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On why we have dreams and the functions of dreaming

The science of mind of dreams has been explained either with the psychoanalytic interpretation of dreams or with the psycho-physiological process of dreaming. Thus there are two positive schools in the science of mind of dreams – one school of plan believes in the relation in the middle of Rem sleep and dreaming, the role of dreams in studying and as a follow of random neural firings further important to random images that may not have any significance; and the other school of plan believes that dreams occur as a follow of unconscious and repressed impulses and could be explained with psychoanalytic symbolism and in turn also expound psychic phenomenon or even lead to insight the causes of mental illnesses.

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According to Freud, ‘dreams are the royal road to the unconscious’, in the sense that they could be analyzed in a way that will narrate the secret impulses in the unconscious. Dreams may thus narrate who we ‘really’ are, what we ‘really’ want and how we want to attain these desires. Yet many contemporary psychologists have moved away from this ‘semantic’ view of dreams that emphasize on repressed desires and ‘meanings’ of dreams, and have suggested that dreams occur naturally due to random neural firings in the brain when the body is at rest and these random firings furnish images in the brain.

There are several stages in sleep and the Rem sleep is the final stage. Dreams are linked to this Rem (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep and we tend to have several dreams in one night although we forget almost all these images. We don’t act out these images because while the process of dreaming, the body undergoes temporary deadness which is a protective or physical defense mechanism against any external injury.

Dreams agreeing to science of mind is also a defense mechanism as all repressed desires which could have harmful effects on our psyche are released through the process of dreaming, so both physiologically and psychologically, dreams have defensive or protective functions helping in publish of inordinate stress, traumatic thoughts, repressed impulses as also safe the body from external injury. Dream recollection and operate through the process of lucid dreaming and hypnosis as used more often by primary psychotherapists are not too beloved any more although these processes supply more insights into images in dreaming and how these could be evoked or elicited in psychotherapeutic sessions or could be remembered and interpreted to supply more access to the unconscious.

The physiology of Rem stage of sleep may be able to supply answers as to why we dream of positive images yet this mechanism would be unable to expound exactly why these definite images occur. Some theories have suggested that positive repressed thoughts and desires or repeated occurrences could manifest in dreams through images. Sometimes trauma or any event with requisite emotional value could lead to repetitive dreams with the same images. Considering existing literature, I recommend that dreams could have five requisite functions – a clinical function of explaining mental illness, a cognitive function of aiding learning, an adaptive function of restoring body mechanisms, a cathartic function of releasing traumatic or repressed feelings and a defensive function of providing a protective shield to the mind and the body.

So dreams could easily be explained both from psychoanalytic and psycho-physiological perspectives. In fact we have to understand psychoanalysis and psycho-physiology and combine findings about dreams from both these fields to reach a wide insight of these mental processes.

The five functions of dreams are given here and the basic thesis of a wide dream theory should be based on all these five functions.

Clinical Function of Dreams – Some psychologists believe that dreams are intimately linked to mental illness and that many post traumatic dreams characterize anxiety and continued or repetitive traumatic dreams could recommend preliminary symptoms of mental disorder or failed physiological functions in the body. In fact many mental illnesses could be traced back to positive dreams and we can even understand the roots or causes of mental illness by studying why positive dreams occur in positive people. The clinical value of dreams has been recognized in psychoanalysis although the full inherent of this function has not been very clear in physiology. further scientific explore is required to understand the role of dreams in explaining, preventing or even curing mental or physical illnesses. Dreams could highlight issues of brain disorder, brain ailments and hormonal changes in the body and could have clinical value in identifying many diseases and abnormal conditions in the body.

Cognitive Function of Dreams – Dreams are useful in studying and scientific studies have proved that they play a cognitive role in children who have many more dreams and increased Rem sleep than adults, thus children tend to learn while dreaming and dreaming and Rem sleep could also have a positive follow on studying physical skills. This might expound how dreams could also supply insights into problems as solutions and many discoveries, inventions and novel ideas emerge in dreams. Dreams show assorted possibilities in our plan process and through permutations and combinations supply cognitive solutions to some of our life goals. Dreams could thus be very productive studying tools, help in self insight and realization and improve and combine cognitive abilities.

Adaptive Function of Dreams – Dreams help us to adapt to our surroundings and although the evolutionary benefit of dreaming is not clear or has not been studied extensively, the fact that we continue to dream and even learn and defend ourselves through dreams makes dreaming an important part of our passive and active life. The adaptive function of dreams is however physiologically advantageous as it helps restore physical mental and physical balance. Although this remains a controversial viewpoint, the unblemished psychological and physiological advantages of dreaming will have to be studied from an evolutionary perspective.

Cathartic Function of Dreams – Dreams are highly cathartic. They publish stress, and through symbolic representation of images, purge out our fears, our impulses and urges and help us to confront our own mental lives. Dreams are more than the ‘royal road to the unconscious’, they are basic shields for our own defense and release. The thoughts and emotions that may be too dark, traumatic, shameful or risky for real life are manifested in dreams and help us to confront realities. Psychoanalytically dreams characterize wish fulfillment and many images in dreams like elongated objects for example, are carefully symbolic of sexual organs. It is however controversial either all dreams are a type of wish fulfillment and some dreams could naturally be a publish of anxiety or thoroughly the opposite of any wish fulfillment. If you repeatedly dream of your own injury or injury of close ones, you are naturally releasing your unconscious anxiety through the dreams which in turn may help you to function better and be more cautious in reality.

Defensive Function of Dreams – This is linked to the cathartic and adaptive functions of dreaming as when we publish through catharsis, we also adapt to situations and this in turn provides a defense or protection for the mind and body to continue functioning without harm or hindrance. Although this plan is unpopular among many psychologists, dreams may have strong defensive functions. While we dream, the physiological changes in the body such as publish of glycine, an amino acid highlight a defensive mechanism and both physical and mental irritations could be released through dreaming, providing in turn a shield for the body and mind. Dreams are thus not just the ‘royal road to the unconscious’, they are requisite covers or shields to safe the mind or body against excess stress. Just like your boiling kettle has provisions to publish excess steam, dreams too serve as a regulatory mechanism to publish all excesses from the mind and body.

Dreams are ultimately mind’s excretions. The view that dreams have no evolutionary benefit and that they have no functions has been endorsed by many scientists, yet if we look deeper into the annals of psychology, the importance of dreams in explaining mental life cannot be overlooked. Only further explore in physiology, imaging techniques and psychotherapy delving into the science of mind of dreams would be able to tell us why we dream and either dreams are rudimentary or regulatory.

The science of mind of Dreams

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