Dream FAQ Project
If you have questions about dreams and dreaming, be sure to read our Common Questions Q&A.
If you don't find the answer you are looking for, use the IASD Bulletin Board.
One of the most useful files on a site is its FAQ file, or Frequently Asked Questions file. While IASD has addressed a few of the most common questions on this site, we would also like to develop a larger and more extensive FAQ on dreams and dreaming.
We would like your help
If you are interested in dreams and have a question you would like to see addressed, post that question on the IASD Bulletin Board.
 If you are a researcher with a particular area of expertise in dreaming, consider sending in the most common questions and your answers.
If you are an IASD member and this is a project that interests you, please email Richard Wilkerson rcwilk@dreamgate.com. and request to be added to the Dream FAQ committee.
If you would like to see some of the questions we get and some of the areas that might be covered, see below.
Please keep in mind that IASD receives questions from people of all ages and backgrounds. The answers we give may be different depending on the context of the question and age and education of the person asking the question. We would like to address as wide a range of people as possible, thus offering varying answers.
The project may eventually begin to look like a tapestry of wisdom as we integrate multiple views and perspectives over time.
Here is a partial collection of the questions we get from people interested in dreams. Some of the questions come from other dream FAQ's online.
LUCID DREAMING
- What is lucid dreaming?
- How can I learn to be a lucid dreamer?
- Is lucid dreaming learnable?
- In what stages of sleep do lucid dreams occur?
- Has anyone had any experience with the NovaDreamer?
- How do I use the lucid dream state with clients in the psychotheraputic setting?
- What purposes can lucid dreaming serve?
- Does improving dream recall help induce lucidity?
- What are Lucid dream induction techniques?.
- What are the best reality testing methods?
- What is the MILD technique developed by La Berge
- What are lucid dream induction devices?
- How well do lucid dream induction devices work?
- How do I control my lucid dreams?
- Where can I find training on lucid dreaming?
- What are the best books on lucid dreaming?
DREAM BOOKS
- What are the best books about dreams?
- What are the best books lucid dreaming?
- What are the best books about nightmares?
- What are the best children's books?
DREAM CONTROL
- Is it possible to control dreams?
DREAM EDUCATION
DREAM INTERPRETATION
- Do dreams have meaning?
- Where do I go to get an interperation for my dream?
- How can I learn to interpret my dreams?
- What does it mean when I have the same dream over and over?
- I'm writing a treatment for a television show dealing with dreams. The program will feature re-enactments of real dreams that Americans have had, followed by a dream interpretation session. The show will focus on dream interpretation from many different angles...spiritual, scientific, psychological, etc. I would therefore be interested in hearing about different approaches to dream interpretation.
DREAM FREQUENCY
- I have never remembered a dream. What does it mean, and why does it happen?
- I haven't had any dreams for 4 months. Is something wrong?
DREAM SCIENCE
- Does everyone dream?
- Are dreams in color?
- How can I improve my dream memory?
- Do dreams have meaning?
- Why do we dream?
- Is it true that you can have an hour's worth of dreams in just a few seconds?
- Is it normal to have dreams immediately upon falliig asleep, without going through the other sleep stages first?
- What does it mean when I have the same dream over and over?
- Is there anything special about recurring dreams?
- Is there any research being done investigating retinal stimulation due to the backpropogation of visual cortical activity during dreaming? I'm not entirely sure how much information we can derive about the retinal image and how it corresponds to what someone is actually "seeing" when they are awake. However, if we could monitor actual retinal activity during R.E.M. (assuming there is some back-flow of stimulation from the visual cortex) maybe we would be closer to imaging what the dreamer is seeing.
- Do blind people dream?
- Why do people have trouble remembering their dreams? PRE-SLEEP STIMULI
- Does what your eat effect your dreams?
- How do drugs effect dreaming?
- How do movies and activities effect dreams?
DREAMS AND HEALTH
- Are dreams related to our health?
DREAM MERCHANDISE
- What do people who have used these products think about them?
- Dream Up
- Interactive Dreaming CD
- Scribe Dream Journal System
DREAM THEORY
- Do dreams have meaning?
- Do dreams have value?
- How has dream theory influenced psychology?
- What are the new theories of dreams?
- I was interested in hearing your opinions on the issue :as a person (psychologist) who considers dreams to be very meaningful and relevant to our waking lives, how do you feel about scientific theories on the issue (i.e. Crick & Mitchinson or Hobson & McCarley), that claim that dreams are nonsensical and insignificant. These theories erased the work of many psychologists who dedicated their lives to the search for answers. Do you feel that both physiological and psychological aspects must be considered when talking about dreams (to me they contradict one another) or do you feel one is more important than the other?
- Is there specific scientific proof that dreams are meaningful as opposed to simply psychological theories such as Freud, Jung, Adler, etc? NIGHTMARES
- Is it normal to have nightmares?
