The unwelcome child and his dreams: reconceptualization of dreaming in trauma

Based on the concepts of Sándor Ferenczi on trauma and vincularity, the author examines the operation of the mechanisms of dreaming in the processing of early traumatic situations and their clinical utilization. The difference is established between dreams of “repetition”, which lack dream imagery and contain a great amount of anguish, consisting of bodily sensations which may last on awakening, and the “secondary dream” with imagery, into which the first type can be transformed when the capacity of the psychic apparatus to process the traumatic situation is increased through therapeutic work. This “secondarization” of the repetitive dream has a traumatolytic effect, allowing the patient to reach psychoanalytically the mechanisms and mental states prevailing in the traumatic situation, through the mechanism of dream autorepresentation described by Silberer. In some cases, as illustrated in the clinical material, it is possible to anticipate the event of episodes of somatic disease before they become clinically evident.?The detailed analysis of dreams in patients with these characteristics is presented and discussed.     

Configurational approach to manifest dream analysis: Possible acceleration of the patient's communication in psychoanalytic psychotherapy

This paper presents an approach to dream analysis utilizing the manifest content of a number of consecutive dreams from the same patient. Following a review of the literature, it is noted that in once-a-week psychotherapy there is often very little time for exhaustive dream analysis to unravel the buried meanings within the latent dream content. Twenty categories have been established for the configurational analysis, which is applied to the analysis of the first eleven dreams of a patient in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The authors independently analyzed the patient's dreams using each of the 20 categories with high reliability, then combined their contributions. This data was then compared with the treating analyst's independent clinical observations about the twenty categories.     

Beyond sex differences: Family and occupational roles' impact on women's and men's dreams

The question addressed is: do recent changes in the occupational roles of women, with their indirect influence on men's lives, have an impact on the dreams of women and men? Three groups of parents (N=96) including in equal numbers, mothers at home, wage-earning mothers and fathers, kept a dream diary from which two dreams per dreamer were content analyzed. Assuming continuity between daytime and dream experiences, it was hypothesized that differences in manifest dream content would be a function of single versus dual role enactment, rather than sex. Contrary to predictions, statistical analyses performed on selected dream variables did not yield significant differences between groups for pleasant and unpleasant emotions, friendly interactions and aggression. Dream characters, and the concerns they reflect, were found to vary, though, according to social roles. Commitment to their family was reflected above all in the mothers' at home dreams, while commitment to their profession took precedence in those of the wage-earning mothers. Comparable commitment to work and family was found among the fathers. Findings suggest that as gender differences in waking life decrease, so may differences in dreams.     

Jungian theory of dreaming and contemporary dream research – findings from the research project ‘Structural Dream Analysis’

The research method ‘Structural Dream Analysis’ (SDA) is described which allows for systematic and objective analysis of the meaning of dreams produced by patients in Jungian psychotherapies. The method focuses especially on the relationship between the dream ego and other figures in the dream and the extent of activity of the dream ego. Five major dream patterns were identified which accounted for the majority of the dreams. The clients’ dream series were dominated by one or two repetitive patterns which were closely connected to the psychological problems of the dreamers. Additionally, typical changes in the dream series’ patterns could be identified which corresponded with therapeutic change. These findings support Jung's theory of dreams as providing a holistic image of the dreamer’s psyche, including unconscious aspects. The implications for different psychoanalytic theories of dreaming and dream interpretation are discussed as well as implications for the continuity hypothesis.     

A parapraxis in a dream

When a parapraxis is put on display in a dream, one can only wonder what service the willful mistake is rendering to resourceful dream work. Freud taught us that anything that appears in the manifest content of a dream may well be a disguise or a distortion of a subject that originally made an anxiety-provoking, and hence short-lived, first appearance in latent dream thoughts. Dreams in dreams and jokes in dreams have been examined from this perspective (Mahon 2002a, 2002b), and this paper focuses on the appearance and meaning of a parapraxis in a dream, with the argument that seemingly casual "mistakes" are highlighted in the manifest display to cover up some latent, much more deliberate subject matter.     

Linking Metaphor and Dreams in Clinical Practice

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to weave together selected aspects from the theoretical domains of metaphor and dreams. With respect to dreams, the paper draws on theorists who argue for the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. Of particular interest is the symbolic value that may be placed on the manifest dream. Establishing the significance of the manifest dream is an important step toward linking its imagery with our daytime figurative language in a meaningful way. Further, the notion that dreams symbolically capture our self-state lends support to the idea that there may be thematic correspondence between our dreams and metaphors. This may be most apparent when we compare dominant metaphors with recurring dreams.     

Reflections on the self state dream

Self psychologists contend that patients with narcissistic personality disorders have dreams which cannot be understood in terms of current psychoanalytic dream theory and that these dreams, called self state dreams, have a different origin and structure. The manifest content of these dreams is said to reveal the reactions of healthy sectors of the psyche to disturbing changes in the condition of the self. Self psychologists are said to be able to understand these dreams directly, without the patients' associations, as portrayals of the dreamers' dread of threats to the integrity of the self. The authors raise questions about these contentions. They conclude that the self state dream will remain a dubious concept until a more extensive psychology of dreaming is provided by self psychologists.     

