Illustration by Drew Shannon
Thomas R. Verny, MD is a clinical psychiatrist, academic, award-winning author, public speaker, poet and podcaster. He is the author of eight books, including the global bestseller The Secret Life of the Unborn Child and 2021′s The Embodied Mind: Understanding the Mysteries of Cellular Memory, Consciousness and Our Bodies.
Some years ago, I was invited to be a guest on the Pat Robertson’s The 700 Club, part of the Christian Broadcasting Network. At that time, The 700 Club was a very popular breakfast television program and I readily agreed. After settling on a date and other details, the caller, Jessica, asked me not to speak about two subjects: sex and dreams. I understood the request about sex, but dreams? Jessica, a bit embarrassed, explained that some of their viewers believed that dreams are the work of the devil. So I promised not to speak about them either.
I reflected on this experience the other day when I read an academic paper on advancing the understanding and study of dreaming and memory [1]. I have been fascinated by dreams since the age of 13, when I read Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams [2]. In Freud’s time, psychiatrists had to rely on case histories and philosophical discussions. Today, dreams, sleep and memory are the subject of scientific research and evidence-based inquiry. These studies tend to view dreams as byproducts of neurological processes underlying sleep or relate dreams to daily events. Most academics reject dreams as what I would call messengers from the unconscious and generally dismiss the very existence of the unconscious. A good example of this attitude is neurobiologist Owen Flanagan, who referred to dreams as ornamental “spandrels” – a term used by evolutionary biologists to describe traits in organisms that appear to have no direct function for survival or reproduction [3].
Neuroscientists who have focused on studying the physiological origin and function of dreams all agree that dreaming is strongly linked to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep plays a crucial role in the consolidation of emotional memories and the regulation of emotions [4]. Memory consolidation during sleep is believed to extend beyond simply solidifying individual units; it also involves integrating new information into existing information, allowing the essence of experiences to be distilled [5].
While dream elements often seem to stem from memories of waking experiences, identifying a specific waking event doesn’t always indicate that it was this particular incident that gave rise to the dream. In one study, 364 dream elements from 299 dream reports with identified origins in prior waking were analyzed. Only 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the dream elements reflected aspects of the waking experience [6].
Three main theories dominate the field of the neuroscientific view. One is the widely accepted theory of dream generation that posits that dreaming is controlled by dopaminergic forebrain mechanisms. (Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter and hormone. It plays a role in many important body functions, including movement and memory. It stimulates the rewards centres, producing pleasurable feelings.)
Activation of the dopaminergic system may also contribute to creativity and problem-solving [7, 8]. Therefore, it is not surprising that dreaming often leads the dreamer to out-of-the-box solutions to problems. For instance, Kekulé's dream of “whirling snakes” is said to have inspired his discovery of the design of the benzene ring, and Mendeleev reportedly had a dream that revealed the arrangement of the periodic table of elements. In comparison to quiet rest and NREM sleep, REM sleep enhances the integration of unassociated information in the service of creative problem-solving. These dreams almost always happen after the individual has spent significant time working on a problem in an awake state. Such dreams typically solve one specific step in a multiphase process [9].
While dopamine plays a very important part in our mental life, it is highly questionable whether it actually initiates and directs dreams.
Another popular dream hypothesis is the threat simulation hypothesis, which suggests that dreams serve as a simulation of dangerous situations, acting as practice for recognizing and avoiding threats. [10]. Animals and violent men appear as adversaries in dreams because, so the theory goes, early humans inhabited environments where wild animals and strangers posed life-threatening dangers. Unfortunately, our present environment is not that different from distant times. Similarly, there is survival value derived from remembering past negative experiences. Like, “don’t eat this mushroom again.”
In many ways this theory mirrors the idea behind classic Greek tragedies, which emphasizes the beneficial effects of catharsis on the audience. Essentially, catharsis involves an emotional experience in which individuals can cleanse themselves of undesirable behaviours by releasing negative emotions such as anger, unacknowledged trauma or fear. Having a scary dream is, in that way, like attending a mini-performance of Oedipus Rex or Medea, which can be beneficial for our psyche.
The activation-synthesis model proposed by Allan Hobson, professor of psychiatry at Harvard (June 3, 1933 – July 7, 2021), hypothesized that during REM sleep, neural activity in the pons (brainstem) activates the brain, particularly the lateral geniculate nucleus and visual cortex, to generate information. (Sorry folks. There is no other way of saying this.)
Prof. Hobson claimed that the dream narrative is haphazard and based on design error and functional imbalance. In the REM state, without external stimuli, internally created inputs randomly activate sensorimotor information, and the passive synthesis of this information (perceptual, conceptual and emotional) creates dreams [11].
I have two objections to this theory. Firstly, if dreams were truly the product of random cortical activity, the signals would be all mixed up and unlikely to produce a cogent narrative.
Secondly, in my experience, nothing in the body occurs randomly. Only 30 to 40 years ago, geneticists referred to long stretches of DNA as “junk DNA.” Then it turned out that these non-coding areas were populated by acetyl and methyl groups, which serve as switches, activating or deactivating genes in response to environmental conditions. Rather than being junk, these switches are essential to how genes function. So, when I read that inputs randomly activate anything in the body, my inner skeptic sounds the alarm.
The part of this theory that makes sense to me is that during REM sleep, sensory inputs and motor outputs are blocked and the visual cortex is activated so that the sleeper can dream in black or white or colour with little or no movement.
