Chapter 5: Sleep (2)

Content of Dreams

Freud

“Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”

Wish Fulfillment Theory

◦ Dreams express unconscious motives and wishes
◦ Manifest & latent content

Freud Criticisms

◦ Dreams often hide anxiety or formulations that are not sexual
◦ No simple recipe for dream interpretation
◦ Differed from Jung (personal vs collective unconscious expressed in dreams.

Problem-solving View

◦ Dreams reflect an attempt to solve problems in waking-life

Biological View

◦ Activation-Synthesis Model
◦ Dreams are the by-product of random neural firing
emerging from deep (subcortical) areas of the brain.

Sleep: adults, children, adolescence

●Adults should get 7-9 hours
●Children 9-11 hours
●Adolescents 8.5-9.5 hours

Chronic sleep disturbances

●Associated with a spectrum of medical conditions
●E.g. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, excessive drinking
●Immunity to disease reduced

Sleep Deprivation

●Impaired concentration and cognitive performance
●Emotional centers of the brain more reactive:
●Irritability/mood problems
●Misperceptions during monotonous tasks

Why we need sleep

1) To maintain a healthy brain:
●“Cleans” the brain/Repair cells
●Replenish energy stores
●Grow new neurons

2) To consolidate memory & learn

3) To maintain psychological health
●*Regulate mood
●Handle stress
●Effective decision-making

Tips for Sleep Success

1) Develop a consistent bedtime routine
2) Use principles of conditioning
3) Expose yourself to bright light early in the day
4) Avoid excessive caffeine after 2 p.m.
5) Schedule “worry time” for another period of the day

1) Develop a consistent bedtime routine

●Train your body to know what to expect
●To develop a routine:
●Wake up at the same time/Go to bed at the same time
●Make small incremental changes (e.g. by 15 minutes)

2) Use principles of conditioning:

●Bed should be associated with sleep (not with alert activities)
●Don’t stay awake in bed for more than 20 minutes

Self-Guide to Dream Interpretation

1) Write your dream in the present tense
2) Underline dream elements
3) Provide more description of the dream elements
4) Associate to dream elements
5) Link to waking life
6) & Making your dream work for you!