Dreams

Running head : Dreams

Dreams

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One-third of our life is spent in sleep - dreams . Instead of regarding the dream as abnormal , queer , fantastic , occasional , unreal , chaotic and unexplainable , we shall study it as a natural phenomenon , not only for its own acquaintance , but also for the light it throws upon waking life for dreams furnish us one of the best illustrations of the nature and role of subconscious mental processes

We have learned that there is a cause

for every memory , thought feeling , - every flitting image in consciousness . The same is true about the subconscious of which the dream is a part : every flitting dream image , even every dream blur , flows from some cause and has specific relations with the rest of the mental life

Disturbing dreams occur when the nervous system is in an irritable and unstable condition unrest results in dreams . This predisposing cause of dreaming may be chronic or temporary . Some persons have such a nervous disposition that they never rest well , and all persons are guilty of indiscretions which leave them to do penance in dreamland . The second piece of mince pie , ice cream , hot coffee just before leaving the evening party , physical over-exertion , mental over-exertion - in short , count up the sins against your mind and the sins against your body and you will have named the predisposing causes of the disturbing dreams of restlessness . But the vast body of dream life is a normal part of restful sleep (Humberto Nagera , S . Baker , A . Colonna , R . Edgcumbe A . Holder , L . Kearney , M . Kawenoka , C . Legg , D . Meers , L . Neurath , K Rees Maresfield Library , 1990

Dreams may be presentative or representative in origin . The presentative are caused by sense stimuli , such as light , sound , odor , taste , impact heat , cold , and pressure . The senses are open in sleep even under the most ideal sleeping conditions . Sense impressions are playing upon our sensorium continually during the night . Certain sense stimuli , such as the retinal lights , taste in the mouth , excessive temperature , pressure and pain caused by contact with the bed clothes are conspicuously present during sleep . A very large portion of dream life comes through sensory experience . Stimuli which are suppressed during waking life are given free sway in sleep and the possibilities for varied dream modulations are notoriously great

The representative dreams arise in the same manner as memories imaginations , or feelings , in waking life , in accordance with the laws of association . They may be regarded as free associations . Usually they are the indirect result of sensory impressions , which serve as starting points for changes of association : for example , as your ear registers the trickling of raindrops , you do not dream that it rains , but a train of images flashes into your mind , - successive scenes and pictures of rain , waiting in the rain , suffering of the poverty stricken philanthropy , hunger , all in realistic and dramatic action . The case of reverie illustrates the process : you...