The
Contemporary Theory of Dreaming: Recent Studies
Ernest Hartmann, MD, is
the author of over 300 articles, and eight books, most recently
Dreams and Nightmares. He is a Past President of IASD and was
the first Editor-in-chief of Dreaming. He is professor of
psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Robert Kunzendorf, PhD, is
Professor of Psychology at University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He
is the author of numerous articles and several books on imagery
and dreaming. He is a Past President of the American Association
for the Study of Imagery. He is Editor-in-Chief of Imagination,
Cognition and Personality.
Michael Zborovski, PhD, is
Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York
College in Buffalo, NY. He is the author of numerous articles
dealing with dreaming, thick and thin boundaries, attachment style
and other aspects of personality.
Roger Knudson, PhD, is
Director of Clinical Training in the PhD program in clinical
psychology at Miami University and a member of the IASD Board of
Directors. He has taught courses on dreams for over 25 years at
Miami. His published work on dreams has focused on "significant"
dreams from the perspective of archetypal psychology.
Abstract
What we call The Contemporary
Theory of Dreaming involves several basic propositions, amenable
to study:
1. Dreaming is
hyper-connective. In dreams connections in the mind are made more
readily and more broadly than in waking.
2. The connections are not
random. They are guided by the dominant emotion or emotional
concern of the dreamer.
3. The dream imagery,
especially the CI (Central Image or Contextualizing Image)
pictures the dreamer’s emotion or concern. The intensity of the CI
is a measure of the power of the emotion.
4. Dreaming can be considered
one end of a continuum of mental functioning, running from focused
waking thought, through less focused thought, reverie, daydreaming
and finally dreaming. The influence of emotion and picturing of
emotion, above, occur throughout the continuum, but become most
pronounced at the dreaming end of the continuum.
5. The emotion-guided making
of connections probably has a function or several related
functions. Dreaming “weaves in” or integrates new material, so
that it becomes integrated and less disturbing. A new trauma for
instance, will be less disturbing if a similar trauma has already
been “woven in”. Aside from this basic function, the
connection-making of dreaming can of course play a role in
self-knowledge, in artistic and scientific creativity, and in
therapy.
The panel will present and
discuss studies dealing with the above propositions. These will
include studies of trauma, and studies involving the continuity
between daydreams and dreams. Dr. Hartmann will present a
completed, not-yet-published study of 880 dreams before and after
9/11/01. The clearest finding is a highly significant increase in
CI intensity after 9/11. Dr. Kunzendorf will illustrate a new way
of picturing the central imagery of the dream.
