At one point or another, we’ve all asked ourselves: why exactly do we dream?
Despite not definitively knowing exactly why we dream, many have tried to interpret their cryptic messages, unlock their hidden meanings, and even control their narratives for centuries.
Dreams are essentially fantastical journeys that take place beneath the cloak of sleep. They inspire us, scare us, and even help us work through issues.
But the question remains, what are dreams, and how do they work? To understand we need to peek under the hood of our mind, and try to understand the “why” behind our dreams.
What Is The Purpose Of A Dream?
Our fascination with dreams has a long history. Ancient civilizations saw dreams as portals to the divine, signs from the future, and messages from the gods.
We even know that they’re a common experience across species.
From studies conducted on animals during REM sleep, the brain activity patterns of animals are similar to those seen in dreaming humans.
In the realm of psychology, Sigmund Freud placed dreams at the center of his theory of psychoanalysis. He believed dreams were “the royal road to the unconscious,” a way to access repressed desires and hidden conflicts.
Carl Jung, another prominent figure, saw dreams as a reflection of a collective unconscious, a shared pool of human experiences and symbols. The same could be said for the experiences of animals.
From what we have gathered over thousands of years, modern science and countless studies, the best educated answer to the question: what is the purpose of a dream – is that they offer a window into the depths of our unconscious minds which help work us through our lives, and issues, even while we sleep.
What Do Dreams Mean?
Are they cryptic messages from the beyond or the brain’s way of housekeeping? As science digs deeper into the world of sleep, we may one day figure out the true meaning behind these nightly excursions.
While the interpretation of dreams remains an open field, science has helped to shed light on how they function so we can help determine what they mean.
We do know that dreams occur primarily during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, a stage characterized by heightened brain activity and paralysis of the body.
During REM sleep, the brain processes information gathered throughout the day, consolidates memories, and flushes out emotional responses.
This processing manifests as the vivid imagery, emotions, and bizarre scenarios that characterize dreams.
What Is The Pyschology Behind Dreaming?
While the science behind dream function is still evolving, psychology offers various methods we can use to explore their potential meaning.
Here are some prominent dream exploration approaches:
Freudian Dream Analysis
This method, central to psychoanalysis, views dreams as disguised expressions of unconscious desires and conflicts. Freud believed dreams use symbolism to mask these desires, often rooted in childhood experiences. Through free association – where the dreamer speaks freely about dream elements – a therapist helps uncover the underlying meaning.
Freud believed dreams employed “dreamwork” techniques like condensation (combining multiple ideas) and displacement (symbolizing threatening desires) to mask their true meaning.
Key Concepts:
- Dreamwork: The process by which the unconscious mind transforms unacceptable desires into symbolic imagery through:
- Condensation: Combining multiple ideas into one dream element.
- Displacement: Shifting the focus from the true source of anxiety to a less threatening symbol.
- Symbolism: Using objects and situations to represent unconscious thoughts and emotions.
- Manifest Content: The actual storyline and imagery of the dream.
- Latent Content: The hidden meaning beneath the manifest content, often containing repressed desires.
- Technique: Free association, where the dreamer freely speaks about anything that comes to mind regarding dream elements. This helps uncover the latent content.
Example:
- You dream of arguing with your teacher (Manifest Content). This might represent repressed anger towards an authority figure, possibly linked to a childhood experience (Latent Content).
Jungian Dream Analysis
Carl Jung, a student of Freud who later diverged, emphasized the concept of the collective unconscious. He believed dreams could tap into this shared pool of human experiences and symbols (archetypes).
Jungian dream analysis explores not only the dreamer’s personal associations with symbols but also considers the cultural and mythological context.
Jungian analysis focuses on identifying these archetypes (e.g., the shadow, the anima) and their significance in the dreamer’s life.
Key Concepts:
- Archetypes: Universal symbols and themes that appear across cultures and dreams, representing fundamental human experiences. (e.g., the shadow, the anima/animus)
- Personal Unconscious: Holds repressed memories and personal experiences.
- Collective Unconscious: Contains the archetypes and shared human experiences.
- Technique: Dream analysis focuses on identifying archetypes and how they relate to the dreamer’s personal life and the collective unconscious.
Example:
- You dream of being lost in a dark forest (Shadow aspect).
- In Jungian analysis, this might symbolize feelings of being lost or unsure about your direction in life. The forest could represent the collective unconscious or your own unexplored emotions.
Gestalt Dream Therapy
This approach focuses on the “wholeness” of the dream experience. The therapist helps the dreamer explore the emotions and sensations evoked by the dream, rather than solely focusing on symbolic meaning.
The goal is to gain insight into unresolved issues or unfinished business that might be manifesting in dreams.
