An Attempt At Understanding Dreams
A few months ago I watched a movie called “The Candyman”. It was a
horror movie about this psychotic woman who massacres people around her but has
no idea what she's doing. An imaginary creature called “The Candyman” is
appearing to her and talking to her, and she actually thinks that he's the one
who is doing the murdering. Anyway, it was a scary movie and I had a bit of fun
freaking out my mother that night by telling her that “The Candyman” will appear
to her in her dreams (although I didn't think about the consequences if he
really appeared to her and she killed all of us while we were sleeping!).
Fortunately for my mother (and the rest of us), she didn't dream about him that
night. A few weeks later, I did, though! However, I didn't get very scared in my
dream because thanks to a certain technique that I developed a few years ago, I
can somehow avoid any dangers in my dreams by knowing that I'm dreaming and that
nothing bad can happen to me. This helped me in a lot of annoying dreams before
because when I'm in trouble I sometimes just “fly away” in certain situations in
the dream or I just ignore it and tell the bad guy that he can't hurt me because
I know it's just a dream. I have no idea until today how I'm able to do that,
but it really makes me wonder. I also don't know why I had that dream a few
weeks after the movie and not the same night I watched it, especially that I had
completely forgotten about it until the night of the dream, at least consciously.
Anyway, I decided to use the chance of having to write a paper for
Psychology 201 and I almost instantly knew that I was going to explore the world of
dreams and the process of dreaming. Before I go any further though, I think I
know from the start that no matter how much material I gather or people I
interview, I will not be able to explain the process of dreaming because I
believe that it is so complex and mysterious that no man can claim to really
understand it. The maximum that I wish to achieve is just to admire this
incredible phenomenon and to at least try to clarify some of the little details
surrounding it.
Some questions come to my mind immediately when I think about dreams:
What causes dreams? Does everybody dream? Do dreams have significant meanings in
reality? Why do some dreams seem so weird and out of ...
... middle of paper ...
...echnology. The main
problem is the great diversity of the issue and the difficulty of conducting
physical experiments and analysis on such a phenomenon. It is a phenomenon that
defies the laws of physics and society, and the limits of dreams are stretched
as far as the human imagination goes. The best we can do is to give limited
explanations that we think might work with us, but the true secrets of dreaming
will never be uncovered. We can just share our dreams and try to understand some
events that happen to dreamers all around the world, which makes us appreciate
dreams more and more.
Works Cited
Abdel Hamid, Ranya, 22 yrs., Mechanical Engineering major at State University.
Aristotle, “On Dreams”, 350 B.C.
Atkinson, Rita L., “Introduction To Psychology”, 1993.
Dreams Interpretation Services & Resources, “http://www1.rider.edu/~
~suler/dreams.html”, 1996.
Farrag, Mariam, 20 yrs., Political Science major at State University.
Ghaleb, Teymour, 23 yrs., Marketing Analyst at Daewoo Co.
Hassan, Farouk, Dr., Practicing Psychiatrist.
Rafik, Nadine, 17 yrs., student at State University.
Shawky, Safinaz, 21 yrs., Economics major at State University.
In this essay, the author
Believes that it is so complex and mysterious that no man can claim to really know it.
Asks why some dreams seem so weird and out of touch with reality?
Explains that they decided to try to answer at least some of these questions.
Narrates how safy bought her a 50 kg watermelon and cut it in.
Opines that safy's grandmother died when she was 4 years old.
Narrates how she became aware of it after telling her mother about the dream.
Opines that we have no access to it until it suddenly presents itself in one of our lives.
Describes how the cow chased them in a dark, long alley where there was no exit.
Opines that dreams such as this are off the subject now.
Opines that they dream of being turned down by the girl they like, failing a course, loosing.
Narrates how she can't go to where her father wants to take her yet.
Opines that the dead person is actually trying to contact the deceased person.
Narrates how the man dreams of falling down from a high cliff, but wakes up before he does.
Opines that they don't know if it's because the ones i asked shared their dreams with them.
Narrates their experience with a psychiatrist by the name of dr. farouk hassan.
Opines that dr. hassan told them that there are two extremes as to the actual cause of the disease.
Explains that during rem sleep, the brain is very active but isolated from the rest of the body.
Explains that brain stems drive the brain and fool it into thinking that the motor operates.
Opines that it is up to the individual and we cannot generalize.
Explains that each human being has a dream.
Opines that there are certain thoughts that occupy the mind.
Opines that a person should face soon. as for the case of the person dreaming of he is.
Explains that they can't be harmed because they are dreaming, so they just relax in the dream.
Opines that by always trying to test the reality of the dream, and by testing the reality of dream.
Argues that people would argue that it is nicer to just experience the dream as it comes.
