'Dreams are windows to the soul’
Richard J.Corelli (1999)
Dreams have fascinated and influenced civilizations, they have enthused artists, given insights to scientists and influenced our beliefs and inspired change in our souls ‘I had a dream’ (Martin Luther King).
My proposal is to give an overview of the history of dreams from the temples of ancient times to present day philosophies.
The earliest recorded dreams are dated back to approx. 5000 years, in Mesopotamia . The Sumerians, the first cultural group to reside in Mesopotamia , left dream records dating back to 3100 BC. According to these early writings about a legendary king Gilgamesh, he reported his recurring dreams to his Goddess mother Ninsun, who made the first recorded dream interpretation. His dreams were taken as prophecy and used to guide actions in his ruling.
Ancient Hebrews believed dreams were connections with God. The Biblical figures Solomon, Jacob, Nebuchadnezzar and Joseph were all visited in their dreams by God or prophets, who helped guide their decisions. It was recognized and accepted that the dreams of kings could influence whole nations and the futures of their peoples. The Talmud which was written between 200 and 500 AD, includes over two hundred references to dreams. It states that
“Dreams which are not understood are like letters which are not opened”.
Ancient Egyptians also gave the dreams of their royal leader’s special attention since Gods were more likely to appear in them. Serapis, the Egyptian God of dreams, had temples in which dream incubation occurred. Before going to these temples, dreamers would fast, pray and draw to help ensure enlightening dreams.
Chinese considered the dreamer’s soul to be the guiding factor of dream production. The hun, or spiritual soul, was thought to leave the body and communicate with the land of the dead. They also practiced incubation in dream temples. These temples served a political purpose throughout the 16th century. Any high official visiting a city reported to a temple on the first night to receive dream guidance for his mission. Judges and government officials were also required to visit dream temples for insight and wisdom.
The sacred books of wisdom, or Vedas, were written in India
The Upanishads, written between 900 and 500 BC, articulates two perspectives on dreams. The first maintains that dreams are merely expressions of inner desires. The second closely resembles the Chinese belief of the soul leaving the body and being guided until awakened. It was also thought that if the sleeper was awakened abruptly, the soul might not return to the body quickly enough and the sleeper could die.
The earliest Greek view of dreams was that the Gods physically visited dreamers, entering through a keyhole, and exiting the same way after the divine message was delivered. The fifth century BC marks the first known Greek book on dreams, written by Antiphon, an Athenian statesman. During this century, the Greeks developed the belief (through contact with other cultures) that souls left the sleeping body. The practice of dream incubation was at least as important to the Greeks as it was among Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Chinese.
Hippocrates (469-399 BC), the father of medicine and Socrates’ contemporary, wrote on dreams. His theory was simple: during the day, the soul receives images; during the night, it produces images. Therefore, we dream.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) thought that dreams could be indicators of conditions within the body. He did not believe that they were divinely inspired. He hypothesized that external stimuli are absent during sleep, so dreams are manifestations of a profound awareness of internal sensations which are expressed as dream imagery.
Galen, a Greek physician born in 129 AD, emphasized the need to observe dreams carefully for clues to healing. He was so trusting of dream messages that he carried out operations on the basis of his dream interpretations.
In shamanism, across all cultures, from the aborigines, King Bushmen of Africa , the American Indians etc, it was the shaman who had the insight to explain the deeper levels and symbols of dreams and visionary experiences of the members of ‘his’ community.
‘In the symbol, the world itself is speaking’
The Tukano shaman of the Vaupes region of Columbia
Beginning with the dawn of the Christian era until the time of Sigmund Freud, dreams were not regarded as important. Churches had little appreciation for the use of dream interpretation.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) gave new light to the study of dreams, he was the man who was responsible for the rebirth of the significance of dreams, he first published the book, the ‘Interpretation of Dreams’ in 1900.
He theorized that:
‘dreams are psychologically significant and meaningful expressions of the life of the dreamer but expressed in disguised forms’.
Freud believed that dreams were important in the dreamer’s life and its purpose was to satisfy a ‘wish fulfilment’, a wish desired by the subconscious mind and disguised in dreams. The wishes originate from four circumstances;
An excited subconscious during the day, not given any attention and can only be satisfied at night during dream state (conscious=day/subconscious=night).
Subconscious having been partially rejected during the day and at its first circumstances reveals its desires in the dream state.
Wishes can only be revealed in the dream state.
The ‘wish impetus’, characterised by such stimuli as thirst/sexual desire during our sleeping hours is manifested in our dream state.
The subconscious mind hides its wish fulfilment with symbols, disjointed stories, condensation etc. The reason for this is the subconscious mind must hide its wishes because it is too upsetting for the conscious mind to handle, because of sublimation or suppressing our desires/instincts to fit into society and be accepted as an adapted member.
Wishes are disguised through a system of censorship that Freud termed as the ‘watchdog’, this system distorts the dream into incoherent dream segments and so makes little sense to the conscious/waking mind.
Freud stated that the purpose of dreams was to
‘Fulfil these repressed desires in a non threatening manner and reduce anxiety’.
That it permits us to gratify in fantasy our sexual/aggressive impulse without sexual disapproval, also dreams protect sleep (even though we can wake up with terror from an anxiety provoking dream, what has occurred is that the watchman deemed it too dangerous to proceed with the dream). As well, disturbing dreams are an attempt to master events that we cannot cope with in our daily lives.
In interpreting dreams, Freud stated that dreams had a latent and manifest content.
All dreams consist of a ‘mask’ of images, symbols, sights, sound’s and smell’s which Freud names as the manifest content. The latent content contains the underlying message in dreams. He gave an example. A train goes into the tunnel, the train and tunnel consists of the physical manifest content. The action of implied desire for having intercourse is the latent content/message.
In interpreting dreams, Freud established the investigative technique of ‘free association’; a method of obtaining the underlining the original cause in the past. The goal of his dream interpretation was to establish the underlying pattern of emotional connections between the dream and the past/linking the neurosis to the original repressed event and in doing so relieving the individual of their anxiety. Freud also stated that dreams can give an insight to how therapy was assisting the client.