Therapists help the dreamer explore their feelings and unmet needs within the dream, drawing parallels to their waking life. By reenacting or re-imagining dream scenes, the goal is to gain a deeper understanding of unresolved conflicts and achieve emotional closure.
Key Concepts
- The Dreamer as the Author: The dreamer is the ultimate authority on the meaning of their dreams. The therapist acts as a guide, but it’s the dreamer who unlocks the personal message within the dream.
- Holistic View of Dreams: Every element in a dream, from characters and objects to settings, is seen as a representation of various aspects of the dreamer’s own self.
- Projection: We often project disowned or unrecognized parts of ourselves onto dream figures and objects.
- Technique: The therapist helps the dreamer explore the dream as a metaphor for current life issues and unresolved conflicts. By “replaying” the dream, the dreamer may gain new insights and emotional catharsis.
Example:
- You dream of being chased by a monster (fearful aspect).
- In Gestalt dream analysis, you might role-play as the monster to understand what it represents. Maybe it embodies your own anxieties or a situation you’re avoiding in waking life.
Adlerian Dream Analysis
Alfred Adler, another psychoanalyst with a distinct viewpoint, saw dreams as a way for individuals to explore and overcome feelings of inferiority. Adlerian dream analysis focuses on the dreamer’s sense of purpose, motivation, and how the dream reflects their attempts to compensate for feelings of inadequacy.
This method is a future-oriented approach that sees dreams as a tool for navigating challenges and achieving personal growth.
Adlerian therapists explore how dreams relate to the dreamer’s sense of belonging, self-esteem, and life goals.
Key Concepts
- Fictional Finalism: Dreams are a way for the dreamer to rehearse or “pre-experience” future situations to overcome feelings of inadequacy and achieve goals.
- Technique: Analyzing the dream for clues about the dreamer’s sense of self-worth and goals, and how the dream scenario helps them navigate those aspects.
Example:
- You dream about giving a presentation at work and feeling confident and prepared. (Dream content)
- In Adlerian analysis, the dream might not represent hidden anxieties (Freud) but could reflect your desire to feel competent and valued at work (relating to your lifestyle).
Cognitive Dream Interpretation
This approach, rooted in cognitive psychology, emphasizes the role of thoughts and beliefs in shaping dreams.
The therapist works with the dreamer to identify recurring themes and patterns, then consider how these relate to waking life challenges and emotional processing.
Key Concepts
- Dreams aren’t simply random brain activity or solely about repressed desires.
- They play a role in consolidating memories from waking life. By revisiting and rehearsing experiences in dreams, we strengthen memory networks.
- Dreams can also function as a kind of “offline therapy,” allowing us to process emotional experiences and challenges in a safe, symbolic way.
- We might explore different scenarios or outcomes in our dreams that are related to waking life concerns, potentially aiding in problem-solving.
Example: You dream about a recent argument with a friend. This could reflect your brain processing the emotional aspects of the argument and potentially helping you find ways to resolve it.
These are all attempts to explain why we dream and what meaning, if any, our dreams hold. There’s no single definitive answer, but only varying methods to try and extract the data (or dream meaning).
What Is The Origin Of Dream Interpretation?
To understand why we dream, humanity turned to dream interpretation in its early beginnings with a long and fascinating history, stretching back as far as 3,000-4,000 BC.
Early civilizations, like the Sumerians and Egyptians, saw dreams as messages from the gods or glimpses into the future, and meticulously documented their dreams and interpretations on clay tablets and papyrus, or what you could call an ancient dream journal.
Priests and seers acted as professional dream interpreters, deciphering symbolic imagery and advising people on how to act based on the dream’s message.
The most famous Greek dream interpreter was Artemidorus. He lived in Asia Minor during Roman rule, around the turn of the third century AD. He authored a five-volume treatise titled Oneirocritica (The Interpretation of Dreams), which is the earliest surviving comprehensive work on dream interpretation from the ancient world.
Artemidorus, like the Egyptians, believed that dreams were messages, often prophetic, from the gods and could reveal important information about the future. His approach to dream interpretation considered the cultural context of the dream and the dreamer’s waking life experiences. Artemidorus also emphasized the importance of the emotional tone of the dream.
Artemidorus’ ideas laid the groundwork for centuries of dream interpretation. His distinction between dream types – those reflecting waking life (enhypnia) and those prophetic (oneiroi) – offered a framework for understanding the purpose of dreams.
FAQ
What Causes Dreams To Happen?
Despite spending a significant portion of our lives dreaming, the exact purpose and cause behind why dreams are a thing, still remains a scientific mystery.
