Confused dreams and their meaning in the real

News from dream research

13/10/2014

Everyone has experienced it before - you wake up in the morning, dreaming about confusion and can not interpret the dreams of the night because they seem completely surreal. The experts in sleep and dream research agree, however, that the dreams reflect experiences from everyday life. The things that are important to us would also come in a dream, according to Prof. Michael Schredl from the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim to the Berlin courier. However, the connection is not directly recognizable: „It's not about the pictures themselves, but about the basic patterns“, explains the graduate psychologist. „The guardian personality, the experience is reflected in the dream“, says Schredl.

Dream as a little psychotherapy
In addition, according to Brigitte Holzinger, director of the Institute for Consciousness and Dream Research in Vienna, feelings play a major role. According to Holzinger, according to Berliner Kurier, they are the drive of dreams: „Dreams are feelings in moving images.“ But they are not a direct reflection of real experiences, „They are often modified surreal.“ But you can learn to interpret the dreams and feelings and grow on them. „The dream is something like a little psychotherapy,“ so Holzinger.

Older, no longer common theories say that manifest in the dream subconscious drives and desires. Other experts, such as Hans-Günter Weeß, head of the interdisciplinary sleep center at the Palatine Clinic Klingenmünster, argue that dreams have no function or significance. From a physiological point of view, the thesis is still held that dreams in the development and maturation of the brain play a role, said Weeß to the newspaper.

Pattern of dreams recognizable
Overall, a distinction is made between four sleep phases. The REM phase is probably the best known. In her dreams are the most intense. Indeed: „Dreaming is in all phases“, so Schredl. However, dreams of the REM sleep phase are the ones the dreamer most, if any, remembers. However, this is comparatively rare, only once a week. „It has something to do with whether we care about our dreams“, adds Weeß. Women tend to remember it more often than men. However, this is learnable, so Weeß, one must focus on his dreams after awakening. Even a dream diary helps to recognize the patterns of dreams. Upon close observation one could conclude consequences for the waking state.

REM phase can cause mild depression
In addition, dreams can influence our lives in other ways. They can affect our mood depending on how much REM the person lives through. Those who dream a lot tend to have mild depression, but less dreams increase mood, says Weeß to the courier. Special mood killers are nightmares, especially if they occur regularly. „Most try to forget it directly“, says Schredl. However, this helps at best in the short term, permanently solving the problem not so Schredl against the sheet.

Nightmares can be controlled by influencing
In order to solve these, the victims have to deal with their nightmares. For this there are two approaches, the so-called Imagery Rehearsal Therapy in which one thinks of a solution-oriented, positive alternative to the negative outcome of the dream, or the lucid dreaming, in which one becomes aware in a dream, one dreams and thus controls one's dreams , It is important that you also become aware of the nightmares, which basic pattern underlying the dreams, so Holzinger to Berlin courier. „Even the nightmare wants to make us aware of something and basically heal.“ (Jp)