If free association failed, symbols could be interpreted. He believed that there were fixed symbols e.g. father=in the representation of a king, penis=snake/dagger, vagina=doorway/cave, sexual act=riding a horse. Interpreting symbols and in context to the individual themselves was necessary.
From Freud work, Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1939) became interested and at one stage was a pupil of Freud, however they had many differences and so he is known to have branched away from the psychoanalytical school and developed his own theories; analytical psychology.
Jung postulated that dreams were important and purposeful, he describes dreams as
‘A direct expression or unconscious psychic activity’
He theorised that the psyche is self-regulating, and that if the unconscious/conscious mind is imbalanced compensation is made on either of the unaffected side e.g. if the unconscious mind is unbalanced then the conscious mind compensates vice/versa. He believed that the function of dreams is to restore our psychological balance by producing dream material that re-establishes in a subtle way to total psyche equilibrium.
In relation to Freud’s wish fulfilment theory, he believed that it wasn’t just sexual/aggressive impulses alone but dreams were an outlet for expression of an array of intent;
‘dreams embody suppressed wishes and fears but also…..expressions, notable truths, to philosophical pronunciations, illusions, wild fantasies, memories, plans anticipations, irrational experiences and even telepathic experiences and heaven knows what besides’
Jung states that dreams were complete with symbols, that they were fixed but differed to Freud’s view in that they were not inherited but were ‘instinctive trends, as marked as ‘the impulse of birds to build nests, or ants to form organised colonies’
These instincts are psychological urges and are perceived by our senses; they manifest and reveal themselves as fantasies and symbolic images. These manifestations are called ‘Archetypes’. Archetypes are collective in nature; ‘Collective representation’; representing from primeval dreams and creative fantasies common to all humans and even animals. This imagery can be seen in the forms of myths, legends, folklore, visions etc. Recognised archetypes include: self, persona, shadow, anima, animus, an old wise man, mother earth, the struggling artist etc
Jung states that the argument for these fixed symbols that without them ‘it would be impossible to determine the structure of the unconscious otherwise’ However, in interpreting these dream symbols it was essential to take into account the dreamers philosophical, religious, moral convictions and their immediate state of consciousness.
He differs to Freud’s approach to dream interpretation and critic’s his methodology. He viewed free association as unearthing complexes but not finding the meaning of the dream. Jungs approach was to ask the client to describe the dream images in their subjective account while noting the client’s conscious state and what is the compensation?
He establishes rules of thumb in interpreting dreams;
Firstly, the initial dream that the client reports is very clear and gives a true picture of the subjective state while the unconscious mind denies such exists. During analysis, dreams become more transparent. If they remain clear the analysis has not touched the ‘psyche’.
In analysing the dreams, he deemed it necessary to interpret a series of dreams to recognise the important content and basic themes as a single dream can be rarely interpreted.
The concept of recurring dreams was usually to compensate for a defect in the dreamers attitude to life/ or date’s back to a traumatic event that has left behind some specific prejudice or anticipates a future event.
The same dream by two different people can only be analysed from the individual circumstance and subjective state and its message may be completely different in comparison. This is why Jung advocates to know signs but to forget them when interpreting a client’s dream.
Jung gives an example where he had two clients with the same dream; an old man and a young man. The dream was about a group of young men riding on horseback across a wide field, where the dreamer is in front and he jumps a ditch where there is a large pool of water before it. He jumps and clears the hazard. The rest of the party falls into the ditch. The young man/client was a cautious introvert type; and this dream compensation was showing what he was not doing and telling the client what he ought to be doing. However, the old man/client was a daring character, who had lived a full, active and exciting life and now he was an invalid and gave his doctors/nurses/carers a great deal of abuse while being non compliant to medical advice to his own doing, living a life as a young man, compensating for his present situation.
While the dream for the young man was encouraging him as comparison to the old man and his fighting spirit that was holding onto the reigns of his youth. The dream message was that this youthful spirit was causing him his greatest trouble.
From the road of Jung, dream theory’s were proposed from different psychology approaches incorporating those specific approaches concepts. From Gestaltian, cognitive, humanistic, Adler (1870-1937), Erickson(1902-1994), Calvin Hall etc have developed different perspectives to the theory of dreams, all with the common link of dreams providing opportunities for interpersonal and intrapersonal growth.
From the aspect of Gestalt (Perls (1893-1970);father of Gestalt theory); theorised that dreams contained elements that were projected by the dreamer, by examining these elements, recognised emotions surfaced from past events. Gestaltian therapy’s aim is to re-integrate the elements and emotions they represent.
Perls stated that:
‘to become a whole person, which means a unified person without conflicts, what we have to do is put the different fragments of the dream together. We have to re-own these projected fragmented parts of our personality and re-own the hidden potential that appears in the dream’
‘We can assimilate; we can take back our projections, by projecting ourselves completely into that other thing or person. What is pathological is always the part projection. Total projection is called artistic experience, and this total projection is identification with that thing in question. I give you one idea, for instance in Zen, you are not allowed to paint a single branch until you become that branch’
The method used is for the client to relive the dream through role playing, avoidance of intellectualising or reporting the dream in past tense. The client is to assume each dream character or element and act out each role; to become the role, avoiding any reactions to be censored.
While the dream is relived, the therapist enquires about the main tone/feeling of the dream and what it means to the dreamer. Avoiding ‘why’ questions only stresses the analysis of the dream but emphasis should be placed on the ‘here and now’ of the dream.
Accent is on the client to assume responsibility for the dream experience, that the underlying belief is that everything within the dream is merely projections of one-self.
Gestalt therapy encourages dream study, which can guide the dreamer to experience the ‘here and now’ by gaining awareness of one’s life impediments which interfere in living in the present in it’s fullest. Impediments may surface like; unfinished business from the past, unexpressed emotions from the past, avoidance, conflicting behaviours, blocks to awareness etc.
Impediments or ‘existential messages’ gives insight to the dreamer about his present or general state once processed and integrated that the dreamer can achieve living in the ‘here and now’.