Researchers haven’t found a single definitive answer, but there are several compelling theories that shed light on this fascinating aspect of sleep.
The most lauded theory centers around the role of REM sleep.
During REM sleep, the brainstem, responsible for basic bodily functions, is highly active while the part of the brain controlling our actions is suppressed. This creates the dream state, where our brains weave stories from a mix of memories, emotions, and sensory experiences.
Another theory proposes that dreaming is a form of mental housekeeping. Dreams may be a byproduct of this process, a way of processing and organizing the day’s experiences.
Emotions also play a role in dream formation. Studies suggest that dreams can be a way for us to process and manage emotions we experience while awake. Stressful events or anxieties can manifest in dreams, allowing us to confront and potentially work through them in a safe, dreamlike environment.
Certain substances and medications can also influence dreaming. Stimulants can suppress REM sleep, leading to fewer dreams. Conversely, some medications and antidepressants can trigger more vivid dreams.
What Causes Dreams And Nightmares?
Dreams and nightmares, those vivid nocturnal experiences, can be both entertaining and terrifying. The science behind them isn’t fully settled, but researchers have identified several factors that influence why we dream and why some dreams turn into nightmares.
- REM Sleep and Brain Processing: Our most vivid dreams occur during REM sleep, a stage characterized by increased brain activity. It suggests REM sleep allows the brain to consolidate memories.
- Emotional Processing: Dreams can act as an emotional outlet. Stressful events, anxieties, or even suppressed desires can manifest in dreams, allowing us to confront and potentially work through them in a safe, dreamlike environment.
- Cognitive Function: Some studies suggest dreaming plays a role in learning and problem-solving. By replaying experiences or scenarios in dreams, we may be subconsciously rehearsing skills or working through potential solutions.
Nightmares
- Emotional Triggers: Similar to dreams, anxieties, stress, and trauma can fuel nightmares. Unprocessed negative emotions can manifest in frightening scenarios during sleep. People with PTSD are particularly susceptible to nightmares that relive traumatic events.
- Sleep Disruptions: Disrupted sleep patterns, caused by factors like sleep apnea or changes in sleep schedule, can lead to more frequent and intense nightmares. This may be because REM sleep is more prominent during the later stages of sleep, which are more easily disrupted.
- Medications and Substances: Certain medications and recreational drugs can alter sleep patterns and trigger nightmares. Some antidepressants or stimulants can affect REM sleep, leading to more vivid and potentially disturbing dreams.
- External Stimuli: Scary movies or upsetting events right before bed can provide the raw material for nightmares. Sensory stimuli from the environment, like loud noises or extreme temperatures, can also be incorporated into dreams, turning them unsettling.
What Are The Three Dream Theories?
- The Cognitive Theory emphasizes the practical role of dreams, suggesting they help us process emotions, learn, and develop coping mechanisms.
- The Information Processing Theory (or Physiological Theory) suggests dreams don’t necessarily hold hidden messages but rather reflect the brain’s ongoing work of sorting and storing information.
- The Psychodynamic Theory (Freud) posits that hidden wishes or anxieties of the subconscious are revealed through our dreams.
6 More Attempts To Answer: Why Exactly Do We Dream
Dreams may be a window into our emotional state, a playground for creativity, or a vital part of memory consolidation.
Scientists have proposed several theories, each perhaps offering a piece to the puzzle to create a whole picture:
1. Memory Consolidation: This theory suggests dreams are a byproduct of the brain’s nightly filing system. During sleep, the brain sorts through memories, strengthening important ones and discarding irrelevant details.
Dreams may be a way of rehearsing and solidifying these memories, making them more accessible when awake.
2. Emotional Processing: Dreams could be an emotional outlet, allowing us to confront and work through difficult emotions we encounter during the day.
Stressful events, anxieties, or even hidden desires can manifest in dreams, providing a safe space to explore and potentially resolve them.
3. Problem-Solving and Creativity: Some research suggests dreaming plays a role in learning and problem-solving. By replaying experiences or scenarios in dreams, we may be subconsciously rehearsing skills, exploring different approaches to challenges, or even sparking creative ideas.
4. Brain Maintenance: Dreaming may be a way to keep certain brain regions active while others are offline, preventing them from becoming overloaded or shutting down completely.
5. Evolutionary Advantage: Some scientists hypothesize that dreaming served an evolutionary purpose in our ancestors. Dreams may have simulated dangerous situations, allowing early humans to rehearse survival skills and prepare for potential threats in a safe environment.
Despite the lack of definitive answers, dreams continue to hold a grip on our imagination, offering a window into the depths of our minds. We can use dream analysis, interpretation, and therapy in tandem, to work through the meaning behind our dreams, and apply what we learn for a better waking life.