Describes three of them to attach with this paper. one is about the dream of being chased.
Describes the reasons for being unprepared for an exam, which their mother often gets.
Opines that aristotle's dream was made as early as 350 b.c.
Opines that the best we can do is to limit the human imagination.
Opines that dreams will never be uncovered. we can just share our dreams and try to understand some.
Opines that it was a scary movie and they had fun.
Narrates how they developed a technique to avoid dangers in their dreams by knowing they're dreaming and that nothing bad can happen to them.
Opines that they don't know why they had that dream a few weeks after the movie and not the same night they watched it.
Explains that they knew they were going to explore the world of dreams and the process of dreaming.
Narrates safinaz's dream that she was a young girl and saw another girl eating watermelon, so she asked her to give her one.
Narrates how mahmoud, who was taking a summer course at ucla at the time, went to santa barbara for the trip.
Opines that mahmoud and i decided to go to alexandria for a day, again without him telling her, and the tire exploded on the way and we almost died!
Predicts their future by setting up a certain scenario that takes place in their dreams. their mother keeps dreaming up to this day that she is sitting in the classroom taking an exam.
Illustrates how nadine, whose father has died five years ago, had a dream where her father appeared to her and wanted to take her with him somewhere.
Analyzes dr. mahmoud's theory that when someone dreams that he is falling down, it is in reality his spirit trying to escape from his body or in other words, that person is dying.
Narrates how they interviewed dr. hassan, a neighbor of theirs, and went to his villa with certain questions and goals in mind.
Explains that rem sleep occurs up to 30 times in one night, and their periods become longer as the night progresses.
Narrates how they asked dr. hassan if dreams can predict the future, and he told them that this has been reported.
Explains the brain's functions in the first stage of sleep. the heart rate goes down, the breathing slows, and it might interpret this as the body dying.
Explains that to get rid of nightmares is a very difficult issue, because it depends on the dreamer and the type
Opines that the more they learn about dr. hassan's issue, the greater they realize how huge and complex it is.
Psychology: Dreams and Dreaming
Dreams, a nightly gift and a part of the natural process of being alive,
are being rediscovered by our publisher. The meaning and value of your dreams
will vary according to what you and your society decide. Our society is
changing. We used to only value dreams in the context of psychotherapy. There
are also a few assumptions about dreams.
In this essay, the author
Explains that there are a few assumptions about dreams. one is that you are always the final.
Opines that dreams come in the service of wholeness and health.
Explains that there are certain stages in the dream cycle.
Opines that it will take a loud noise or disturbance to wake you up.
Opines that a minority of lucid dreams are the result of returning to reality.
Explains that rem sleep occurs in the second half of the night.
Explains that most muscles of the body are paralyzed in rem sleep to prevent us from sleeping.
Analyzes how the eeg shows spiky rapid alpha waves in the first stage of sleep.
Explains that the theta waves gradually decrease and are mixed on eeg tracing.
Explains that after 90 minutes or so of sleep, most of it spent in stage 3-4, the rest of the time was spent sleeping.
Explains that slackening of the muscle under the chin is a reliable signal.
Narrates how one wakes up sweaty, short of breath, and with a frightening feeling.
Opines that some experts say, when a child is indeed powerless, he is at the mercy of the world.
Explains that sleepers may rouse with a bloody slumber of stage 3-4.
Explains that he may also walk or talk in his sleep.
Explains that night terrors are short, lasting only a minute or 2.
Opines that a message dream will come in the form of an e-mail.
Opines that some people dream only a few times per year, or not at all.
Opines that animals do not eat animals.
Explains that becoming blind after the age of 7 sees in dreams even after an interval of 20-30
Opines that a person who cannot hear often has visions in their dreams.
Opines that we have nothing to lose in developing our theory.
Opines that there is no such thing as a dream with one meaning.
Opines that low level lucidity makes one aware that they are dreaming, but not enough to realize that the people are asleep.
Explains that in dreams, you might commit acts you would never do in your waking life, and it is natural to put those acts into the back of your mind rather than confront them.
Most people are familiar with the concept of dreaming; they go to sleep every night, and when they wake up, they remember vague details of shopping with a clown, climbing a purple tree, failing a driving test, or being chased by a ghost. However, these dreams are always remembered in a vague way; they are out of the dreamers control, and often forgotten. Once in a while, and perhaps frequently for some practiced dreamers, one may experience something called a lucid dream.
In this essay, the author
Explains that the subject engages in 10 to 15 minutes of reading or other activity demanding full wakefulness after rehearsing the dream.
Narrates how the subject, while lying in bed and returning to sleep, says to himself, "next time i’m dreaming, i want to remember i'm
Explains that the subject visualizes his body lying asleep in bed. when he or she enters rem sleep, they see themselves being in the dream they just rehearsed and realize that it is a dream.