- I am writing my Master's thesis on the etiology and treatment of nightmares and I am looking for input on various treatment modalities used by therapists/psychologists/healers of various psychological and religious perspectives
SCHOOLS OF DREAMING
- How do Jungians work with dreams?
- How do Freudians work with dreams?
- How do Gestalt psychologists work with dreams?
- How do Phenomenological/Existential psychologists work with dreams?
- How do Adlerians work with dreams?
- How do spiritual traditions work with dreams?
DREAMS AND CULTURE
- I am making a casual study of the position dreams play in chinese society, past and present, but am frustrated by lack of accessible material.Can you point me in the right direction?
DREAMS AND SHAMANISM
- Do people have spirit guides in dreams?
- What is the connection between Shamanism and Dreams?
- Is Carlos Castaneda's work all fiction or is there some truth it all?
GENERAL QUESTIONS
- Do dreams have meaning?
- Is it true that if you dream that you die or that you hit bottom in a falling dream, you will in fact die in your sleep?
- Is it normal to have a "dream within a dream"?
- Is it normal to ~think~ you have awakened from a dream but are really still dreaming?
- How do we know that we aren't dreaming right now? v DREAMS AND PSI, PARAPSYCHOLOGY,TELEPATHY
- Can dreams predict the future?
- How can you tell whether your dream will come true?
- What is mutual dreaming?
WHAT DOES THIS DREAM MEAN?
- Teeth falling out?
- Tornadoes?
- Tidal Waves and Floods?
- Unprepared for exam, text or other performance?
- Haven't been going to class all semester?
- Car out of control?
- Flying without a plane or other vehicle?
- Innaporpriately dressed?
- Can't find a bathroom?
- Boyfriend or Girlfriend is cheating on me?
- Trouble with Animals?
- Fantastic Animals?
- Sex in my dream with inappropriate peop le?
SOURCES OF QUESTIONS
IASD Common Questions
IASD Bulletin Board
Email addressed to IASD
Pamela Ryan Dream FAQ http://www.dreamtree.com/Resources/FAQs.htm
pryan@prairienet.org
alt.dreams FAQ
Richard Wilkerson's Dream Q&A Self Help and Psychology
Richard Wilkerson's Dream Questions - DreamGate Cyber-Dream Library
Lucidity Institute Lucid Dream FAQ www.lucidity.com
If you would like to help answer these questions for the FAQ, please fill out the form below. [or use this text version]
Send the completed form for review to the Chair of the Education Committee
IASD FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FAQ MATRIX (BLANK)
The following is a proposed structure for Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ's. This outline will be the matrix of every FAQ and is up for discussion. It will hopefully included ads on every FAQ page for IASD conferences, products, book sales, auctions, etc and possible paid outside or member ads. It will also include links to the IASD Bulletin Board and related topic links on the WWW and the IASD website.
A FAQ options begins on IASD Home Page (click to enter)
B) Click on the home page link and an explanation of FAQ's a Topic Index Appears
C) In each topic is the following basic matrix structure.
1) HEADING: NAME OF FAQ (i.e. Dreams and Pregnancy, Posttraumatic Nightmares, Lucid Dreaming)
2) FAQ TEXT (Indicate author or source and start with RCW's old FAQ's and with our old IASD pamphlets. This may include multiple texts and more anecdotal sources with the source and author noted)
3) BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS, ARTICLES, KEY LINKS, AND LIVE LINKS ON THE WEB: This has live links to the IASD book list allowing immediate purchase on Amazon with credit to IASD!)
4) KEY WORDS FOR SEARCHING THE IASD WEB SITE AND WWW: Use the following key words to search the IASD site or the WWW (e.g. for references on pregnancy dreams, use pregnant, expectant, prenatal, birth, dream, nightmares, sleep).
5) LIVE LINKS ON THE IASD WEB SITE: USE KEY WORDS NOTED ABOVE: (This includes links to articles, past conference abstracts, or other related events or information on the IASD web site)
6) RELATED LINKS ON WORLD WIDE WEB: USE KEY WORDS LISTED ABOVE AND USE GOOGLE OR YOUR FAVORITE SEARCH ENGINE.
7) RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS OF DREAM STUDIES CLASSES OR UNITS: (This might include exercises, course syllabi, research topics, experiments and assignments for students, relevant text books or other resources)
8) RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS OF ALL GRADE LEVELS: (This may include exercises, project and research topics, experiments, and projects for schools as well as scout troops, extracurricular classes and educators)
9) QUICK QUOTES:
10) LINK TO IASD BULLETIN BOARD WITH EXPLANATION: (If your question was not answered or if you want to dialogue with other interested dreamers and experts, click to go to The International Association for the Study of Dreams Bulletin Board)
LINKS FOR IASD MEMBERSHIP, CONFERENCES, E-STUDY GROUPS AND IASD EVENTS AND PRODUCTS WILL BE AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY PAGE.
|
