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

Dreaming Volume 13, Number 3, March 2003
 
 

CONTENTS

The Significant Dream as Emblem of Uniqueness: The Fertilizer Does Not Explain the Flower
Roger M. Knudson
Page 121
Available online

Psychological Problems and Dream Content of Nightmare Sufferers in Pakistan
Najma Najam, Imrana Malik
Page 135

Dream Recall Frequency, Attitude Towards Dreams and Openness to Experience
Michael Schredl, Petra Ciric, Simon Götz, Lutz Wittmann
Page 145

Personality and Dream Recall Frequency: Still Further Negative Findings
Ross Levin, Gary Fireman, Chris Rackley
Page 155

Sleep Paralysis and the Structure of Waking-Nightmare Hallucinations
J. A. Cheyne
Page 163

Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Series of Cases
Victor I. Spoormaker, Jan van den Bout, Eli J. G. Meijer
Page 181

Book Review
Reviewed by J. Allan Hobson
Page 187

The Significant Dream as Emblem of Uniqueness: The Fertilizer Does Not Explain the Flower

Roger M. Knudson

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 121-134, September, 2003.

Abstract

Recent, renewed attention to "big" or significant dreams calls into question many widely held assumptions about dreams. This essay focuses on the assumption that dreams can be accounted for in terms of the dominant emotions and concerns of the dreamer at the time of the dream. That assumption is found to be inadequate to account for at least some significant dream experiences. Archetypal psychology’s aesthetic, phenomenological approach to dreams is presented as providing an instructive, illuminating alternative for understanding the on-going significance of significant dreams.

KEY WORDS: significant dreams; impactful dreams; highly memorable dreams; aesthetic understanding; archetypal psychology

Psychological Problems and Dream Content of Nightmare Sufferers in Pakistan

Najma Najam and Imrana Malik

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 135-143, September, 2003.

Abstract

In an urbanized setting in Pakistan, 14 nightmare sufferers (NS) were compared with 14 control dreamers (CD) on the standard scales of the MMPI (Urdu) as well as on self-reported ratings of dream content and sleep problems. These subjects were selected on a volunteer basis. Although the average MMPI profile of both groups was within the normal range (between T scores of 40 and 60), the nightmare sufferers obtained significantly higher scores on 7 to 10 clinical scales; the largest differences were on the psychasthenia, paranoia, and schizophrenia scales. Results are interpreted in light of the Pakistani cultural context.

KEY WORDS: psychological problems; mmpi; dream content.

Dream Recall Frequency, Attitude Towards Dreams and Openness to Experience

Michael Schredl, Petra Ciric, Simon Götz, and Lutz Wittmann

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 145-153. September, 2003

Abstract

The question whether personality dimensions explain the interindividual differences in dream recall frequency has often been investigated by dream researchers. The present findings confirm previous research which has shown that traits such as openness-to-experience and thin boundaries correlate substantially with dream recall frequency. However, correlation coefficients are small and are much larger if attitude towards dreams or a scale measuring different aspects of dream recall are considered. Thus, future studies should consider the differentiation between items measuring dream recall and related aspects and items measuring attitudes towards dreams. Schonbar’s life-style hypothesis should be revised slightly: not dream recall frequency but attitude towards dreams and the way to deal with dreams are part of a broader life style.

KEY WORDS: dream recall frequency; attitudes towards dreams; personality.

Personality and Dream Recall Frequency: Still Further Negative Findings

Ross Levin, Gary Fireman, and Chris Rackley

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 155-162, September, 2003

Abstract

In order to investigate the relationship between dream recall frequency and personality, 116 college undergraduates kept a dream log for 21 consecutive nights and completed self-report measures assessing fantasy-proneness, psychological absorption, and imaginative involvement. Consistent with most previous literature in this area, with one exception, there were no significant associations found between dream recall and the personality measures. The one exception to this pattern was for fantasy proneness and this correlation was of a small magnitude and only obtained for women. We conclude that dream recall frequency is largely independent from stable personality traits and can better be understood in terms of expectancy and attitudinal factors.

KEY WORDS: personality; dream recall.

Sleep Paralysis and the Structure of Waking-Nightmare Hallucinations

J. A. Cheyne

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 163-179, September, 2003.

Abstract

Sleep paralysis (SP) entails a period of paralysis upon waking or falling asleep and is often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations. These hallucinations constitute a waking nightmare (w-nightmare) REM experience and are the original referents of the term ‘nightmare’. W-nightmare hallucinations are described by a three-factor structure involving experiences consistent with 1) threatening intruders, 2) physical assaults, and 3) vestibular-motor (V-M) bodily sensations. The present study assesses the reliability of this structure and some of the underlying measurement assumptions using several large samples of w-nightmare experients. Causal modeling further elucidated the potential causal relations among the three types of hallucinations. The first two factors appear to be strongly thematically and sequentially linked by an underlying theme of threat and assault. The third factor is relatively autonomous but appears to be sometimes recruited into the threat and assault themes. A theoretical model is proposed that combines REM mechanisms, a threat activated vigilance system (TAVS), and a bodily-self neuromatrix (BSN), as generators and organizers of w-nightmare hallucinatory experiences. More generally, it is argued that these mechanisms underwrite two fundamental domains of conscious experience: the experience of an agent-inhabited world and that of a spatial-kinetic bodily self.

KEY WORDS: sleep paralysis; nightmare; hypnagogic hallucinations; hypnopompic hallucinations.

Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Series of Cases

Victor I. Spoormaker, Jan van den Bout, Eli J. G. Meijer

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 181-186, September, 2003

Abstract

Goal of this series of cases was to investigate lucid dreaming treatment for nightmares. Hypotheses were that lucid dreaming treatment would decrease nightmare frequency and state / trait anxiety, and improve the quality of sleep. Eight participants received a one-hour individual session, which consisted of lucid dreaming exercises and discussing possible constructive solutions for the nightmare. Nightmare frequency and sleep quality were measured by a sleep questionnaire, anxiety was measured by the Spielberger State and Trait Anxiety Inventory. At the follow-up two months later the nightmare frequency had decreased, while the sleep quality had increased slightly. There were no changes on state and trait anxiety. Lucid dreaming treatment seems to be effective in reducing nightmare frequency, although the effective factor remains unclear.

KEY WORDS: nightmares; lucid dreaming; treatment