by Carole Somerville

Created on: September 13, 2009

Dream Analysis and Dream Incubation to help Uncover the Significance of Dreams

The ability to see into the future while dreaming has formed the plot for many fictional stories. Some people might even argue that they can actually see the future in their dreams. - This is when scientists and doctors start to shuffle their feet and change the subject. Because when it comes to the subject of dreams, they know very little about it. So how can they really comment?

What doctors do know is that sleep is the natural follow-on of fatigue which can be caused by physical or mental activity. But even though the physical body is relaxed while sleeping, the mind still operates at a level only slightly below its daytime or waking level.

The Greeks and Sleep Temples

The Greeks were totally convinced that dreamers could (and did) forecast the future. And so spent a great deal of time in sleep temples 'incubating' dreams. Some might say that time could have been much better spent erecting squares on the hypotenuses or right-angled triangles! Others will feel the respect and awe the ancient's showed for dreams have helped us to better understand our night-time visions.

The word 'dream' can be traced back through Anglo-Saxon to its German origin 'trugen' which means 'to deceive'. This suggests that a dream is an illusion. But is it?

Freud, Sex and Dreams

At the beginning of this century, the theorists had a field-day with dreams. Sigmund Freud produced reams of material about dreams and dreamers, concluding that dreams were the unconscious outlet of daily frustrations with, of course, sex being the mainstay of his arguments.

Freud proved, to his own satisfaction, that just about any dream had a sexual base. Indeed, some of his arguments might make one wonder what a modern-day analyst would do if Freud were to appear as a patient!

Nonetheless, many other theorists added their contributions and the first half of the twentieth century saw a flood of theories about dreams. - None of them that wonderful. - And it wasn't until the 1950s that a more scientific investigation into dreams was started. It was found that in the average sleep-period of eight hours, 90 minutes will be spent in dreaming and a night's sleep in which no dreams at all occurred would be so unusual, as to be considered abnormal. Sleep has a regular pattern the world over and scientists were able to pinpoint dreaming precisely, by watching the sleeper's face.

What can modern-day dream analysts tell you about your

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