Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press, Inc., New York City

 Volume 11, Number 3, September 2001
  

Verbal Aspects of Dreaming: A Preliminary Classification
Patricia A. Kilroe
Page 105

Contextualizing Images in Dreams: More Intense After Abuse and Trauma
Ernest Hartmann, Michael Zborowski, Rachel Rosen, and Nancy Grace
Page 115

Identifying and Utilizing Spiritual Content in Dream Reports
Stanley Krippner, Christophe Jaeger, and Laura Faith
Page 127

Object Representations in Dreams of Chicanos and Anglos
Candace Kern and Samuel Roll
Page 149

Patricia A. Kilroe
Verbal Aspects of Dreaming: A Preliminary Classification
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 11(3) 105-113, Sep 2001.

Abstract:

Despite the fact that a handful of modern dream researchers have called attention to a link between language and dreaming, beginning with Freud (1900) and Kraepelin (1906), and continuing to the present (e.g. Heynick 1993), much remains to be understood about the role of language in dreaming. Certain commonly reported phenomena may be taken as evidence that the linguistic system is active during dreaming. Four categories of dream phenomena are described and illustrated to support the claim that verbal thought is an important component of dream formation and content.

Key Words: language; verbal thought; dream speech; tropes; displacement.

Ernest Hartmann, Michael Zborowski, Rachel Rosen, and Nancy Grace
Contextualizing Images in Dreams: More Intense After Abuse and Trauma
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 11(3) 115-126, Sep 2001.

Abstract:

A contextualizing image (CI) is a powerful central image in a dream which can be seen as picturing, or providing a picture-context for, the dominant emotion of the dreamer. Thus the paradigmatic dream, "I was overwhelmed by a tidal wave," contextualizes the dominant emotion of fear/terror or helplessness. This study examined the question of whether CIs, scored on a blind basis, are especially frequent and intense in persons who have suffered abuse, and in persons who have suffered a recent acute trauma.
    Two sets of dream data were studied. A single "most recent dream" was obtained from each of 306 students. The contextualizing image (CI) score measuring presence and intensity of a contextualizing image, scored on a blind basis, was higher among students who reported any abuse (physical or sexual, childhood or recent) compared to those who reported no abuse.
    Second, a total of 451 dreams were collected in periods after trauma from ten persons who had experienced a variety of different acute traumas. In four of the ten cases, a series of dreams before as well as immediately after trauma were available. In all four of these, the CI score was higher after trauma than before, but the difference was statistically significant in only one case. The CI scores in the ten trauma subjects overall were found to be significantly higher than the CI scores in the overall student group. In each of the ten trauma cases, the mean CI score was higher than the mean CI score of the student group. The differences were even greater, with higher t values, when the 10 trauma cases were compared with the group of students who had reported no abuse. Since the student group differed greatly from the trauma group in sex distribution, age, and other ways, an age and gender matched subgroup of the students was formed. CI scores in the trauma group were significantly higher than in this matched control group.
    The emotions rated as contextualized by the dream images tended towards more negative than positive emotions. Fear/terror and helplessness/vulnerability were especially prominent. However, this was true in the dreams of students who reported no abuse, as well as those of students who reported abuse and the dreams of the group who had experienced trauma. The students who reported abuse tended to picture less of the positive emotions. Only the two most severely traumatized of the trauma cases showed an unusual amount of terror and helplessness contextualized. Overall, the CI score-representing intensity of the image-differentiated the groups better than did the type of emotion.

Key Words: contextualizing images; dreams; trauma; sexual abuse; physical abuse; imagery.

Stanley Krippner, Christophe Jaeger, and Laura Faith
Identifying and Utilizing Spiritual Content in Dream Reports
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 11(3) 127-147, Sep 2001.

Abstract:

The question posed by this investigation was whether the spiritual content of dreams could be identified. The Casto Spirituality Scoring System (CSSS) was used to identify spiritual elements in 1,666 dream reports obtained in dream workshops in six countries. The CSSS considers the adjective "spiritual" as a hypothetical construct referring to one's focus on, and/or reverence, openness, and connectedness to something of significance believed to be beyond one's full understanding and/or individual existence. The research question was answered affirmatively. All dream reports were scored by two judges working independently for spiritual objects, settings, activities, emotions, and experiences, with an overall reliability of no less than .90 per item. The collection of dream reports with the highest percentage of spiritual content came from Brazil. This investigation includes quantitative analyses and examples of dream reports in each of the categories identified. It also discusses the therapeutic use of dreams with spiritual content.

Candace Kern and Samuel Roll
Object Representations in Dreams of Chicanos and Anglos
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 11(3) 149-166, Sep 2001.

Abstract:

The relationship between the cultures to which persons belong and their internalized object representations as revealed by manifest dream content was investigated. It was hypothesized that because Chicanos are from a more nurturing culture than Anglos, they would represent persons in their dreams as more differentiated, articulated, and integrated, with more benevolent interactions. 50 Chicano and 50 Anglo University students (25 of each gender in each culture) reported a total of 555 dreams that were scored according to the Concept of the Object Scale (Blatt, Brenneis, Schimek & Glick, 1976). The Scale applies developmental principles concerning the three dimensions of differentiation, articulation, and integration to the study of human responses given to the Rorschach. This research applied the Scale to the manifest content of the subjects' reported dreams. The cross-cultural hypothesis was disconfirmed; however, there were strong findings concerning gender. Gender differences across culture were statistically significant in each developmental dimension, ranging from females representing more humans, who are better articulated and more benevolently interactive (p < .01) to females reporting more intentional, congruent actions and more interactions (p < .05). The only cross-cultural finding was that Anglos represent more action in their dreams than Chicanos (p < .05). Within the sample of acculturated Chicano subjects, genders were polarized to a much greater extent than in the Anglo sample. Implications of the finding for theoretical understanding of gender and cultural differences in object representations are discussed.

Key Words: object representations in dreams; culture and dreams; gender and dreams; Chicano dream representations; Anglo dream representations.