Finally we look at Calvin Hall (1909-1985), cognitive theory of dreams (1953). Hall studied dreams and had over 50,000 dreams reported by the time of his death, he divided the dreams into a quantative coding system that divided dream content into settings, objects, characters, interjections, emotions, misfortunes and several other categories. On the basis of his empirical work, Hall developed a cognitive theory of dreams; which states that dreams express ‘conceptions’ of self, family members, friends and social environment. They reveal such conceptions as ‘weak’, ‘assertive’, ‘unloved’, ‘domineering’ and ‘hostile’. Hall also developed a metaphoric theory of dream symbolism, which is similar metaphoric imagery to that that appears in poetry and slang.
Hall’s empirical work shows the dreams of groups of people all over the world are more similar although there are variations in terms of cultural differences, e.g. the common dream of being chased; let’s say in Canada Africa being chased by a lion. At the same time he found large individual differences in the frequency of dream elements; these differences correspond with waking concerns, emotional preoccupations, and interests, suggesting what Hall called ‘continuity’ between dream content and the waking state.
Dreams have been an allurement and enthralment from the earliest civilizations to present day society. It lost its entrancement in the Christian era but owing to Freud it ‘regained its revival in the 20th century’, from the psychoanalytical approach of the therapist interpreting to the view of the dreamer unravelling their existential message. We have viewed with interest the development of different theories and how they have evolved from each other as well as their similarities. These different approaches give assistance to the clients
in finding their purpose and uncovering the blocks to achieving and fulfilling their life essence. Each theory can be of benefit to the client and the variety of approaches can be used to suit the client. To be focused on one concept with the exclusion of others can hinder the therapeutic process for the client, for we are all unique individuals, with a distinctive belief system.
Bibliography:
Hall, C, ‘A Cognitive Theory of Dreams’ Journal of General Psychology (1953)49, 169-186.
Jung, C.G., Modern man in search of a soul, Harcourt Inc., 1933.
Jung, C.G., Man and his symbols, Aldus Books Ltd, 1964.
Ryan, R.E., Shamanism and the psychology of C.G. Jung-the great circle, Vega, 2002.
Freud, S., The psychopathology of Everyday Life, Imago publishing Co. , 1941.
Freud, S., The Interpretation of Dreams,
Perls, F., et al, Gestalt Therapy, Souvenir Press Ltd, 1972.
Corey, G. Manual for theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy. Cole Publication Company, 1982.
Orgler, B. Alfred Adler: The man and his work. New York Mentor
Morrison, J. Analytical Hypnotherapy-Volume 1 Theoretical Principles, Crown House Publishing, 2001.
Reference:
From various articles and sites on the internet;
De Pascalis, Vilfredo (1993). EEG spectral analysis during hypnotic induction, hypnotic dream and age regression. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 15, 153-166.
EEG was recorded monopolarly at frontal (F3, F4), central (C3, C4) and posterior (in the middle of O1-P3-T5 and O2-P4-T6 triangles) derivations during the hypnotic induction of the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale (SHCS) and during performance following suggestions of hypnotic dream and age-regression as expressed in the before-mentioned scale. 10 low-hypnotizable and 9 highly-hypnotizable and right- handed female students participated in one experimental session.
Evaluations were Fast- Fourier spectral analyses during the following conditions: waking-rest in eyes-open and eyes-closed condition; early, middle, and late phases of hypnotic induction; rest-hypnosis in eyes closed condition; hypnotic dream and age regression. After spectral analysis of 0 to 44 Hz, the mean spectral amplitude estimates across seven Hz bands (theta 1, 4-6 Hz, theta 2, 6-8 Hz; alpha 1, 8-10 Hz; alpha 2, 10-13 Hz; beta 1, 13-16 Hz; beta 2, 16-20 Hz; beta 3, 20-36 Hz) and the 40-Hz EEG band (36-44 Hz) for each experimental condition were extracted. In eyes-open and -closed conditions in waking and hypnosis highly-hypnotizable subjects produced a greater 40-Hz EEG amplitude than did low hypnotizable subjects at all frontal, central and posterior locations. In the early and middle hypnotic induction highly-hypnotizables displayed a greater amount of beta 3 than did low hypnotizables and this difference was even more pronounced in the left hemisphere.
With posterior scalp recordings, during hypnotic dream and age regression, high hypnotizables displayed, as compared with the rest-hypnosis condition, a decrease in alpha 1 and alpha 2 amplitudes. This effect was absent for low hypnotizables. Beta 1, beta 2 and beta 3 amplitudes increased in the left hemisphere during age regression for high hypnotizable; low hypnotizables, in contrast, displayed hemispheric balance across imaginative tasks. High hypnotizables during the hypnotic dream also displayed in the right hemisphere a greater 40-Hz EEG amplitude as compared with the left hemisphere. This difference was even more evident for posterior recording sites. This hemispheric trend was not evidenced for low hypnotizable subjects. Theta power was never a predictor of hypnotic susceptibility, 40-Hz EEG amplitude displayed a very high main effect (p<0.004) for hypnotizability in hypnotic conditions by displaying a greater 40-Hz EEG amplitude in high hypnotizables with respect to lows.
NOTES:
In the Discussion section, the authors indicate that they have no idea why they didn't replicate results of other theta studies, including their own, except maybe due to complex interaction among personality, subject selection, situation-specific factors, and hypnotizability.
They observe that the alpha results conform with previous findings (p. 163). Beta bands were sensitive. Highs showed left-hemisphere prevalence in all beta bands during age regression; they also showed hemispheric balance in the hypnotic dream condition. Beta 3 amplitude was also greater among highs than lows. "among high hypnotizables, beta 3 amplitude in the early hypnotic condition was greater in the left hemisphere as compared to the right and as the hypnotic induction proceeded hemisphere balancing, with reduced beta 3 amplitude, was displayed. This result appears in agreement with the predictions of the neurophysiological model proposed by Gruzelier et al. (1984) and Gruzelier (1988) as well as with other studies in which beta rhythm was found to discriminate performances between high and low hypnotizables (e.g., Meszaros et al., 1986, 1989; Sabourin et al., 1990)" (p. 163-164).