The informational value of dreams and associations

The manifest dream has usually been the object of study by researchers, while psychotherapists mainly have paid attention to the latent content of the dream, reached through free associations. The question is which aspects of the dream, manifest content or associations, yield information about the dreamer's psychic life. In the present study it is suggested that the manifest dream to a large extent maintains thematic continuity with the dreamer's associations. However, with regard to emotions, there is no clear overlap between the information contained in the manifest dream and in its associations. The associations make the dream into the dreamer's own personal dream. Associating to a dream changes strangers into known people in the life of the dreamer. The dreamer comes to recognize aspects of himself or herself in these people. In associations, the dreamers portray themselves as more responsible of emotions, while they in dreams rather ascribe emotions to others, and they themselves become objects of these emotions. The author argues for the value of both the manifest dream in its own right and the enhanced experiental closeness afforded by the dreamer's associations.     

Transference neurosis as a waking dream: notes on a clinical enigma

This paper demonstrates clinically that the interactional features of a transference neurosis are the waking equivalents of a manifest dream. Through analytic investigation of the emerging repetitive extraverbal elements of apparent transference resistance behavior, it is discovered that the systematic analysis of the details of such behavior yields a picture of synthetic construction fundamentally the same as that seen in dreams. By using Freud's technique of systematic dream interpretation, the tightly organized, coded, and camouflaged presence of many key compromise formations determining a neurosis are found to be represented in compact, highly condensed clinical interactions, providing an overall picture of dreamwork in action. The four components of dreamwork are found to be the principal means by which the unconscious genetic and dynamic material is represented in the analytic field.     

Anxiety and dream symbolism

The present study replicates and extends previous findings of a relation between anxiety level and the use of dream symbolism. Anxiety, assessed by self-reports over a ten-day period, was positively related to the use of sexual symbolism identified from dream reports obtained over the same period. The appearance of symbolic dreams, however, was not preceded by elevated levels of anxiety. A positive relation was uncovered between the measure of anxiety and a measure of manifest sexual content in the dreams.     

Extending the Rorschach trauma content index and aggression indexes to dream narratives of children exposed to enduring violence: an exploratory study

In this study, we compared dream narratives of children and adolescents living under conditions of enduring interpersonal violence (n = 220) versus those living in peaceful surroundings (n = 99) on content variables that have been associated with traumatic experiences in Rorschach (Exner, 1995) imagery. As predicted, children and adolescents living in circumstances of enduring violence reported a higher proportion of content scorable by Armstrong and Loewenstein's (1990) Trauma Content Index and a much higher proportion of aggressive objects in their dreams (AgC; Gacono & Meloy, 1994). In support of discriminant validity, no consistent group differences were observed for the relative frequencies of Animal (A), Clothing (Cg), or Cooperative movement (COP) content. The modest association between manifest dream content and psychological symptom scales suggests that the former may alternatively reflect adaptive or psychopathological processes. Our findings suggest that content analysis of dreams may be a valuable adjunct in tapping the psychological state of children traumatized by violence.     

An investigation of the use of nocturnal dream reports as diagnostic indices in the assessment of family problem solving

This study investigated the use of series of nocturnal dream reports to diagnose patterns of family functioning. Five families (twenty one subjects) collected a total of 126 dreams. A Treatment Group consisted of two families undergoing family therapy whilst a Non-Treatment Group, comprising three families, was drawn from a population ranging from severely disturbed to superior family functioning. The manifest content of the dreams was analysed, qualitatively and quantitatively. The presenting problem, case history, therapeutic processes and outcome were unknown to the dream researcher. The family therapist was blind to the dream content and dream analysis. Each family was independently rated by the therapist and the dream researcher. The agreement between the two assessments was highly significant. In addition, the problem areas, family transactions and treatment outcome were correctly identified by the dream researcher. It was concluded that analyses of dream series reflect the problem areas encountered by a family system. Implications for therapeutic strategies are discussed.     

Medical student dreams about medical school: The unconscious developmental process of becoming a physician

This paper is a report on a collection of almost four hundred dreams of medical students and postgraduate trainees with the manifest content about medical training. It is a unique dream collection from a defined population that experiences a developmental sequence of observable, reality events. The reality events appear in the manifest content of the dreams along with their symbolic alterations. The dreams are used as a psychodynamic database. The data may illustrate which reality experiences seem psychologically formative, their emotional developmental sequences and their specific emotional content. This is a pilot project exploring whether dream material collected from a discrete task group might give information about a group's emotional adaptation. The dreams seem to show an unconscious developmental process in response to medical training and becoming a physician that unfolds in overlapping stages as trainees learn to master skills and tolerate care-giving responsibility for human life. A progressive, unconscious hero-healer fantasy seems to form. It becomes elaborated in masochistic and then sadistic fantasies. These fantasies are evoked by, and used as a defense against, inevitable but painful anxieties of emotional adaptation to medical education experiences.     

