The Scientific Literature of Dream Problems

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. He was born on May 6, 1856, and died on September 23, 1939. During his 83-year life, he has encountered many novel theories in many fields. Dream analysis is one of the most interesting teachings among them. As it is a huge subject, this article is about what we can basically understand about the scientific literature on dream problems by reading his book “Interpretation of Dreams” which was published in 1913.

When we hear the word “dream”, a feeling that cannot be expressed in words (mental processes) comes to mind. It is something that we cannot feel in the real world or in our waking state. There is a mysterious feeling about dreams. Therefore, we are very curious to know what it is that really makes us see dreams and how it happens.

People who were in the past also had this riddle about dreams. They had their conceptions of the universe and of the soul. By mixing the idea of ​​the dream with these types of conceptions, they believed that the dream is something supernatural that predicts the future and they also believed it as a message from God. They thought of two kinds of dreams. One is the dreams that influence only the present or the past. The other, on the other hand, are the ones who determine the future. This belief was there for many centuries.

But in later periods, scientific interest in dream phenomena was enhanced.

There is a problem about the relationship of sleep to waking state. After waking up, we feel that the dream we saw is from another world, although it is not. We feel this way because sleep is something completely different and alien to the things that concern us in the waking state. Or, there may be some items that we had in the waking state. Our normal behavior and consciousness are completely lost in the dream state, therefore dreams reveal the complete unfettered isolation of the psyche. Also, at least a small part has to be somewhere in our actual experiences.

Sometimes we can see dreams that we feel we have never known in the real world. It may be a place or a person or anything that we cannot remember that we have known in the waking state. Not only that, but there can also be so much knowledge in dreams that we cannot remember in our real life. That is the knowledge and memory of our unconsciousness. The things we see in our dreams may be the materials that entered our memory in our childhood. Most of them are caused by the product of interesting “hypermnesic” dreams.

When he refers to the stimuli and sources of dreams, he says that a dream is the result of such an alteration that it occurs to disturb our sleep. Sleep is a reaction of our mental processes against this disturbance. There are four categories of stimuli.

1) External sensory stimuli.

It means objective stimuli. For example, a strong light can fall on the eyes while we sleep well. As it disturbs our sleep, it can be a stimulus for a dream. In our dreams we can be made to see while we walk alone on the beach on a sunny day.

Sometimes we can see different dreams from the same stimuli. It is because there are some memory images in our mind at that particular moment that we obtain the stimuli and the most appropriate image is taken that goes with the objective stimuli to produce the dream.

2) Internal sensory stimuli.

A dream cannot be produced only by external sensory stimuli, because all the external sensory stimuli that arrive while we sleep, cannot independently make a dream or support to originate a dream. There also have to be some internal facts. Therefore, we must also consider internal sensory stimuli. The subjective sensations that we see or hear in our waking state are important in dream illusions. Subjective stimuli are independent of external accidents. They are, so to speak, at the disposal of interpretation whenever required. The main proof of this stimulus is hypnogogic hallucinations. They are very obstructive but changeable images that people see while they sleep. Some may linger for a while even after we open our eyes. If someone wakes up shortly after having that kind of experience, it will often be possible to trace in the dream images, the ones they saw before falling asleep. It can also be taken as a “hypnogogic” hallucination. Not only that, but auditory hallucinations can also occur and can then occur in dreams.

3) Internal physical stimuli (organic).

Our internal organs remind us of their existence. That also causes the creation of a dream. If there is a disease, it can become the source of the most painful sensation. The psyche becomes more aware of its physicality than the waking state and receives some stimulants originating from the parts of our body. Diseases of the heart and lungs can be subject to nightmares. The stimuli that come from inside the organism, from the nervous system, exert at most an unconscious effect on our mood during the day. But, at night, that effect of the impression that was had during the day is no longer active. The impressions that emerged may be compelled to draw our attention. They are drowned out by the other external effects during the day.

4) Psychic sources of excitement.

People dream of what they do in the waking state and their interesting things. That interest is not only a psychic link, but also linking the dream to real life. If an interest that we have during our waking state, together with the internal and external sensory stimuli that occur during sleep, is sufficient to cover the entire etiology of sleep. But the interests in our waking state are not very influential to say for sure that everyone who dreams continues with these interests of the waking state.

We have all experienced that dreams are forgotten after waking up. They fade when we wake up. We can remember it after waking up, but most of the time we cannot remember the complete and exact dream. Sometimes we know that we have dreamed during the dream but we do not remember what we dream. But dreams manifest a peculiar power of being in memory. Some dreams remain in memory for a long time, such as 35 years, without forgetting a small part of them. And also without losing the freshness of that dream.

This forgetting is a complex phenomenon. Factors that cause forgetfulness in the waking state can also be the cause of forgetfulness of dreams. In waking state, we forget many things, it may be because they are mild to remember or there may be a small amount of emotional feelings. But obviously we can remember the strong and important things. This is also true for dreams. In dreams, most of the scenes are disorder and meaningless. This also causes forgetfulness because we easily forget things that are not in order and without meaning. The relationship of sleep with the waking state is also important to forget dreams. If that dream has a great relationship with the waking state, it will not be forgotten. Also when we are awake, our attention suddenly rushes to the sensations of the real world. Therefore, only a few dream images can be forcibly remembered in such a hurry. But people who are especially interested in dreaming can remember dreams more easily and also dream more than other people.

As we know, hypnogogic hallucinations (even in content) are identical to dream images. The transformation of an idea into a hallucination is not the only deviation of the dream from the corresponding waking thought. It can turn a hallucination into a suitable situation. It shows us something like in reality.

In this book, “Interpretations of Dreams”, Freud also analyzes the ethical meaning in dreams. It considers about the dream as a subproblem, to what extent the feelings and moral ties of the waking state affect the dream life. Some writers claim that moral obligations do not influence the dream life. But some, on the other hand, emphasize that moral ties that are related to man persist even in the dream life. Of course there are dreams so immoral that no one denies. But we have to know how they originate. All who pose this problem have recognized a special psychic source for the immorality of dreams. We are not responsible for our dreams. Dreams lead us to the reality of our lives. But if someone can morally clear their mind before going to sleep, that person may not see immoral dreams.

Since dreams have become biological, there were many incomplete theories about dreams, such as; “Sleep is something that was sent by God to man …” The theory most favored by scientists and medical writers is that only a fragment of psychic activity paralyzed by sleep finds expression in dreams. It can be identified as the most popular theory of dreams.

The relationship between dreams and mental illness is another important section that Freud has discussed here. When we talk about this relationship, we have to worry about three things.

1. Etiological and clinical relationships such as when a dream represents a psychotic condition.

2. The changes that the dream life undergoes in cases of mental illness.

3. Internal relationships between dreams and psychosis, analogies that point to an intimate relationship.

After having an idea about these things, an abnormal morbid phenomenon can be considered as an increase in the state of normal recurring sleep from time to time. The unequivocal concordance between dreams and mental illness also reaches characteristic details.

According to Freud; “It is very likely, however, that a modified conception of sleep must also influence our opinions about the internal mechanism of mental disorders and, therefore, we can say that we are working towards the explanation of psychoses when we endeavor to elucidate the mystery of dreams “. (p. 102)

Freud has explained this topic in a really interesting and comprehensive way with many experiences as examples. When we study about these things, our curiosity and interest in the subject develops. Encourage continuing study.