Dr. Robert Stickgold's Analysis

Thematic Claim: Dreams, in both the subconscious and physical world, are essential for one’s destiny and their character in the future.

Why do we dream? What do our dreams mean? Dreams are a sequence of images, ideas, and feelings that involuntarily occur most commonly during the REM stage of sleep. They come in a wide variety of types, from the peculiar to the downright terrifying; the dreamer has no control over what they experience in their dreams. Though neurologists have been studying the human brain for decades, we still don’t fully know why we dream or what their significance is. Some psychologists theorize that dreams are closely linked to our subconscious mind, expressing our deepest fears or desires, allowing us to be what we cannot be. Others believe that dreams serve no function at all and are simply our imaginations running wild. In the words of Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, “The dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter.” (The Interpretation of Dreams)

Dream content reflects aspects of waking-life experiences. After memories are made, they are often fragmentally merged with other information to construct larger, holistic dreams. Autobiographical memories are predominantly represented in dreams in comparison to episodic and semantic memories. Among various characteristics from waking-life experiences such as places, people, and events, emotions are highly incorporated into dream content. There is also a decreasing relationship between the cognitive demand of an activity and the frequency in which that activity occurs in dreams. Dreams tend to include material from experiential memories and events from the preceding day as well as experiences from 5-7 days prior. The recurrence of memory content in dreams seems to support the hypothesis that dreaming helps with memory consolidation, or particularly the content which is reflected in dreams.

The humankind throughout history has tried to learn and figure out the meaning of dreaming. The interpretations and true meanings of dreams has expanded and has varied over centuries and cultures. Many of the earlier studies were based on culture’s and the interpretation of dreams, but also used as a form of prophecy, inspiration, and guidance. Many people still believe this such, people today beliefs and theories have opened up to a more vast interpretation, they are made up of; dreams are rare brain activity, dreams allow people to reflect on themselves, or that dreams are too massive to be correctly interpret. Although, not a single theory has been proven to this day, science as of why dreams occur is still a mystery.

To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people do not think much about the dreams that they have, unless they are recurring. Dreaming is “a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during REM sleep.” Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank god that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we may think. If people took more time to consider the meaning behind the dreams they have, then dream interpretation could be used as a means to help resolve issues in our awaken lives, including helping to

As we lay ourselves down every night to put our bodies to rest, our brains begin doing something extraordinary. It begins piecing together images, creating scenarios, simulating sensory perception, and adding in emotions and fears. They can make us wake up with a smile on our face or in a cold sweat. Dreaming is such a strange and often inexplicable phenomenon, but something we all do just about every night. People have theorized the process and the utility of dreams for centuries. However, much of the accepted knowledge we have a bout dreams today is still only theory. In fact, hardly anything about the dreaming experience is concrete because it is an experience

Analysis: Dreamings can teach us that in living the good life, it is important that we learn from the past. It also shows us the importance of art and how it can teach us about life's journeys (Ann Bzoch).

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

Dreams, one of the many dimensions in our mind, gives a lot of different information then we are use to having in the day. The subconscious mind that takes control when we sleep, takes care of our passive memories and holds the key to our lives. Dreams are what lead us to this key which unlocks the door to another type of wisdom. The farther we get

The question of whether dreams actually have a psychological, biological or emotional function is yet to be determined but that didn't stop researchers and scientists from developing crazy theories about this topic. Let me share some mind-blowing theories with you. Firstly, it was believed that dreams helped you connect with a different world which led to believe that souls exist. It was also believed that dreams are glimpses from our last life. Another theory states that states that dreams don't really serve any function at all. Some people also think that dreams are just random and meaningless thoughts that the brain produces when we are asleep. There are so many more theories but if I keep going on, the list might never end!

Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares. In today’s society, the concept

Dreaming is defined by the Barron AP Psychology Book as “the series of storylike images we experience as we sleep (McEntarffer, 2016, p. 113).” Dreams come in all shapes and sizes; some seem random and others may seem to hold more meaning. There are a wide array of dream theories including Freudian theory, information-processing theory, and activation-synthesis theory as described in the aforementioned book. Freud’s perspective emphasizes the unconscious mind and how dreams can reveal repressed memories. Similar to Freud’s theory, the information-processing theory attributes dream content to daily stress as the brain uses dreams to process a day’s events.

just a myth. Equally important, dreams can motivate oneself or to act a certain way. For this reason, a few have dreamt and it changed them as a person and made them realize certain solutions to their real-life problems.

Dreams have been around since the beginning of time. There is often controversy over whether or not dreams are important or meaningless. Although many people believe that dreams are pointless and have no meanings to them, research and experimentation show that there can be many different interpretations of dreams.