40 Hz amplitude was higher in highs and increased in right hemisphere during the hypnotic dream, especially in posterior areas. "This pattern of hemispheric activation may be interpreted as an expression of the greater right-hemisphere activation and of the release of posterior cortical functions during the hypnotic dream and is compatible with the predictions of the Gruzelier model of hypnosis, however, the results obtained in this study for 40-Hz EEG amplitude failed to reveal an inhibition of the left-hemisphere activity with the progress of the hypnotic induction" (p. 164).
(They note that De Pascalis & Penna, 1990, agreed with the Gruzelier 1988 model: highs in early induction had increase of 40-Hz in both hemispheres, but as induction proceeded they had inhibition of left and increase in right hemisphere activity. In this current experiment, only beta 3 showed the hemispheric trend of Gruzelier's model. They cite other details of current study, p. 164, not consonant with Gruzelier.)
"The 40-Hz EEG rhythm, which according to Sheer (1976) is the physiological representation of focused arousal, appeared to discriminate between differential patterns of high and low hypnotizables. Both during hypnotic induction and during hypnotic dream and age regression highly hypnotizables exhibit greater 40-Hz EEG amplitude with respect to the lows. These findings support the validity of the assumption that hypnosis is characterized by a state of focused attention (Hilgard, 1965) and that 40-Hz EEG activity reflects differential attentional patterns among subjects high and low in hypnotizability. On the basis of these findings it would appear that 40-Hz EEG and beta 3 spectral amplitudes may prove to be useful measures of individual hypnotizability" (p. 164).
Kraft, Tom (1993). Using hypnosis with cancer patients: Six case studies. Contemporary Hypnosis, 10, 43-48.
Hypnosis can be used in a number of different ways for helping patients suffering from cancer. As well as pain relief, hypnosis may be used to correct insomnia that does not respond to sleeping tablets; for the reduction in skin irritation and dyspnoea when these are due to organic causes, and for treatment-related over-eating. Some patients will use hypnosis in a symbolic way. When this occurs, just as in dream interpretation, it is important to ask the patient for associations, so that these symbols can be understood. Hypnosis can be an extremely useful addition to the medical armamentarium, and should be employed as an adjunct to standard forms of cancer treatment. This paper reports six case studies in which hypnosis was used to help cancer patients.
1991
Palan, Bhupendra M.; Lakhani, Jitendra D. (1991). Converting a 'threat' into a 'challenge': A case of stress-related hemoptysis managed with hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 33 (4), 241-247.
A 24-year-old patient was treated using hypnosis for chronic repeated episodes of hemoptysis. The symptom episodes were related to academic examinations (perceived as a threat by the patient). Clinical examinations and laboratory investigations failed to indicate an organic cause for hemoptysis. He did not respond to empirical treatment trials. These negative findings suggested the psychosomatic nature of the illness. We used hypnotherapeutic ego-strengthening and guided-imagery approaches. This reduced his acute anxiety but failed to check hymoptysis. Use of explorative hypnotic dreaming revealed an emotional trauma as the possible cause of origin of the symptoms. We restructured the trauma experience during hypnotic regression. We advised him to skip the upcoming examination and conducted a total of six therapeutic sessions. The patient continued using self-hypnosis throughout the follow-up period of 3 years during which he remained symptom free and achieved remarkable academic progress. He now perceives an examination as a challenge.
1989
Hoyt, Irene P.; Nadon, Robert; Register, Patricia A.; Chorny, Joseph; Fleeson, William; Grigorian, Ellen M.; Otto, Laura; Kihlstrom, John F. (1989). Daydreaming, absorption and hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 332-342
. NOTES 1:
NOTES: It appears that the consistent correlation between hypnotizability and positive-constructive day dreaming is carried largely by three subscales--Acceptance of Daydreaming, Positive Reactions to
NOTES: It appears that the consistent correlation between hypnotizability and positive-constructive day dreaming is carried largely by three subscales--Acceptance of Daydreaming, Positive Reactions to
Day dreaming, and Problem-Solving. Number other subscales consistently correlated with hypnotizability. When absorption was taken into account, daydreaming activity made no independent contribution to the prediction of hypnotizability. "The present results differ from Crawford's (1982) somewhat, however, in terms of the specific aspects of daydreaming activity that are associated with hypnosis. Crawford found that hypnotizability correlated consistently (i.e., in both men and women) with three subscales tapping imagery variables: the presence of visual and auditory imagery in daydreams and the hallucinatory vividness of daydream imagery. In the present study, the imagery subscale, including both visual and auditory items, did not correlate significantly with hypnotizability; unfortunately, the hallucinatory vividness subscale is not represented on the short form (SIPI) of the daydreaming questionnaire used in this study. Crawford (1982) did not find consistent correlations between hypnotizability and scales measuring acceptance, positive reactions, and problem solving--the subscales that consistently yielded significant correlations in the present study. Not too much interpretive weight should be given to any of the correlations between hypnotizability and daydreaming subscales, until a full replication with reliable subscale measurements (such as those provided by the long, original IPI) has been completed. The important point made by Crawford (1982), and confirmed in the present study, is that hypnotizability is related to positive-constructive rather than guilty-dysphoric daydreaming" (p. 338). The two studies agree that absorption and hypnosis are not correlated with daydreaming scales reflecting poor attentional control. Given the theoretical emphasis in both domains on the narrowing of attention and exclusion of potentially distracting input, negative correlations with this aspect of daydreaming might have been expected.
Nash, Michael R.; Spinler, Dwayne (1989). Hypnosis and transference: A measure of archaic involvement. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 129-144.
20 Likert-type items were derived directly from Shor's theoretical propositions concerning the occurrence of transference-like experiences among hypnotic Ss. In 3 separate experiments, this 20-item Archaic Involvement Measure (AIM) was administered to 452 Ss following termination of both group and individually administered hypnosis procedures. Results suggest that: (a) AIM is internally consistent, and is significantly correlated with hypnotizability; (b) among high hypnotizable Ss, AIM scores assess an important aspect of hypnotic experience which is relatively unrelated to behavioral response to hypnotic suggestions; (c) there is no change in AIM scores associated with the sex of the hypnotist or S; and (d) there are 3 clusters of AIM items; perceived power of the hypnotist, positive emotional bond to the hypnotist, and fear of negative appraisal. Possible validational and clinical research applications of AIM are presented, along with a plea for further empirical examination of the relational dimensions of hypnosis.
