Dreams
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Do dreams herald any special meaning, or have a purpose?
A dream is generally defined as a bundled succession of images, sensations, ideas, and emotions that occur during sleep (1). They are often phantagasmoric, with different people, objects, and locations blending into one another whilst following a strange narrative. In general, the dreamer has no control over the dream itself (although, as we will see, this is not always the case).
Dreams figure prominently in all the world's religions. The people of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt were fascinated by dreams, often describing visitation dreams in which a dream figure told the dreamer to embark upon a certain course, or predicted a future event. In Christianity, God often spoke through dreams, the most well-known of which was that of Jacob, patriarch of the Israelites, who dreamt of a ladder of angels connecting Heaven and Earth: "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." In Islam, following the death of the last prophet, Muhammad, dreams were one of the few ways for Muslims to receive the revelations of God. It was said the Prophet's dreams would come true, like oceanic waves. |
Jacob's Ladder (Michael Willmann, 1690). |
From 1889 to 1912, Dutch psychiatrist Fredrick van Eeden recorded his own dreams in a dream diary, then published a synopsis of his discoveries in his 1913 article, A Study of Dreams (2). He classified his dreams into nine different categories, several of which he deemed were particularly common or interesting. Ordinary dreams, which everyone experienced, tended to be dissociated, confused, and somewhat absurd. Demon dreams involved the dreamer being teased, puzzled, or harassed by weird, obscene, or diabolical inventions in which he becomes a murderer, an adulterer, or some other horrible thing. Wrong waking up involved the dreamer apparently awakening in his own room, then noticing strange noises or inexplicable movements, and suddenly realizing that he was actually still dreaming.
Amongst the nine types, van Eeden found lucid dreams to be the most intriguing of his dreaming experiences. In lucid dreams, the dreamer is aware that he is dreaming, can act as he chooses within the dream, and may even gain control over aspects of the dream itself. Moreover, the dreamer is able to remember his "day-life" whilst within the dream. In his paper, van Eeden described several of his lucid dreaming experiences. In one example, he was lying on his stomach within the dream, yet he also knew, with complete certainty, that he was dreaming whilst lying on his back. So he resolved to wake up very slowly, and note how the sensation of lying on his chest changed into the sensation of lying on his back. In van Eeden's own words, the result was quite wonderful, "like the feeling of slipping from one body into another, and there is distinctly a double recollection of the two bodies."
The Meaning Of Dreams
Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams (3). Many ancient civilizations considered dreams to be a form of supernatural or divine communication. Although supernatural and divine interpretations have dwindled, astoundingly, most people today assign more meaning to the "hidden truths" of their dreams than to those of their own waking thoughts (4).
Many people continue to interpret their dreams in accordance with the ideas of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method that emphasizes dialogue between doctor and patient as a method for treating psychopathology (5). According to Freud, a person's psyche consists of three agents called the id, super-ego, and ego. The id is a coordinated set of instinctual desires, whereas the super-ego plays a criticizing and moralizing role. The ego is the realistic agent that balances the desires of the id with the criticisms and moralizations of the super-ego. In Freudian psychoanalysis, a patient lies on a couch and expresses their thoughts and fantasies, including their dreams, to a clinician. The dreams supposedly represent the patient's most unconscious, unfulfilled wishes. The clinician's role is to interpret them for the patient, thereby providing insight into the agents of the psyche.
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Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis.
Carl Jung, a proponent of analytical psychology. |
That all being said, it is quite possible that there is no hidden, deeper meaning to dreams at all, which would imply that dream interpretation is faulty at its core. In support of this is the fact that most people use motivated reasoning when interpreting their dreams - that is, they are more likely to perceive dreams that validate their waking beliefs and desires as more meaningful in comparison with dreams that contradict their waking beliefs and desires (4). Yet even if dreams do not have any special meaning, that is not to say they lack a purpose.
The Purpose Of Dreams
Oneirology, the scientific study of dreams (7), is arguably much more fascinating than dream interpretation. Rather than try to analyze any postulated meaning (which may not exist), oneirology quantitatively studies the process of dreaming and aims to discover the purpose of dreaming.
During the night, we enter a series of sleep stages broken down into 90-120 minute ultradian cycles (similar to, but shorter than, the more familiar 24-hour circadian cycle) (8,9). Each ultradian cycle consists of a series of alternations between non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) stages of sleep, with the proportion of each cycle dedicated to REM increasing as the night goes on. There are many differences between NREM and REM, but in general, NREM is a "rest state" for the brain, whereas during REM the brain is highly active. If we look at neuromodulators, which are the chemicals responsible for switching the brain from wakefulness to NREM to REM and vice versa, we see NREM is associated with low levels of acetylcholine (the "attention and focus" neuromodulator) and norepinephrine (alertness and desire to move), but high levels of serotonin (bliss and desire to be still). Conversely, REM is associated with high levels of acetylcholine, but norepinephrine and serotonin levels are low. Due to these neuromodulators (and many others), in NREM, overall brain function, nervous system activity, heart rate, and blood pressure decrease. Conversely, in REM, brain function and all the other mentioned parameters increase (except muscle tone, which decreases).
The stages of NREM and REM, and ultradian cycles, of sleep (9).
Possibly the most dramatic difference between NREM and REM is the nature of dreaming that occurs within each stage (10). In NREM, many dreams consist of a fragmented, fast-forwarded "replay" of previous events experienced by the person. By contrast, in REM, the dreams follow an abstract, bizarre narrative containing ludicrous combinations of familiar and alien elements. Moreover, REM is virtually always associated with emotional content, most of which is negative, with anxiety being the most prominent of emotions. Sometimes, a REM dream can be particularly emotionally disturbing, at which point it may be called a nightmare, a "pathological" state of dreaming that is maladaptive.
The Nightmare (John Henry Fuseli, 1781).
Due to REM's combination of high levels of acetylcholine (attention and focus) but low levels of serotonin (bliss and desire to be still) and norepinephrine (alertness and desire to move), REM creates the ideal brain state for focusing on strong, often negative emotions associated with previous emotionally charged, often difficult experiences (particularly anxiety), minus the bliss or stress imposed by serotonin and norepinephrine, respectively. Thus, the person "relives" the experience, minus its excessive, and often negative, emotional effects. By repeating this practice night after night, a person's brain adapts to emotionally charged, often difficult experiences so that they can be better handled the next time around. In this way, the main purpose of REM dreams may in fact be to enact a sort of overnight therapy (11), helping the brain adapt to its previous and most difficult waking encounters so that it may engage them with more success in the future (the sole exception may be nightmares, which could reflect the brain being temporarily unable to suppress extremely negative emotions).
Thus, rather than trying to interpret the meaning of the images and sensations of one's dreams, far better, it seems, to ponder the purpose of the emotional states recreated by one's dreams.
Solace.
References
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream.
(2) van Eeden. 1913. A Study of Dreams. http://www.lucidity.com/vanEeden.html.
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_interpretation.
(4) Morewedge and Norton. 2009. When dreaming is believing: The (motivated) interpretation of dreams. J Pers Soc Psychol 96(2), 249-264.
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud.
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung.
(7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneirology.
(8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultradian_rhythm.
(9) https://www.utzy.com/blogs/sleep/non-rem-sleep.
(10) Wamsley and Stickgold. 2011. Memory, SLeep, and Dreaming: Experiencing Consolidation. Sleep Med Clin 6(1), 97-108.
(11) Walker and van der Helm. 2009. Overnight Therapy? The Role of Sleep in Emotional Brain Processing. Psychol Bull 135, 731-748.
