Dreams are the basis of all thoughts and are happening whether you are in waking consciousness or asleep. The difference is that you are not as aware of the image level of your dreams when you’re awake as much as when you asleep. When you are awake, you get very little of the dreaming part, but it’s still what underlies your conscious thinking. It is not random firing nor is it some deep hidden reveal of meaning. You may not be able to interpret what the dreaming is about - or, you may project onto it based on what you want it to mean. Conversely, you are looking at your thought process as you sleep. You are thinking about things as you sleep - but, you are only aware of your subconscious level of those thoughts - because the waking consciousness part of you is what is asleep. It is not separate from your actual thinking, it is part of it. But, not something you can necessarily or readily figure out. There’s something else that is able to process it between that level and your logical waking thinking and your dreams - that is actually smarter than your waking logical thinking.
I agree with much of your theories, however, you are omiting the most telling part of dreams. First of all, I do not think that we project what we "want" the dream to mean, unless we have no capacity to understand ourselves, Dream content is not about interpreting the pictures, symbols, or images. It is all about understanding the message of FEELINGS/EMOTIONS of the story (dream.) Dreams do not reflect our thought process, they reflect on a daily basis what is happening in our emotional life. As an example, last night I dreamt that I was playing some sort of game with a friend who worked at a fast food chain. Between customers we would play our game. (Both of us in reality have a serious work life full of intent, responsibilities and adult thinking.) The fast food store supervisor kept staring at me as if to say, stop detracting my employee. OK, I had to admit, after waking up that sometimes I act like a teen ager when I should be focusing on what I want to do to fulfill my responsibilities to my adult self. The dream imagery sets the storyline to allow us to get the message of the dream. My current problem is that I stay awake almost every night into into early morning hours, then sleep until mid morning to get adequate sleep. Yes, this dream told me that I'm acting like a teenager! Notice how the imagery sets the background of the message? Therefore, if you (in your above comments) substitute "thinking" with "feeling" everything will make more sense. And yes, I totally agree with you that "There’s something else that is able to process it between that level and your logical waking thinking (FEELING) and your dreams - that is actually smarter than your waking logical thinking (FEELING)..
This is not "understanding", this is "explanation". The two phenomena are largely different from each other, this was a basic distinction for continental philosophy (like Dilthey) and all the human science psychologies (like Jaspers' "psychology of understanding") based on this. Explanation of brain machanisms is of little use in self-knowledge and psychotherapy, while understanding is something that you cannot live without in this area. I do not know anythong more helpful in my therapy work as the interpretation of dream content related to the dreamer's inner life history and her/his relation to the therapist and the process of therapy ; these are the experiences that cannot be grapped by impersonal neurobiological mechanism :)
🎯 Key points for quick navigation: 00:15 *🤖 Dreams are inherently meaningless and random activation of the cortex by firing of neurons in the brain.* 04:10 *💡 Damage to different parts of the brain does not affect dreams, except for damage to the prefrontal cortex, which has no effect on dreams.* 06:00 *🔥 The part of the brain responsible for generating REM sleep is not responsible for dreaming, as patients with damage to this area still report dreaming.* 09:11 *🚫 Damage to the parietal occipital Junction leads to a loss of dreaming, but preservation of REM sleep.* 11:00 *👀 The part of the brain marked in red (mesocortical mesolimbic dopamine system) is crucial for dreaming, as damage here leads to a loss of dreams.* 14:06 *💊 Antipsychotic medications block dopamine in this circuit, leading to a reduction in dreams.* 16:06 *🔥 Boosting dopamine in this circuit increases dream frequency, intensity, and bizarreness.* 18:11 *🔍 Positron emission tomography (PET) scans show that this area is most active during dreaming sleep.* Made with HARPA AI
Very interesting! But how about psychotic patients who are on antipsychotics? Would they have fewer dreams or not at all? As it's known that the mesocortical pathway is already hypoactive in psychotic patients and typical antipsychotics tend to worsen that.
Thank you for this explanation of dreams. My adult daughter has always had very vivid dreams, nightmares a lot of times. I feel so sorry for her sometimes waking up in tears because they feel so real to her. You said more dopamine can cause this but she takes no pharmaceuticals. She does often drink too much alcohol which I worry about. Is there any connection here?
I understand that your question is not addressed to me, yet I want to help you with your concern for your daughter. I when young drank too early. I also had frequent dreams, they are not related. Young people have more dreams drinking or no drinking. I recorded many of these dream - there were a couple of dreams where I recorded waking bin tears. However, I could not recall the reasons (imagery) that created the tears. Dopamine? I was not taking pharmaceuticals either, or any other drugs. Would you consider seeing therapist, with your daughter, who specializes in family therapy? Being a parent must be the most difficult responsibility in the world. Why? Because most of us learn how to be parents by observing our own parents, who in turn, learned from our parents. As a suggestion, how was your relationship with your mother? Please think about these topics because to me, it seems that your daughter needs help. Based on my own experiences in life, psychology is necessary to learn how to function better in our lives.
He does not comment on lucid dreams, maybe they are not frequent enough to mention. My experience with lucid dreams is that if they happen spontaneously, there is a valid message IF it can be interpreted. It's been years since I've had any.