NOTES:
Relates these findings to 'countering' (Sheehan, P., Countering preconceptions about hypnosis: An objective index of involvement with the hypnotist. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1971, 78, 299-322). "Countering is the tendency of some highly hypnotizable Subjects to comply with the intent of the hypnotist, even when there are strong nonhypnotic influences (e.g., social influences, expectations derived from previous lectures, perceptual constraints) to perform otherwise. ... Sheehan and Dolby (1979) found that hypnotic Subjects' dreams about the hypnotist were different than nonhypnotic Subjects' dreams, by being more positive and more often containing themes of protection, care, and authority. Interestingly, these themes were especially evident in the dreams of hypnotic Subjects who countered" (p. 130).
The several experiments in this study investigate reliability, concurrent validity, and factor structure of the AIM. In their discussion, Nash and Spinler make the following points. As is the case with hypnotizability, AIM scores may have a bi-modal distribution, at least when administered in the same context as a hypnosis measure. It is possible that these two modes define qualitatively different kinds of involvement with the hypnotist. "For high hypnotizable Ss, behavioral response to hypnotic suggestions appeared unrelated to the extent of archaic involvement with the hypnotist across both Experiments 2 and 3. Considering only the overall correlation between AIM and hypnotic responsiveness, one might argue that both scales measure general behavioral compliance and conformity, and that this explains their degree of association. It may indeed be correct to associate AIM scores with an overall conformity to respond, but only among low hypnotizable Subjects.
For high hypnotizable Subjects, behavioral compliance (task performance) was not associated with AIM scores. Just as Sheehan's (1971, 1980) 'countering' studies suggest, among high hypnotizable Ss there appears to be no clear-cut relationship between the ability to perform hypnotic tasks and the special, motivated commitment to the hypnotist evidenced in some Ss. The theory of Shor (1979) and the empirical work of Sheehan and Dolby (1979) strongly suggest that an intense involvement with the hypnotist (archaic involvement) is a distinctive feature of the hypnotizable S's experience. The present work corroborates Sheehan and Dolby's (1979) finding that, among high hypnotizable Ss, this involvement is not equivalent to overt response to the demands of standard test suggestions.
"Three findings further suggest that AIM scores assess an important aspect of the hypnotic S's experience which is relatively unrelated to behavioral task performance. First, AIM scores correlated significantly with a measure of subjective depth during hypnosis (Hypnotic Depth Inventory, Field, 1966). Second, the correlation between hypnotic depth and AIM scores was substantial for both low and high hypnotizable Ss. Thus, for high hypnotizable Ss, AIM scores were significantly correlated with hypnotic depth, even though they were unrelated to behavioral task performance. Finally, regression analysis suggested that AIM scores accounted for variance in hypnotic depth which was not explained by task performance scores. These findings, then, conform to Shor's proposition and Sheehan's (1971, 1980) later observations that archaic involvement with the hypnotist is a fundamental dimension of hypnotic experience which may not be directly related to the extent of behavioral response to hypnotic suggestions (see Shor, 1979, p. 119).
"It is of some interest that the mean AIM score for low hypnotizable Ss was roughly equivalent to that of control Ss who had listened to a lecture prior to AIM administration. Only Ss who were exposed to hypnosis and who were behaviorally responsive to hypnotic suggestions evidenced elevated AIM scores" (pp. 140).
Zamore, Neal; Barrett, Deirdre (1989). Hypnotic susceptibility and dream characteristics. Psychiatry Journal of the University of Ottawa
This study examined the relationship of hypnotic susceptibility to a variety of dream characteristics and types of dream content. A Dream Questionnaire was constructed synthesizing Gibson's dream inventory and Hilgard's theoretical conceptions of hypnosis. Several dream dimensions correlated significantly with hypnotizability as measured by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and the Field Inventory. For Ss as a whole, the strongest correlates were the frequency of dreams which they believed to be precognitive and out-of-body dreams. Ability to dream on a chosen topic also correlated significantly with hypnotic susceptibility for both genders. For females only, there was a negative correlation of hypnotizability to flying dreams. Absorption correlated positively with dream recall, ability to dream on a chosen topic, reports of conflict resolution in dreams, creative ideas occurring in dreams, amount of color in dreams, pleasantness of dreams, bizarreness of dreams, flying dreams, and precognitive dreams.
1988
Gabel, Stewart (1988). The right hemisphere in imagery, hypnosis, rapid eye movement sleep, and dreaming: Empirical studies and tentative conclusions. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 176, 323-331.
Reviews studies that have addressed the issue of whether there is an increased activation or efficiency of right-hemispheric processes during imagery, hypnosis, REM sleep, and dreaming. Evidence strongly supports the notion of increased right- hemispheric activation in simple imaginal or visual states during usual consciousness. There are also studies supporting this view of REM sleep, dreaming, and hypnotic phenomena. It is concluded, however, that the lack of adequate studies, contradictory or negative findings, and moderating variables (e.g., task difficulty, cognitive style) make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions concerning right-hemispheric processes.
Hobson, J. Allan (1988). The dreaming brain. New York
NOTES: _Hypnosis and Sleep_ Ramon y Cajal and Freud shared an interest in hypnosis, as an experimental method of inducing an altered state of consciousness, introducing dynamic principles into both neurology and psychiatry (rather than simply static descriptions). The author contrasts the hypnosis "artificially altered state of consciousness" with sleep as a "naturally altered state of consciousness, asking whether similar rules govern the transition of state change in both cases. He notes that induction of both states involve rhythmic stimulation and eye fixation, and both may facilitate gaining control over brain-stem centers implicated in conscious-state regulation.
