The Psuedo-Science of Dream Interpretation

[Saeria]

For as long as i can remember, i have always dreamed vividly and lucidly. The dreams i have generally stick with me after i wake up and tend to haunt me through the day. I suppose that was the reason i took an interest in dream interpretation, and much like any other field of interest i've adopted in my lifetime, I've absorbed the information like a sponge. I like to think that there is some merit in interpreting dreams, that dreams are a gateway to our deepest feelings about our environmental stressors. In dream interpretation, symbols are plucked from sometimes the most outlandish stories and placed in a somewhat improbable order. A dream of tornados symbolizes a fear of change in some aspect of the dreamer's life while a dream of a white kitten symbolizes that the dreamer feels they've befallen some sort of bad luck. This is a dream that i have alot, the dream of the tornados and the white kitten and in a way it holds unusually true once interpreted.

So, i guess the question i should ask is what you think of dream interpretation? I've asked a few around me, some say they love to have their dreams interpreted and will on occasion ask me to do so, others will tell me it's a dumb psuedo-science and then still another said that it was an evil practice, like fortune telling...

 

[Scinsor]

Theres nothing significant about my dreams, they're usually just a bizarre conglomoration of everything I experienced or was thinking about the last few weeks. Or sometimes they're just completely random thoughts occuring in my unconscious brain. But a lot of people say that they have significant dreams, so I guess there must be some way to interperet them. Anyway, as long as Freddy Kreuger doesn't show up in one of them, I don't worry about them.

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

When you consider the fact that studies have shown that those who do not dream become psychotic, it's difficult to argue against the value of dreams. They are the way that the subconscious mind processes the things we encounter in our lives. Perhaps this is one part of why we have more difficulty dealing with things when we are not getting enough sleep.

As far as dream interpretation, I have mixed feelings. Not all dreams are necessarily remembered. Of those that are, the entire dream may not be presented, possibly leaving something out of context. Therefore, IMO, caution should be used in the interpretation...and in what is done about it. Simply having a bit of fun with interpretation is fine. And there are those who seem gifted with wisdom in interpreting things. They can sometimes point out areas we need to pay more attention to. But, taking it too seriously when done in a more casual way or trying to make it fit into a certain mold can be dangerous.

 

[JohnnyB]

Dreams are just your brains way if interpreting all the information that it's taken in over the past day(s). All the information is completely random, but the human brain has trouble with all this clutter and tries to form some sort of coherent story that makes sense. Unfortunately, you're brain has bugger all writing skills and instead of using the tried and tested 3-act structure, it just slots things together. The more things you've done before you sleep, the wider variety of information you brain has to choose from to make the dream.

So with dream interpretation, you have to realise, you're not going to find new information, only stuff you've already witnessed. Don't take it seriously, and you can even have fun trying to figure out what parts of your dream came from what parts of the previous day (but then again, I'm easily amused).

 

[Capnmad]

The premise that this or that big traumatic event in a dream (tornados, falling, etc.) are a symbol of fear of change seems vague. Something's always changing, and you'll often have some degree of anxiety about it. Why couldn't a dream tornado be representative of fear of tornados, though? It needn't always be symbolic.

For the most part, I suspect that if something is symbolic, it's personal and you'll get it if you're meant to get it. Having others or books interpret for you is very questionable. I wish there were a simple "dream-code", but it seems that that's not the case. Human mind's too complex.

The last worthwhile symbolic dream I had was beat-you-over-the-head-blunt, but it was important that it was, because while I felt at some level the message was true, it's taken a long time to internalize it. The dream helped with that, I think...

While I concur with a previous poster about no new data being offered in dreams, the unique new rearrangements can result in something that is original, and the potential for recognizing and using that shouldn't be overlooked. Discovery and enlightenment are often the result of looking at old data in new ways.

 

[Haltickling]

Dream interpretation is not an exact science. There are so many different aspects which can influence your dreams, that it's practically impossible to find an sensible explanation for everything.

Fans of the Freudian psycho-analysis tend to see something sexual in every dream (a snake is supposed to be a phallic symbol, that's why mostly women dream of snakes), fans of reincarnation see something about your previous life in your dreams, and so on.

IMO, dreams only have a significant meaning if they repeat very often. Dreams of falling down from great height symbolize a fear of getting abandoned, dreams of being frozen on the spot often symbolize intense phobias or just the sense of feeling very helpless (often found in victims of mobbing). The post-traumatic syndrome frequently goes along with repeated nightmares of a traumatic experience.

Nobody has yet been able to interpret some of my repeated dreams which show me in a city where I've never been before. During my later travels, I sometimes recognized places from that dream city (sometimes from Brussels, sometimes from London in the 50s, sometimes along the Mediterranian at Nice). I know I was there for the first time, although I've dreamed of those places long before. "Déjà-vu", you may say. But how can you explain that I made rough sketches of particular buildings (not generally known landmarks), long before I got there? Most probably, there are things which science can't explain satisfactorily.