Dreams are the basis of all thoughts and are happening whether you are in waking consciousness or asleep. The difference is that you are not as aware of the image level of your dreams when you’re awake as much as when you asleep. When you are awake, you get very little of the dreaming part, but it’s still what underlies your conscious thinking.
It is not random firing nor is it some deep hidden reveal of meaning. You may not be able to interpret what the dreaming is about - or, you may project onto it based on what you want it to mean. Conversely, you are looking at your thought process as you sleep. You are thinking about things as you sleep - but, you are only aware of your subconscious level of those thoughts - because the waking consciousness part of you is what is asleep. It is not separate from your actual thinking, it is part of it. But, not something you can necessarily or readily figure out. There’s something else that is able to process it between that level and your logical waking thinking and your dreams - that is actually smarter than your waking logical thinking.
I agree with much of your theories, however, you are omiting the most telling part of dreams. First of all, I do not think that we project what we "want" the dream to mean, unless we have no capacity to understand ourselves, Dream content is not about interpreting the pictures, symbols, or images. It is all about understanding the message of FEELINGS/EMOTIONS of the story (dream.)
Dreams do not reflect our thought process, they reflect on a daily basis what is happening in our emotional life. As an example, last night I dreamt that I was playing some sort of game with a friend who worked at a fast food chain. Between customers we would play our game. (Both of us in reality have a serious work life full of intent, responsibilities and adult thinking.) The fast food store supervisor kept staring at me as if to say, stop detracting my employee. OK, I had to admit, after waking up that sometimes I act like a teen ager when I should be focusing on what I want to do to fulfill my responsibilities to my adult self. The dream imagery sets the storyline to allow us to get the message of the dream. My current problem is that I stay awake almost every night into into early morning hours, then sleep until mid morning to get adequate sleep.
Yes, this dream told me that I'm acting like a teenager! Notice how the imagery sets the background of the message?
Therefore, if you (in your above comments) substitute "thinking" with "feeling" everything will make more sense. And yes, I totally agree with you that "There’s something else that is able to process it between that level and your logical waking thinking (FEELING) and your dreams - that is actually smarter than your waking logical thinking (FEELING)..
This is not "understanding", this is "explanation". The two phenomena are largely different from each other, this was a basic distinction for continental philosophy (like Dilthey) and all the human science psychologies (like Jaspers' "psychology of understanding") based on this. Explanation of brain machanisms is of little use in self-knowledge and psychotherapy, while understanding is something that you cannot live without in this area. I do not know anythong more helpful in my therapy work as the interpretation of dream content related to the dreamer's inner life history and her/his relation to the therapist and the process of therapy ; these are the experiences that cannot be grapped by impersonal neurobiological mechanism :)
Interesting!
I would love an expose on the documovie (my term), WAKING LIFE.
🎯 Key points for quick navigation:
00:15 *🤖 Dreams are inherently meaningless and random activation of the cortex by firing of neurons in the brain.*
04:10 *💡 Damage to different parts of the brain does not affect dreams, except for damage to the prefrontal cortex, which has no effect on dreams.*
06:00 *🔥 The part of the brain responsible for generating REM sleep is not responsible for dreaming, as patients with damage to this area still report dreaming.*
09:11 *🚫 Damage to the parietal occipital Junction leads to a loss of dreaming, but preservation of REM sleep.*
11:00 *👀 The part of the brain marked in red (mesocortical mesolimbic dopamine system) is crucial for dreaming, as damage here leads to a loss of dreams.*
14:06 *💊 Antipsychotic medications block dopamine in this circuit, leading to a reduction in dreams.*
16:06 *🔥 Boosting dopamine in this circuit increases dream frequency, intensity, and bizarreness.*
18:11 *🔍 Positron emission tomography (PET) scans show that this area is most active during dreaming sleep.*
Made with HARPA AI
Very interesting! But how about psychotic patients who are on antipsychotics? Would they have fewer dreams or not at all? As it's known that the mesocortical pathway is already hypoactive in psychotic patients and typical antipsychotics tend to worsen that.
Thank you for this explanation of dreams. My adult daughter has always had very vivid dreams, nightmares a lot of times. I feel so sorry for her sometimes waking up in tears because they feel so real to her. You said more dopamine can cause this but she takes no pharmaceuticals. She does often drink too much alcohol which I worry about. Is there any connection here?
I understand that your question is not addressed to me, yet I want to help you with your concern for your daughter. I when young drank too early. I also had frequent dreams, they are not related. Young people have more dreams drinking or no drinking. I recorded many of these dream - there were a couple of dreams where I recorded waking bin tears. However, I could not recall the reasons (imagery) that created the tears. Dopamine? I was not taking pharmaceuticals either, or any other drugs.
Would you consider seeing therapist, with your daughter, who specializes in family therapy? Being a parent must be the most difficult responsibility in the world. Why? Because most of us learn how to be parents by observing our own parents, who in turn, learned from our parents. As a suggestion, how was your relationship with your mother?
Please think about these topics because to me, it seems that your daughter needs help. Based on my own experiences in life, psychology is necessary to learn how to function better in our lives.
Nothing substantial yet…
3:44
Then dig deeper. You are apparently expecting too much with very limited self awareness.
5:45- so, does he not acknowledge lucid dreaming?
He does not comment on lucid dreams, maybe they are not frequent enough to mention. My experience with lucid dreams is that if they happen spontaneously, there is a valid message IF it can be interpreted. It's been years since I've had any.