of Trauma.” In that paper I made the following observation: “Though dreams, specifically nightmares, are widely acknowledged as common consequences of trauma, there is very little in the mainstream trauma literature which focuses directly on dreams, discusses their place in the existential meaning of trauma, discusses how to understand and deal with them in the context of trauma, or talks about how to use them in the recovery process.”
I drew this conclusion after having reviewed a large number of recent (at that time) source materials on trauma treatment. Many of these materials did not mention dreams at all. The majority relegated dreams and nightmares to inclusion in a list of symptoms. A very few actually promoted looking at dreams. And these, by and large, were written either by psychoanalysts or by people (mainly IASDers) writing primarily about dreams. Yet, I noted, there are many things that we know about dreams and trauma. Finally, I made suggestions about what we can do to promote working with dreams in the trauma treatment field.
In this paper, I review a recent set of source materials on this topic; examine whether we have made any progress; review what we now know about trauma and dreams; and make new suggestions about how to promote working with dreams as a core element in trauma treatment.
Milton Kramer M.D.
Dreams Change in the Elderly: A Review of the Evidence
The inner world of the elderly has not been the focus of great interest to dream researchers or geriatric physicians.
The small literature on dream content changes across the life cycle does suggest a developmental process. A PubMed Search was done using the descriptors dreaming and aging, the aging references in my book “Dimensions of Dreams” were added as well as references to aging in the references in the articles collected. The findings related to aging were extracted from the articles. Various aspects of dream reports were examined including dream recall, dream characters, social interactions, affects, regression, dreaming style and dreaming disorders (e.g., nightmares, Charcot – Wilbrand Syndrome (CWS) and REM Behavior Disorder (RBD)).
Gender differences are found in many aspects of the dreams of the older person, often different than what is present in younger dreamers. It was found that dream recall decreases with age as does the number of characters in dreams, while family characters in the dream increase and the dreamer is less likely to be the center of the dream action. Aggressive social interactions decrease with age, and witnessing and victimhood change as well. Friendly social interactions decrease with the dreamer becoming older. Older dreamers report fewer affects and they are less negative and less intense. Regression in time occurs in dreams. Style of dreaming changes in the older dreamer, with men getting more passive and women more active. Visual references decline with aging. Disorders of dreaming may have diagnostic significance such as the dream of lost resources suggesting the possibility of a dementia, RBD suggesting the onset of a neurodegenerative disease and CWD the occurrence of a focal brain lesion.
The cross-sectional nature of the studies of dreaming in older people limits their usefulness in developing a life cycle understanding of the dreaming process. There do appear to be important changes in dream reports associated with being older that give a potential insight to the inner concerns of the elderly.
Don Kuiken, PhD
Criteria for the Classification of Impactful Dreams: Nightmares, Existential Dreams, and Transcendent Dreams
This presentation will describe the procedures by which samples of dreams can be systematically sorted into different classes, in particular, the three classes of impactful dreams (nightmares, existential dreams, and transcendent dreams) identified by Kuiken and Sikora (1993), Busink and Kuiken (1996), and Kuiken, Lee, Eng, and Singh (2006). Studies of the impact of these dream types have been reported by Kuiken and Nielsen (1996), Kuiken, Busink, Dukewich, and Gendlin (1996), Kuiken, Lee, Eng, and Singh (2006), and Kuiken, Dunn, and LoVerso (2008), and contextualization of these studies within the broader question of dream function has been provided by Kuiken (2008; see also Kuiken & Sikora, 1993).
The methods by which this classification of dreams was originally established are taxonomic and phenomenological (Kuiken & Sikora, 1993; Busink & Kuiken, 1996). They are taxonomic in that the classes of dreams were derived using quantitative algorithms that maximize similarity among instances within a class and maximize dissimilarity between classes (i.e., hierarchical cluster analysis; Bailey, 1988). They are phenomenological in that these cluster analytic algorithms were applied to dream attributes derived from a form of qualitative analysis in which recurrent expressions within a set of experiential narratives are identified (Kuiken & Miall, 2001). The original studies, then, were designed to be systematically classificatory and to reflect distinctions that dreamers themselves make when describing significant dream experiences.
Because the original studies relied on quantitative cluster analytic algorithms, their results facilitate a similarly quantitative classification of dreams in a new sample. Using a 28-item questionnaire designed specifically for this purpose, the attribute profile of each dream in a new sample can be compared with the attribute profiles established for each of the original dream types. Using a similarity metric that takes into account both level and pattern profile information, the degree of resemblance between each new dream and each of the established dream types can be determined. Roughly, the established profile that the new dream most nearly resembles determines the class to which it belongs.
The attribute profiles used to define each dream type derive from an accumulation of results across a series of four studies and, for that reason, represent the best available set of criteria for “operationally defining” these impactful dream types. It has been difficult to identify an array of rating scales that captures the original classification, which was based both upon rating scales and upon direct examination of recorded dream content. However, we believe we have achieved that objective with the attribute profiles described in this presentation.