And sometimes, I use my dreams for story writing. On my bedside table, there's always a sheet of paper and a pen. So if I wake up from a special dream in the middle of the night, I scribble down some notes which would be forgotten otherwise by the time when morning comes. Some of my best stories originated this way.

 

[Red_Feather]

I think that dream interpretation can definitely work. All the images, themes and feelings that you see in dreams are made from things bouncing around in your unconscious. So if you look at what you are dreaming, I think you can get a good picture at least of some of the non-waking aspects of your psyche.

As for prophetic dreams and the like, I'd rather hope that they aren't true, as I've been nuked in my dreams. Twice.

 

[lespieds]

Mine are normally all the stuff I did or thought about during the day, but mixed up really weird.

Dreams are not such a bad thing, I imagine more than a few products, songs, movies, etc were the result of some strange dream. One thing being that stupid singing fish they used to sell. Or movies like Highway to hell. People just don't think up this stuff on their own...

For interpreting, it can be fun but dreams are not understood well enough to be an exact science. Even if they are generally categorized, like the one about teeth falling out means you feel you are losing control of your life, it is still vague.

I guess it is like astrology - fun todabble in, but cannot be taken serious and cannot be used as a solid plan for life.

 

[Mastertank1]

Not an exact science is an understatement.

Mine are normally all the stuff I did or thought about during the day, but mixed up really weird.

Dreams are not such a bad thing, I imagine more than a few products, songs, movies, etc were the result of some strange dream. One thing being that stupid singing fish they used to sell. Or movies like Highway to hell. People just don't think up this stuff on their own...

For interpreting, it can be fun but dreams are not understood well enough to be an exact science. Even if they are generally categorized, like the one about teeth falling out means you feel you are losing control of your life, it is still vague.

I guess it is like astrology - fun todabble in, but cannot be taken serious and cannot be used as a solid plan for life.

Interpreting dreams usefully requires that the interpreter have extensive knowledge of the dreamer's life and personality. Absent that, no useful interpretation is possible.

Anyone who baldly asserts that whenever X appears in a dream it means Y is talking through their butt. Similar images can mean radically different things to different people.

Surprisingly often things in dreams stand for exactly what they are. Sometimes a white kitten is only a white kitten.

 

[Red_Feather]

Interpreting dreams usefully requires that the interpreter have extensive knowledge of the dreamer's life and personality. Absent that, no useful interpretation is possible.

Anyone who baldly asserts that whenever X appears in a dream it means Y is talking through their butt. Similar images can mean radically different things to different people.

Surprisingly often things in dreams stand for exactly what they are. Sometimes a white kitten is only a white kitten.

I agree on that point. I believe that the only person who can really 'interpret' dreams is the person dreaming them.

 

[locker669]

I like to interpret my own dreams or hear some one else's dreams.

Sometimes I'll get deja vous and then remember I dreamt about that moment. Like I'll have a dream I'll pick up a pair and shoes and then drop them and 5 years later it will really happen.

 

[Knox The Hatter]

I think I can figure out what my dreams mean...

Most of the dreams I remember have me navigating through a strange city surrounded by very wide waterways, and I find myself viewing these waterscapes with great trepidation. No mystery there...

For years, and years, after I graduated high school, I had dreams where I was still in school, and how embarrassing it was for someone to still be in high school at the age of 38...that my graduation never happened. I don't think it's odd that I stopped having these dreams after I met my wife.

I remember the ones where I was in school, but I was walking around naked, while everyone else was clothed. I think this kind of dream's very common. It's also simple to interpret, as well.

The other night, I had a very quick one, but very memorable. I was in the elevator at work, and it was crowded, wall to wall with people. Outside, there was some horrific weather event, a tornado, probably. Suddenly, the power goes out, and I'm stuck in there, with airtight humanity, and I'm about to panic, before I woke up.

The human mind might be the most fascinating thing on the planet!

 

[PsymonJerusalem]

Dreams

I've thought for a while now that there is some process going on during sleep that is something like defragmenting+compressing your hard drive. You build up some amount of memories every day, but you can't store them all for immediate access - try to remember what you ate for lunch last Tuesday. If you CAN remember, you probably did it by using a string of logic, like:

"Tuesdays I have a meeting right after lunch..."
"...that's right, I usually go with my friend Bill so we can get to the meeting at the same time..."
"...we usually go to George's..."
"...oh that's right, I usually get the Portobello Mushroom Burger there."

So your brain goes through and determines what information from the day should remain in quick-access, and stores the other stuff in "the archive". That's why you can remember old stuff once your memory is triggered by more immediate memories (much of the time), but you can't just instantly recall insignificant details about days in the past. You can "uncompress the archive" and recall, using "keywords/phrases" of a sort.

Since your reality filter is off while you're sleeping, your brain is picking up signals from this process and trying to make sense of it. It's bits of debris and recent visual and emotional memories from the past day (or so?), and your poor mind tries its hardest to detect some sort of pattern and conconct a story around it.

I've never read anything of the sort in a published journal, but something like that seems plausible...