"The brain stem is the nightly battleground of warring neuronal factions, and REM sleep and dreaming are the result of temporary domination of one neuronal population over another. Victorious is a troop of reticular-formation neurons concentrated mainly in the pontine portion of the brain stem; owing to their fusillades of firing in association with REM-sleep events, these pontine reticular neurons are likely to play the executive role in the generation of REM sleep and dreaming. Sharing the white flag of temporary surrender is a population of aminergic neurons located in the locus ceruleus, the raphe nuclei, and the peribrachial regions of the anterior pontine brain stem; hardly a shot is fired by this neuronal phalanx during REM sleep. By virtue of this cease-fire, these aminergic neurons are likely to play a permissive role in the generation of REM sleep" (p. 183).
The Reciprocal-Interaction Model suggests that "the continuous competition between the excitatory reticular neurons and the inhibitory aminergic neurons is the basic physiological process underlying sleep-cycle alternation" (p. 184). Neurotransmitters (aminergic for inhibition, cholinergic for excitation) are implicated as well. The width of the brain stem correlates with sleep-cycle. The brain seems to "undergo a periodic shift in neurotransmitter ration, from a predominantly aminergic mode in waking to a predominantly cholinergic mode during REM sleep" (p. 192). Thus, there is a major shift in metabolic orientation as we change from waking externally generated information and action to REM-sleep internally generated information and suppressed action.
The author proposes an activation-synthesis hypothesis to account for dreaming and envisions the brain as a "Dream Machine." "The recognition that the brain is switched on periodically during sleep answers the question of where dreaming comes from: it is simply the awareness that is normal to an auto-activated brain-mind. This causal inference is continued in the term _activation_ in the new dream theory's title. The question of why dreams are paradoxically both coherent and strange is in turn suggested by the term _synthesis_ , which denotes the best possible fit of intrinsically inchoate data produced by the auto-activated brain-mind.
"The original dream theory thus had two parts: activation, provided by the brain stem; and synthesis, provided by the forebrain, especially the cortex and those subcortical regions concerned with memory. The physiology that is now in hand best supports the first part of the theory; much more work needs to be done on the synthetic aspects of the process. But I now add a third major component to the theory, the concept of _node switching_ , which accounts for the _differences_ in the way the activated fore-brain synthesizes information in dreaming (compared with waking): for the twin paradoxes of dream bizarreness and insight failure (where the system has lost self-reference as well as its orientation to the outside world) and for dream forgetting" (p. 204).
The author assumes a formal isomorphism between subjective (dream report) and objective (brain activity) levels of investigation. Thus, the report of experiencing visual images in dreams implicates the brain's visual system.
In terms of psychophysiology, Hobson proposes that "the on-off switch for dream mentation is the reciprocal-interacting neuronal populations comprising the aminergic neurons and the reticular neurons of the brain stem" (p. 205). For sleep (and dreaming) to be maintained, stimulation from the outside world must be minimized. This is accomplished in at least two ways. There is active inhibition of nerves at the pre-synaptic level (e.g. by depolarization by signals coming from the brain stem; Pompeiano, 1978) so that the nerves are less efficient in transmitting information from the environment, as there is less neurotransmitter available. Secondly, there is competition among higher levels of sensory and associative circuits, so that they ignore incoming signals (or incorporate them into internally generated dreaming activity). Hobson refers to these mechanisms as the sensory input blockade.
Hobson also describes the motor output blockade, which prevents us from taking actions based on dream content. There seems to be inhibition of motor-command neurons in the brainstem and spinal cord.
When dreams arise, there seems to be brain activation as evidenced by PGO (Pons, lateral Geniculate, Occipital cortex) waves originating in the brain stem. They are found in association with REM sleep and go via independent pathways to both visual and association cortex. "According to the activation-synthesis hypothesis of dreaming, the now auto-activated, disconnected, and auto-stimulated brain-mind processes these signals and interprets them in terms of information stored in memory" (p. 207).
Hobson states that the activation-synthesis hypothesis can account for five aspects of dreaming: visual and motor hallucinations, the acceptance of these hallucinations as 'real', bizarre spatial and temporal distortion, strong emotions, and amnesia for the events after waking up. The experiences of dreams are accepted as real because there is no concomitant external input.
1987
Nadon, Robert; Laurence, Jean-Roch; Perry, Campbell
Report two experiments in which various measures thought to be related to hypnotizability were analyzed by stepwise discriminant analysis. Absorption and preference for an imagic style of thinking predicted hypnotizability. Addition of 2 other variables in Experiment 2--a Sleep-Dream score derived from Evans's Cognitive Control of Sleep Mentation subscale and Gibson's Dream Questionnaire, and the Belief in the Supernatural subscale of the Taft Experience Questionnaire--increased the correct classification of the medium-hypnotizable subjects from chance levels to 74%. Argue for a confirmatory and hierarchical approach in future studies to explore correlates of hypnotizability more fully.
NOTES 1:
The following notes were made at an SCEH presentation: [Robert Nadon, Hypnotizability: A Correlational Study Involving Experiential, Imagery, and Selective Attention Variables.]
The following notes were made at an SCEH presentation: [Robert Nadon, Hypnotizability: A Correlational Study Involving Experiential, Imagery, and Selective Attention Variables.]
Author used a number of variables that have related to hypnotizability in single measure studies to predict with a multiple r. 30 male and 30 female Ss, given Harvard (?) then screened on Form A, and finally on Form C. Classed as Low (0-2), Medium (5-10 without amnesia), and High (11-12 with amnesia).
Independent Variable Triserial r % Correctly Classified Sheehan (1967) short Betts -.69** 57 Preference for Imagery Mode of Thought
(Isaacs 1982) .64** 57 Tellegen's Absorption .58** Personal Experience Questionnaire .51** 80
(Evans 1982) Concordia Fantasy Questionnaire Pavio Stroop Random Number Generation Task Modified Van Nuys Meditation Task 8 Auditory attention tasks
1986
Belicki, Kathryn; Belicki, Denis (1986). Predisposition for nightmares: A study of hypnotic ability, vividness of imagery, and absorption. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 42 (5), 714-718.
The relationships of nightmare frequency to hypnotic ability, vividness of visual imagery, and the tendency to become absorbed in fantasy-like experiences were examined. Subjects were 841 undergraduate university students who participated in group tests of hypnotic ability, after which they estimated the number of nightmares that they had experienced in the prior year. In addition, 406 of the subjects completed Marks' Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire, and Rotenberg and Bowers' Absorption scale. Of the subjects, 76% reported experiencing at least one nightmare in the prior year; 8.3% indicated one or more per month. Individuals with frequent nightmares scored higher on hypnotizability, vividness of visual imagery, and absorption.
