The Dream State

The Dream State

Sigmund Freud noted as the Father of modern Psychology, believed that the function of dreaming was to allow the release of repressed instinctual impulses in a way that would preserve the ability to sleep, and that the instigating force causing dreams to occur was always a repressed thought or wish. Though Freud was an avid student of neurobiology, at the time when his suppositions were created scientists were unaware of certain aspects of the nervous system that today make Freudís theory unlikely (2). The stages of sleep, the biology of the brain, and the retention of dream memories all suggest an idea similar but contrary to Freudís theory. These factors lead one to believe that dreams are in fact not always subconscious or repressed thoughts, but often just the mindless ramblings of the brain and nervous system.

To understand dreaming, one must first be aware of the stages of sleep and what each entails. Dreaming is divided into four main categories differentiated by levels of brain activity and the depth of sleep. Stage one dreaming is a very light stage of sleep, lasting only a few minutes, during which the dreamer can be easily awoken by occurrences in the outside world. Next follows stage two sleep, in which the dreaming process begins in the form of vague thoughts, and unclear images drifting about the dreamers mind. Stage two is a much deeper state of sleep than stage one, however, any outside disturbance will quickly succeed in awakening the person. The sleeper continues into stage three sleep, during which muscles relax and heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing slow and become steady and even. Waking a person at this stage of sleep is very difficult. In stage four sleep actual dreaming occur...

... middle of paper ...

...l communication between the two distinct hemispheres of the brain. Perhaps Freud was correct in assuming that dreams were the key to understanding suppressed or subconscious thought, but perhaps dreams are just a jumble of left over thoughts and images of our days, and the real subconscious thought comes in the form of how we interpret them.

WWW Sources

1) The Neurobiology of Dreaming and Dream Sleep

http://www.brain-mind.com/Dreaming.html

2) Dreaming, Function, and Meaning ,

http://www.lucidity.com/LD8DFM.html

3); Dreaming and REM Sleep ,

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep_brain_basic.htm

4) Dream Theory 1997: Toward a Computational Neurocognitive Model, by John Antrobus ,

http://bisleep.medsch.ucla.edu/srs/antrobus.html

5) The Dreaming Process ,

http://library.thinkquest.org/11130/data/sleep/process.html