Justina Lasley, MA
Impact of Emotions In Dreams and Waking Life
Working within a dream group, we will share dreams and participate in the process of understanding the importance of emotions and energy in dreams and waking life.
Participants will witness the dream’s power in helping individuals understand issues in their life that may otherwise block personal growth. We will focus on the importance of recognizing emotions within the dream and relating those to life, leading the dreamer to identify personal emotions and understand that the repression or expression of those emotions control his/her life.
My special interest and research is in developing awareness through dreamwork, which leads to personal growth and individuation.
We will look at the Emotions by exploring:
basic human emotions,
consciousness of emotions,
positive and negative qualities of emotions,
dual emotions/degrees of feeling,
choice of our emotions,
impact of emotions on personal growth and individuation, and
innovative methods for uncovering hidden emotions.
We will explore techniques for listening, observing, and experiencing emotions with the dream. Through the workshop, I will share my experience of leading dream groups for over eighteen years, writing Honoring the Dream: A Handbook for Dream Group Leaders, and creating the Institute for Dream Studies, which offers a certification course for dreamwork leadership.
Ming-Ni Lee, MS and Don Kuiken, PhD
A Further Study of the Relationships between Reflective Awareness in Dreams and Impactful Dream Types
Our recent studies of reflective awareness during dreaming have affirmed that dream lucidity is not an all-or-none event, but rather an awareness of dreaming while dreaming that can be accompanied by other forms of reflexivity (e.g., remembering, reasoning, intending; Lee, Kuiken, & Czupryn, 2007). Using the typological criteria spelled out by Kuiken (2009, this conference), the present study explored the patterns of reflective awareness that occur within the three types of impactful dreams identified by Kuiken and his colleagues (nightmares, existential dreams, transcendent dreams; Busink & Kuiken, 1996; Kuiken & Sikora, 1993; Kuiken, Lee, Eng, & Singh, 2006). We compared these dream types—and mundane dreams—using scales that assessed the following forms of reflective awareness:
1) dual perspectives: a form of reflective awareness involving two separate and autonomous agents (e.g., two levels of self-representation);
2) depersonalization: a form of reflective awareness in which the dreamer’s sense of self seems unreal or strange;
3) intra-dream self-awareness: a form of reflective awareness involving self-awareness within the dream (but not explicit awareness of dreaming);
4) willed appearances: a form of reflective awareness involving the emergence of dream objects or figures in response to the dreamer’s wishes;
5) lucid mindfulness: a form of reflective awareness analogous to waking mindfulness, which involves explicit lucidity and detached acceptance of ongoing thoughts and feelings;
6) lucid control: a form of reflective awareness involving explicit lucidity, as well as the ability to control the unfolding dream; and
7) lucid ineffectuality: a form of reflective awareness involving explicit lucidity but failed dream control.
In the original classificatory studies of impactful dreams (Busink & Kuiken, 1996; Kuiken & Sikora, 1993), explicit awareness of dreaming, assessed in the conventional all-or-none manner, was not associated with any of the primary dream types. However, existential dreams and transcendent dreams contained what are considered “prelucid” forms of reflective awareness, i.e., self-perception from an external perspective (Busink & Kuiken, 1996; Kuiken & Sikora, 1993). Consistent with this formulation, and in a replication of results reported by Lee, Kuiken, and Czupryn (2007 [study 2]), we found that dual perspectives were reported more commonly in transcendent dreams and existential dreams than in mundane dreams. Also, in a replication of results reported by Lee, Kuiken, and Czupryn (2007), we found that willed appearances were more common in transcendent dreams than in either mundane dreams or nightmares and that lucid control was more common in transcendent dreams than in each of the other three dream types. These results consolidate our impression that transcendent dreams and existential dreams involve distinctive forms of reflective awareness that are found neither in nightmares nor in mundane dreams. Whether these forms of reflective awareness mediate the self-perceptual depth that follows existential dreams or the spiritual transformations that follow transcendent dreams (Kuiken, Lee, Eng, & Singh, 2006) should be explored further.
Anita Leuthold
Illness as foretold in dreams
A series of twelve examples will be presented from a rich multitude of dreams that clearly announced and showed the chronological development of a lethal brain tumor diagnosed only after the dream series took place. The relatively young surgeon, who started keeping a dream journal when he was fifteen years old, interpreted his dreams in terms of various symbols and thus failed to see what they were clearly attempting to tell him. The first such dream occurred eleven years before the tumor was correctly diagnosed, and he ended up dying at age 51. Had he paid sufficient attention to the objective level of his dreams it could well have been that the tumor would have been detected earlier and his life prolonged. Although it entails a lot of work, it would be interesting to obtain the dream series of other such patients and in connection with other diseases. In the future, it is hoped that caregivers will ask for and include the dreams of their patients when making a diagnosis or designing treatment plans in order that diseases can be avoided and lives may be saved.
