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Dreaming Volume 14, Number 1, March 2003
 
 

Dreaming

Why Did Empirical Dream Researchers Reject Freud? A Critique of Historical Claims by Mark Solms
G. William Domhoff
Page 3

Reply to Domhoff (2004): Dream Research in the Court of Public Opinion
Mark Solms
Page 18

The Dream Will Tell: Militant Muslim Dreaming in the Context of Traditional and Contemporary Islamic Dream Theory and Practice
Iain R. Edgar
Page 21

Dreamwork and Nightmares With Incarcerated Juvenile Felons
Gordon Halliday
Page 30

Media Use and Dreaming: The Relationship Among Television Viewing, Computer Game Play, and Nightmares or Pleasant Dreams
Jan Van den Bulck
Page 43

A Research Note on the Male/Female Percentage in the Dreams of Japanese Women: A Failed Attempt at Replication
G. William Domhoff, Natsuko Nishikawa, and Lowell Brubaker
Page 50

Mental Processes and the Brain During Dreams
Miranda Occhionero
Page 54

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Why Did Empirical Dream Researchers Reject Freud? A Critique of Historical Claims by Mark Solms
G. William Domhoff
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 3-17, March, 2004.

Neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Mark Solms (1997) made a major contribution to dream research through his clinico-anatomical studies, which reveal the outlines of the neural network that underlies dreaming. However, in more recent work he misunderstands the history of the rapid eye movement (REM)/ non-REM (NREM) controversy in a Freudian-serving way and ignores the considerable systematic empirical evidence that contradicts the key claims of the

Freudian dream theory he is trying to revive. After summarizing Solms’s claims about the history of laboratory dream research, this article suggests a different version of that history and summarizes the empirical findings that explain why Freudian theory is not considered viable by most dream researchers.

KEY WORDS: dreams; REM sleep; psychoanalysis; NREM dreaming

Reply to Domhoff (2004): Dream Research in the Court of Public Opinion
Mark Solms
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 18-20, March, 2004.

The author responds to Domhoff’s critique. He argues that the REM = dreaming equation was widely accepted at the time of his research. Misgivings about this equation by specialists in the dream research community were not shared by the wider public. The impression that the REM = dreaming equation disproves Freudian dream theory was actively propagated to this wider public between the 1970s and 1990s. The author’s aim in the nonspecialist book criticized by Domhoff was to correct that specific misimpression, not to review the world literature. The author concludes with a brief statement of his views on Freudian dream theory.

KEY WORDS: dreams; REM sleep; psychoanalysis; NREM dreaming

The Dream Will Tell: Militant Muslim Dreaming in the Context of Traditional and Contemporary Islamic Dream Theory and Practice
Iain R. Edgar
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 21-29, March, 2004.

Al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership and membership appear to have been motivated, inspired, and guided by certain dreams. Their understanding of dreams seems to draw at least partly on traditional and contemporary Islamic dream theories. If this hypothesis is correct, then there is a need for the urgent study of Islamic Jihadist political/religious conversion and guidance dreams across the Middle East. The dream—as experienced, reported, and interpreted—is now a significant aspect of the global conflict between Al-Qaeda and its associates versus the core value system of Western civilization.

KEY WORDS: dreaming; Islam; Al-Qaeda; Taliban

Dreamwork and Nightmares with Incarcerated Juvenile Felons
Gordon Halliday
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 30-42, March, 2004.

Do juvenile felons suffer nightmares? Can dreamwork be useful with this population? After a review of the generally older and limited literature on these issues, 2 new surveys and several case examples give positive answers to these questions. In Study 1, 50 of 100 adolescent male felons reported dreams and 12 reported nightmares. In Study 2, with the addition of a follow-up prompt, 73 of 100 adolescent male felons reported dreams within the prior month and 13 reported nightmares. Seven case examples illustrate verbal interventions for nightmares and 5 case examples illustrate benefits youth could derive from dreamwork. Suggestions for further research are given.

KEY WORDS: dreams; nightmares; juvenile; felons

Media Use and Dreaming: The Relationship Among Television Viewing, Computer Game Play and Nightmares or Pleasant Dreams
Jan Van den Bulck
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 43-49, March, 2004.

Children (N = 2,546) in a random sample of 15 secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium, completed a questionnaire about volume of television viewing, computer game playing, and nightmares and pleasant dreams related to these activities. TV content showed up frequently in nightmares for 33% of the children, and computer games were associated with nightmares in about 10 % of boys and 5 % of girls. About 60 % of 13-year-olds and 50 % of 16-year-olds reported having pleasant dreams related to TV. Computer games also appeared in pleasant dreams for a majority of 13-year-olds and a minority of 16-year-olds. Media influence on dream content was not limited to excessive media users. Concerns about the implications for the impact of media on dreams and general psychological well-being are discussed.

KEY WORDS: nightmares; pleasant dreams; television; computer games; media effects

A Research Note on the Male/Female Percentage in the Dreams of Japanese Women:
A Failed Attempt at Replication
G. William Domhoff, Natsuko Nishikawa, and Lowell Brubaker

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 50-53, March, 2004.

Three different samples of dream reports from Japanese women were analyzed to determine their male/female percent. A study in the early 1980s found far fewer males in the dreams of Japanese women than is the case for women in other societies. The previous finding was not replicated, and both studies are discussed in terms of the role women in Japanese society then and now.

KEY WORDS: dreams; cross-cultural; dream content; Japanese women.

Mental Processes and the Brain During Dreams
Miranda Occhionero
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 14(1) 54-64, March, 2004.

This article examines the different theoretical approaches to dreaming and compares them to recent data from brain-mapping studies. Two lines of investigation were considered: a neurobiological and a cognitive approach. Both lines of investigation can be usefully integrated into recent research using the techniques of brain-mapping. Two aspects of particular interest are discussed: (a) the pattern of limbic and paralimbic activation in rapid eye movement (REM) and non-NREM could explain some differences of oneiric hallucination during different stages of sleep, and (b) the deactivation of the heteromodal cortex could explain the loss of reality testing and the absence of self-consciousness during dreams. The complex nature of the dreaming phenomenon makes it necessary to distinguish clearly between mental representation and the underlying neurobiological changes.

KEY WORDS: dreaming; sleep stages; brain mapping; brain-mind