Memory in dreams1

In this paper the author discusses a specific type of dreams encountered in her clinical experience, which in her view provide an opportunity of reconstructing the traumatic emotional events of the patient’s past. In 1900, Freud described a category of dreams – which he called ‘biographical dreams’– that reflect historical infantile experience without the typical defensive function. Many authors agree that some traumatic dreams perform a function of recovery and working through. Bion contributed to the amplification of dream theory by linking it to the theory of thought and emphasizing the element of communication in dreams as well as their defensive aspect. The central hypothesis of this paper is that the predominant aspect of such dreams is the communication of an experience which the dreamer has in the dream but does not understand. It is often possible to reconstruct, and to help the patient to comprehend and make sense of, the emotional truth of the patient’s internal world, which stems from past emotional experience with primary objects. The author includes some clinical examples and references to various psychoanalytic and neuroscientific conceptions of trauma and memory. She discusses a particular clinical approach to such dreams and how the analyst should listen to them.     

Adult recollections of earliest childhood dreams: a cross-cultural study

In two studies, Caucasian and Asian college students recalled their earliest memory of a dream, and they provided information about behaviours and beliefs associated with dreaming. Consistent with previous research on childhood amnesia, participants rarely recounted dreams that occurred before age 3. In Study 1, the mean age of the earliest dream memory was 14 months earlier for Caucasians than for Asians. In Study 2, more Asians than Caucasians were unable to remember a childhood dream. Dream-related behaviours and beliefs also differed markedly across cultures. Compared to Asians, Caucasians reported talking more frequently with parents about their dreams in childhood, receiving stronger parental encouragement to share dreams, and feeling more comfortable doing so. Caucasians also reported sharing their dreams with others more frequently in adulthood and they assigned greater value to their dreams. Most Caucasians but few Asians consented to the researchers' request to send parents a questionnaire concerning the participant's childhood dreams. The results support the social interaction explanation for autobiographical memory development, in which parent-child conversations about the personal past contribute to memory accessibility.     

Dreams,emotions, and social sharing of dreams

Current life emotional experiences have been demonstrated to elicit a process called social sharing of emotion, consisting of repetitive talking about these experiences in conversations with relevant others. Like many diurnal experiences, dreams are generally loaded with emotional elements, and empirical evidence has suggested that individuals share their dreams with others mainly belonging to the circle of intimates. The present study examined whether the intensity of the emotion experienced in a dream predicts the extent to which this dream is socially shared. The prediction was tested independently for positively valenced and negatively valenced dreams, on two samples of respondents, i.e., Belgians and Italians. Other potential predictors of sharing were considered, including a number of cognitive appraisals and cognitive consequences of emotion. Results confirmed that emotion intensity is the main predictor of social sharing for both negative and positive dreams. In addition, the analysis of dream contents accounted for a high level of emotional intensity associated with respondents’ dreaming. Implications for theory and functions fulfilled by emotion with regard to social interactions are discussed.     

Adult recollections of earliest childhood dreams: A cross-cultural study

In two studies, Caucasian and Asian college students recalled their earliest memory of a dream, and they provided information about behaviours and beliefs associated with dreaming. Consistent with previous research on childhood amnesia, participants rarely recounted dreams that occurred before age 3. In Study 1, the mean age of the earliest dream memory was 14 months earlier for Caucasians than for Asians. In Study 2, more Asians than Caucasians were unable to remember a childhood dream. Dream-related behaviours and beliefs also differed markedly across cultures. Compared to Asians, Caucasians reported talking more frequently with parents about their dreams in childhood, receiving stronger parental encouragement to share dreams, and feeling more comfortable doing so. Caucasians also reported sharing their dreams with others more frequently in adulthood and they assigned greater value to their dreams. Most Caucasians but few Asians consented to the researchers' request to send parents a questionnaire concerning the participant's childhood dreams. The results support the social interaction explanation for autobiographical memory development, in which parent–child conversations about the personal past contribute to memory accessibility.     

On examination dreams.

The literature concerning examination dreams is reviewed, and the case of a patient who had a number of examination and examination-like dreams is described. Examination dreams are related to traumatic dreams, "idiosyncratic" dreams, and various behavioral expressions. In addition, constitutional factors involving impulse-defense imbalance, childhood experiences with physical difficulties and medical examinations, and ambivalent identifications and object relations seem to find representation in these dreams.     

The cognitive effects of trauma: reversal of alpha function and the formation of a beta screen

Following a brief review of Freud's writings on trauma, the author discusses relevant theories of Bion, and in particular the concepts of the alpha function and the beta screen. A clinical example is presented in which the patient's relatively recent trauma in adulthood had become fused with prior related experiences, leading to a propensity for repeated enactments in analysis and a failure to learn from experience. Drawing on the analyst's alpha function, the patient was gradually able to use mentalization to transform her rigidly structured traumatic organization. The author highlights the roles of dreams/dream associations and of screen memories in the patient's analysis.