NOTES 1:
620, Belicki & Bowers, 1982 ABSTRACT: Investigated the role of demand characteristics in dream change by comparing dream report change following pre- and postsleep administrations of instructions to pay attention to specific dream content. This design was based on the assumption that if presleep instructions merely distort dream reports rather than influence actual dreams, report change should be observable following a postsleep instruction. 42 undergraduates were prescreened with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Form A), which allowed experimenters to examine the role of hypnotizability in dream change. Significant differences were observed only following the presleep instructions. It is concluded that report distortion as a result of paying attention to a dimension of dream content was insufficient to account for dream report change following presleep instructions. Hypnotic ability correlated significantly with the amount of dream change.
620, Belicki & Bowers, 1982 ABSTRACT: Investigated the role of demand characteristics in dream change by comparing dream report change following pre- and postsleep administrations of instructions to pay attention to specific dream content. This design was based on the assumption that if presleep instructions merely distort dream reports rather than influence actual dreams, report change should be observable following a postsleep instruction. 42 undergraduates were prescreened with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Form A), which allowed experimenters to examine the role of hypnotizability in dream change. Significant differences were observed only following the presleep instructions. It is concluded that report distortion as a result of paying attention to a dimension of dream content was insufficient to account for dream report change following presleep instructions. Hypnotic ability correlated significantly with the amount of dream change.
Crawford, Helen J. (1982). Hypnotizability, daydreaming styles, imagery vividness, and absorption: A multidimensional study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 (5), 915-926.
In 25 male and 31 female university student and staff volunteers, the interrelationships between the following measures were studied: hypnotic susceptibility (SHSS:A and C), imagery vividness (VVIQ), involvement in everyday activities (TAS), and daydreaming styles (28 scales of Singer & Antrobus's Imaginal Processes Inventory). Factor analysis produced a factor characterized as a positively vivid and absorptive imagination style. Hypnotic susceptibility, VVIQ, TAS, and positive-affect daydreaming styles all loaded on this factor. Two other factors were a dysphoric daydreaming style and a lack-of-attentional-control style. Stepwise multiple regressions suggested that males and females, at least within this sample, exhibit different relationships between hypnotic susceptibility and predictor variables. Similar differences were found for the VVIQ and the TAS and their daydreaming-scale predictor variables.
1982
Crawford, Helen J. (1982). Hypnotizability, daydreaming styles, imagery vividness, and absorption: A multidimensional study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 (5), 915-926.
In 25 male and 31 female university student and staff volunteers, the interrelationships between the following measures were studied: hypnotic susceptibility (SHSS:A and C), imagery vividness (VVIQ), involvement in everyday activities (TAS), and daydreaming styles (28 scales of Singer & Antrobus's Imaginal Processes Inventory). Factor analysis produced a factor characterized as a positively vivid and absorptive imagination style. Hypnotic susceptibility, VVIQ, TAS, and positive-affect daydreaming styles all loaded on this factor. Two other factors were a dysphoric daydreaming style and a lack-of-attentional-control style. Stepwise multiple regressions suggested that males and females, at least within this sample, exhibit different relationships between hypnotic susceptibility and predictor variables. Similar differences were found for the VVIQ and the TAS and their daydreaming-scale predictor variables.
Stoyva, J. M.; Anderson, C. (1982). A coping-rest model of relaxation and stress management. In Goldberger, L.; Breznitz, S. (Ed.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 745-763). New York
NOTES 1:
"Patients with psychosomatic or stress linked disorders are likely to show signs of high physiological arousal, and they are likely, under stress, to react strongly in the symptomatic system and to show evidence of being deficient in the ability to shift from the coping to the rest mode (e.g., slowness of habituation to, and recovery from, stressful stimulation). A corollary inference is that such patients ... show activity in the symptomatic system for a higher percentage of the time that [sic] do normal subjects. We suggest that this defect in the capacity to shift to a rest condition is the principal reason that various relaxation procedures have so often proved successful in the alleviation of stress related symptoms" (p. 748).
"Patients with psychosomatic or stress linked disorders are likely to show signs of high physiological arousal, and they are likely, under stress, to react strongly in the symptomatic system and to show evidence of being deficient in the ability to shift from the coping to the rest mode (e.g., slowness of habituation to, and recovery from, stressful stimulation). A corollary inference is that such patients ... show activity in the symptomatic system for a higher percentage of the time that [sic] do normal subjects. We suggest that this defect in the capacity to shift to a rest condition is the principal reason that various relaxation procedures have so often proved successful in the alleviation of stress related symptoms" (p. 748).
The authors refer to a number of different stress management procedures. Among those associated with primary focus on the rest phase they include: Relaxation training (progressive relaxation, autogenic training, EMG feedback, meditation [Zen, TM]), Specific biofeedback (hand temperature, electrodermal response [EDR], EMG from particular muscle group), and Systematic desensitization. Among those associated with primary focus on coping phase are: Assertiveness training, Social skills retraining and motor skills retraining, Self-statements, Imagery (Guided waking imagery, autogenic abreaction, covert reinforcement and covert sensitization, behavior rehearsal). These various procedures may reflect three dimensions or aspects of the stress response, with some addressing physiology and others addressing cognition or behavior change.
"Rachman (1978) ... found it useful to divide the phenomenon of fear into physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components. Similarly, Davidson and Schwartz (1976) conceptualized relaxation as consisting of somatic, cognitive, and attentional components. Phillips (1977) argued that pain, such as headache pain, can be viewed as consisting of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological aspects (and that, consequently, we should not expect high correlations between headache pain and a particular physiological measure such as forehead EMG level). ...
"... In discussing contemporary studies of dreaming, they [Stoyva and Kamiya (1968)] proposed that there is no single, totally valid indicator of dreaming as a mental experience. Instead, there are several imperfect indicators of the dream experience--verbal report, rapid eye movements, and certain electroencephalographic (EEG) stages. ... Discrepancies among the indicators can serve to generate hypotheses" (p. 749).