Explains the concept of lucid dreaming, which was first coined in 1913 by dutch author and psychiatrist frederik van eeden.
Explains stephen laberge's view that lucid dreaming involves awareness of and ability to affect the dream.
Explains that some people are still skeptical of the validity of lucid dreaming.
Have you ever wondered why we dream? There are many different theories that are exploring why people have dreams. One theory stated, “to represent unconscious desires and wishes,” (Nichols para 7.) There is no exact answer about why we dream, some people believe there is no reason and others may believe that it’s just activity in the brain. Some people who have
In this essay, the author
Defines dreams as a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep. the most realistic dreams occur in rapid eye movement, which is when the brain is most active while sleeping.
Explains that there are many theories that are exploring why people have dreams. some people believe there is no reason and others believe that it’s just activity in the brain.
Explains that our dreams can be caused by the emotions we are feeling and people we know or have seen.
Explains that dreams are emotions and thoughts in your mind in a series and the most vivid ones are through rem.
take partial control of what happens during a dream. Since you can do this you
In this essay, the author
Opines that it's harmless to different people such as a zoo keeper who'll probably see it as harmless.
Illustrates a true dream when someone dreamt of something.
Analyzes how the dreamer would have thought of it as funny.
Explains that the dreamer had a lot of confusion in his life. this was later proved because of the confusion.
Explains how to decide whether to get a divorce, end the affair, or just continue as it was.
Explains that the word'mare' came to suffocate you during your sleep.
Analyzes how she thought about the reason the dream had happened.
Explains the job of a trained dream interpreter to find out the true meanings of life.
Analyzes edgar cayce's on dreams by dr. harmon h bro and edited by hugh lynn.
Explains how a baby was born because of dreams, and how nightmares can help us in subtle ways.
Explains that they are usually in a rush, when their alarm clock goes off or you are pressured to get up quickly. they remember dreams on such occasions as they lie in on the bed.
Explains that they can take partial control of what happens during a dream. they don't have to be restricted to do all the things they do in real life.
Explains that lucid dreaming causes a baby to be born because of.
Narrates how one dreamt up in a dream and had sex after thinking that it was the best time to get pregnant.
Narrates how a man dreamt of handing in his project and went to university with it back home. dreams can make us feel good.
Analyzes the dream of a man who was having an affair with his wife. the dream was to show that the affair had started small.
Analyzes how the man had a dream to tell him to stop the affair or the relationship would get too out of hand in the future.
Narrates how the girl panicked and ran away from chasing things near her home. the faster she ran, the more she had the problem.
Describes how the girl woke up at the point of the nightmare when she had run as far as she could and it was physically impossible for her to run further. she cried for help, was soaking wet from her own sweat and was exhausted.
Analyzes how the nightmare was repeated night after night to force the girl to get all her feelings out into the open about her mother.
Opines that dreams are a part of our life that should be taken more notice of.
Explains that dreams can give us clues about how we are feeling and what the future will be like.
Dreams have long exercised a fascination over the human imagination. Many people have questions about them. Dreams over time have captured the interest of many. They have continued to intrigue the simplest of people because of their meaning, their occurrences and their different styles and patterns. One of the most common questions that come up about dreams is how they occur. The theory of REM explains this. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. Dreaming is simply the early stage of sleeping. It takes place during REM, using a portion of the brain called pons, which generates signals to the brain (Lewis 3). It is a known fact that everyone dreams, and that REM occurs every 90-100 minutes as stated by Deming (4). The process of dreaming is not a psychic activity but rather a somatic process, which makes itself known as psychic (Crisp 45). Dreams most commonly concern themselves mainly with the future. They are visionary wishes of fulfillment. When a person dreams they may dreams about a certain part of their day, or something that they would like to happen. It is true that everyone dreams however, remembering a dream is often not possible (Uchida 119). When looked at closer it is quite interesting to see how many people actually remember their dreams. 15% say that they never recall their dreams, 5% remember one a night and the average person recalls his/her dream 2-3 times a week (Shafton 350). It is also important to take a look at the different meanings of dreams.
In this essay, the author
Explains that rem stands for rapid eye movement, which is a somatic process that generates signals to the brain. dreams are visionary wishes of fulfillment.
Explains that dreams consist of actions such as embracement, births, deaths, being chased and falling.
Explains that being chased in a dream could mean that there is something on our minds, focusing on others and their aggressive intent or other something that is threatening or frightening.
Explains that recurrent dreams and sleep terrors are common in both children and adults, but it is unknown when nightmares begin to occur.
Dreams: basically what the purpose of them are, and how they can help or hurt us.