Also, there is reliable evidence that local stimulation of the forebrain causes dreaming, and lesions in the forebrain can eliminate dreams even though these lesions do not affect REM sleep [12]. These findings support the role of the forebrain in dreaming.
While none of the three theories fully explain sleep, memories and dreams, each has made important contributions to the field.
Where does Freud fit in today? In my opinion and that of many psychodynamically oriented therapists, one of Freud’s singular discoveries that is as relevant today as it was when first expounded was that dreams stem from intricate psychological processes within the unconscious mind, which are distinct from the thoughts, emotions and memories of our conscious awareness.
Freud’s theory suggested that dreams contain hidden meanings often expressed in metaphors. M. Blair Evans of Western University held that “the language of inner experience and self-discovery is largely metaphorical” [13]. George Lakoff, University of California, Berkeley, argues that metaphors play a crucial role in how humans understand the world and that cognition during dreaming involves mappings of abstract ideas onto physical experiences. One example, “LOVE IS A JOURNEY.” In expressions like “the relationship is running into trouble,” “the relationship is on the rocks” and “we must go our separate ways,” romantic relationships are described using terms related to physical movement [14]. Ernest Hartmann, one of the world’s foremost researchers on sleep and dreams, similarly posits that dreams depict waking life concerns as picture metaphors, to connect old and new memories [15].
Researchers from the Université de Montréal maintain that exploring dream content and linking that content to the dreamer’s waking life can help in the achievement of insights and self-understanding, increased involvement of the client in the therapeutic process, and a better understanding of clients’ dynamics and clinical progress [16].
The meaning and purpose of dreams has been debated from time immemorial. And the debate continues. There are many neuroscientists and psychologists who believe that dreams offer no insightful information to the dreamer or to psychotherapists treating that client.
Personally, after practising clinical psychiatry for more than half a century, I have come to appreciate the salutary effect dream work can achieve in the service of tracking down the root causes of one’s problems rather than achieving a superficial relief of symptoms with many iterations of behaviour therapy or meds. In other words, insight-oriented talk therapy instead of drug therapy, though the two are not mutually exclusive.
Exploring our dreams accesses parts of our hidden selves, gives us an opportunity to face some hard truths about ourselves, learn to change or accept these and, eventually, integrate them into our conscious self, thus becoming more fully evolved humans. I also believe that we can benefit by listening carefully to our dreams. In my experience, on occasion, the unconscious self has proven to be more perceptive and wiser than the conscious self.
References
1. Bloxham, A., & Horton, C. L. (2024). Enhancing and advancing the understanding and study of dreaming and memory consolidation: Reflections, challenges, theoretical clarity, and methodological considerations. Consciousness and Cognition, 123, 103719.
2. Strachey, J. (Ed.). (1971). Sigmund Freud: The interpretation of dreams. Avon Books.
3. Flanagan, O. J. (2000). Dreaming souls: Sleep, dreams, and the evolution of the conscious mind. Oxford University Press, USA.
4. Groch S., Wilhelm I., Diekelmann S., Born J. (2013). The role of REM sleep in the processing of emotional memories: evidence from behavior and event-related potentials. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 99, 1–9.
5. Stickgold R., Walker M. P. (2013). Sleep-dependent memory triage: evolving generalization through selective processing. Nat. Neurosci. 16, 139–45.
6. Stickgold, R., Hobson, J. A., Fosse, R., & Fosse, M. (2001). Sleep, learning, and dreams: off-line memory reprocessing. Science, 294(5544), 1052-1057.
7. Jauk, E. (2019). A bio-psycho-behavioral model of creativity. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, 1-6.
8. Cai D. J., Mednick S. A., Harrison E. M., Kanady J. C., Mednick S. C. (2009). REM, not incubation improves creativity by priming associative networks. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106,
9. Barrett, D. (2001). Comment on Baylor: A note about dreams of scientific problem solving. Dreaming, 11, 93-95.
10. Thomas, F. (2024). Ancient Social Motive Simulation Hypothesis of Dreaming. Authorea Preprints.
11. Hobson, J. A., & McCarley, R. W. (1977). The brain as a dream state generator: an activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process. The American journal of psychiatry, 134(12), 1335-1348.
12. Bischof, M., & Bassetti, C. L. (2004). Total dream loss: a distinct neuropsychological dysfunction after bilateral PCA stroke. Annals of Neurology: Official Journal of the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society, 56(4), 583-586.
13. Barrett, D. (2001). Comment on Baylor: A note about dreams of scientific problem solving. Dreaming, 11, 93-95.
14. Thomas, F. (2024). Ancient Social Motive Simulation Hypothesis of Dreaming. Authorea Preprints.
15. Evans M. B. (1988). The role of metaphor in psychotherapy and personality change: a theoretical reformulation. Psychotherapy 25, 543–551
16. Lakoff G. (1993). How metaphor structures dreams: the theory of the conceptual metaphor. Dreaming 3, 77–98.
17. Hartmann E. (1998). Dreams and Nightmares. The New Theory on the Origin and Meaning of Dreams. New York, NY: Plenum.
18. Pesant N., Zadra A. (2004). Working with dreams in therapy: what do we know and what should we do? Clin. Psychol. Rev. 24, 489–512 10.1016/j.cpr.2004.05.002