The authors discuss different ways of retraining the capacity to rest: relaxation training (including biofeedback, etc.), systematic desensitization; and of reshaping the coping response: assertiveness training, social skills and motor skills retraining, self- statements, imagery techniques; and discuss controllability. These notes cover only a very small part of their extensive review, the material most relevant to hypnosis and suggestion.
"Although imagery techniques are often employed by stress management therapists, one approaches this area with ambivalence. In part, this uneasiness springs from the unsettling awareness that imagery techniques have been embraced by a freewheeling assortment of lay psychologists such as Emil Coue, Dale Carnegie, and Norman Vincent Peale, not to mention a diverse throng of contemporary 'mind controllers' and self-styled healers. A more serious source of uneasiness is ignorance of the specific processes at work. What are the mechanisms by which imagery affects the stress response?" (p. 756).
"There is intriguing recent evidence that simply the illusion of control may exert beneficial effects. Stern, Miller, Ewy, and Grant (1980) noted that subjects who were led to believe by means of bogus information feedback that they were successfully lowering their heart rates showed a reduction in stress type symptoms, especially those of a cardiovascular nature. It seems possible that the feeling of control may be an important part of what we have called 'placebo responding.' Stoyva (1979b) suggested that this phenomenon is probably not a unitary entity but, rather, a cluster of processes, of which the feeling of developing control over factors affecting one's disorder is an important and potentially manipulable component of therapeutic interventions" (p. 758).
Stam, Henderikus J.; Spanos, Nicholas P. (1982). The Asclepian dream healings and hypnosis: A critique. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 30 (1), 9-22.
The present paper critically evaluates the popular contention that the dream healings which occurred in antiquity at the Asclepian temples resulted from the unwitting use of hypnosis. This contention is found wanting and it is argued instead that these reported healings can be understood better by considering them in their cultural context.
1981
O'Brien, Richard M.; Cooley, Lewis E.; Ciotti, Joseph; Henninger, Kathleen M. (1981). Augmentation of systematic desensitization of snake phobia through posthypnotic dream suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 23, 231-238.
Nine snake phobics who had scored above eight on the SHSS (Form A) were given four desensitization sessions and five sessions in which a pleasant posthypnotic dream of the phobic object was suggested. These subjects were significantly superior to a desensitization-only control group on a behavioral avoidance test. Seven of the nine hypnosis subjects were able to touch a real snake. The two subjects who did not touch the snake reported dreams in which the snake was either absent or threatening. Although conclusions are limited by differential attention and susceptibility, the technique seems promising.
1980
Prince, Raymond (1980). Variations in psychotherapeutic procedures. In Triandis, Harry C.; Draguns, Juris G. (Ed.), Psychopathology (6, pp. 291-349). Boston
NOTES:
Prince points out that indigenous practitioners often capitalize on the organism's endogenous healing mechanisms which develop spontaneously when the individual is distressed. "healers around the world have learned to manipulate and build upon these endogenous mechanisms in a variety of ways to bring about resolution of life's problems and alleviation of suffering" (p. 292). Prince is referring here to altered states of consciousness such as dreams, trance states, dissociations, and mystical experiences of various sorts which are cultivated and elaborated by indigenous healers for therapeutic purposes. In general, Western type practitioners have denigrated these procedures...." (from Ann. Rev. of Psychol., 1982, pp 243-244).
1979
Barrett, Deirdre (1979). The hypnotic dream: Its relation to nocturnal dreams and waking fantasies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88 (5), 584-591.
A review of the literature in the area of hypnotic dreams suggests that physiological correlates of hypnotic dreams are better established than content characteristics. A study is also reported that examined the content of hypnotic dreams in relation to that of nocturnal dreams and daydreams from the same subjects. Subjects were 16 undergraduates divided into deep-trance and medium-trance groups. Deep trance subjects hypnotic dreams were similar to their nocturnal dreams and different from daydreams on a wide variety of characteristics including length, emotional themes, characters, setting, and amount of distortion. Medium trance subjects' hypnotic dreams were found to fall between their nocturnal dreams and daydreams on most of these measures.
1964
Arluck, Edward WIltcher (1964). Hypnoanalysis, a case study. New York
NOTES
Details transcripts (90 pages) and comments of a 28 session hypnoanalysis (Jungian) of a World War II soldier with traumatic war neurosis in a military setting shortly after the end of the war, for a conversion reaction with onset just prior to return to the States. Author cautions he found this amount of success in only about 15 of more than 70 individually treated cases. Emphasizes giving suggestions to dream about his condition/problem and utilizing dream interpretation. 53 references.
Details transcripts (90 pages) and comments of a 28 session hypnoanalysis (Jungian) of a World War II soldier with traumatic war neurosis in a military setting shortly after the end of the war, for a conversion reaction with onset just prior to return to the States. Author cautions he found this amount of success in only about 15 of more than 70 individually treated cases. Emphasizes giving suggestions to dream about his condition/problem and utilizing dream interpretation. 53 references.
1954
Schneck, Jerome M. (1954). Hypnotherapy in a case of claustrophobia and its implications for psychotherapy in general. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2 (4), 251-260. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 55: 6064)
Summary.
This report presents the hypnotherapy of a patient with claustrophobia. The crucial event responsible for symptom formation occurred in military service when the patient was trapped in a trench by a tank which stopped over the patient before proceeding, and at which time the sides of the trench began to cave in. Subsequent traumatic events served as reenforcement. It is likely that a low threshold for the development of anxiety predisposed this patient to the development of the claustrophobia, although the major trauma sustained was undoubtedly of tremendous impact and a distinct threat to life. Emotional experiences were sealed and free expression was permitted through hypnotic revivification. The dynamics, further elaborated in the report, suggest that similar occurrences not necessarily in military settings may be approached therapeutically in this way. Aside from the reliving technique, recall stimulation through a dream induction approach was employed. Other hypnotic methods were described and further implications for psychotherapy in general were elaborated. Hypnotherapeutic and hypnoanalytic approaches to phobic reactions have been described at length elsewhere" (p. 260).
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