In this essay, the author
Explains that everyone in life has some sort of dream that they have in mind for themselves. dreams can be as small as wanting to tell your crush you like them at the end of the school year, to planning out your entire future retirement plan.
Explains that dreams are different for everyone, but the most common reason is to live a carefree, happy life.
Analyzing My Dreams
Sigmund Freud proposed that our dreams consist of our unconscious thoughts and images. Additionally Freud explained that there are two parts to a dream the manifest content, the obvious parts of the dream, and the latent content, the hidden meanings of the dream. All four of my dreams were quite bizarre, when I first thought about them but I was only thinking about the manifest content. Once I began to uncover the latent content I could see the patterns and connections not just between the dreams but my own life.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how freud proposed that our dreams consist of our unconscious thoughts and images, and explained that there are two parts to a dream, the manifest content and the latent content.
Narrates how they experienced bizarre and innocent dreams, while dark and depressing, revealing a fear of theirs which they had never realized.
Narrates how their dream of being surrounded by strangers threw them off, but after thinking about it, they realized that watching people come through the front door and watching them have fun were both events that did happen in their real life.
Explains that there is no definite answer or reason for why we dream, but there are hundreds of ideas and theories, such as rehearsing and practicing specific skills.
Explains that dreams have patterns, connections, and comparisons between them that can be uncovered and analyzed.
I got up . All I thought was I'm such a monster to get them this scared.
In this essay, the author
Narrates how they felt disgusted about what they said to the girls and the boys after their last conversation. after the baseball jump, they beat philip up while telling him to die.
Opines that it's bad for the opposite general to like each other.
Explains that they picture themselves in the same general being bad and the opposite general being good.
Recounts how they felt worthless and weak when it was time to please the bullies. they saw many face around them, but they didn't care.
Narrates how the coach must have called their parent that when they remember the dream they got up and went outside to find philip and jessie.
Narrates how they got people to stop bullying them and finally got their best friends back. that dream changed them lot.
Introduces tim hammerstone, a baseball captain, who was bullied by gays, but now he's friends with them.
Narrates how they both took a deep breath and whispered "we are homosexual." they begged "we have enough trust to tell you, our biggest secret."
Narrates how philip yelled " we trusted you, we told you our biggest secret and now you’re treat us like a piece of trash."
Narrates how they were teaching the freshman how to play baseball, and when they saw philip walking down again, they yelled him to hit the ball harder. they were knocked out.
Describes how they ran so fast to catch up to them and tracked them before they went home. they begged jessie, philip, and philip to get up.
Narrates how they were about to leave when they said "we forgive you but we won't be friends until you make the people to stop bullying us because we are homosexual."
I dream of myself telling my patient with warmth and contentment that their triple valve replacement was successful. However, when I wake from my fantasy I can hear my dad in his room struggling in his sleep. I have witnessed my father throwing punches into the dark and kicking the blankets off of him trying to defend himself from raiders in his dreams. These small reminders bring back to realizing the sliver of probability that I should not be able to dream, let alone have a pulse as I finish my last homework problem late at night. It is the gift of my life that drives me to fulfilling my dream of solving problems and saving
In this essay, the author
Opines that nghia dinh huu should not have been born because he was born in the vietnam war and had to accept the death of his loved ones and come to the united states with the trauma of war.
Narrates how they dream of becoming a doctor, but when they wake from their fantasy, they can hear their dad struggling in his sleep. these reminders bring back to realizing the sliver of probability that they should not be able to dream.
Explains that they have taken every opportunity possible to bring themselves closer to their dream of becoming a doctor.
Describes how they have seized three internships with the cleveland clinic, conducting a new research project and working with phd’s and doctors to help provide the best care possible to the patient.
Opines that after years of effort and dedication to a dream, it turns out that they no longer need to dream.
Ninety percent of the time when you are falling asleep you will have a dream that you are walking along a cliff and you accidently slip and fall off the edge and it seems like you are falling forever. When you have already been sleeping for a while and you have this falling dream, it means you are losing grip of something important or you have a fear of an event coming up in the future that you can’t stop thinking about and you keep thinking you are going to fail.
In this essay, the author
Explains that 90% of the time when you fall asleep, you will have a dream that you are walking along the cliff and you accidently slip and fall off the edge.
Explains that writing down dreams is a good idea because you can look back at the dream and think about what was going on in your life when that dream occurred.
Explains that bad dreams are realistic, disturbing dreams that scare you until you are awaken from the deep sleep you were in.
Explains that dreams are a reflection of how one acts and behaves in their life.
Describes how they were super close to their grandpa, who had a stroke while eating breakfast, then had another one on the way to the hospital. they had horrible dreams about him after he passed away.
Opines that dreams are a mystery on how they work. writing down dreams is the best way to think about your dreams, forget about them, or think of ways you can have more of the dream.