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Aryanna Reid Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English (1102) 2/8/2014

Exploration of an Unconscious Mind (Draft 1)

Dreaming is a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. This usually occurs at night to most individuals but dreaming can occur at any time as long as the individual is unconscious. There are different stages of sleep, but dreaming happens to occur in the REM stage (rapid eye movement).In this stage, brain activity is relatively high and resembles that of a conscious individual where the eyes are constantly moving back and forth. Everyone has had dreams and everyone has had nightmares, regardless of people who claim that they dont dream. A nightmare is a bad dream that brings out strong feelings of fear, terror, distress, or anxiety. Dreaming is a complex field and why we dream is still one of the behavioral sciences' greatest unanswered questions. Many scientists have spent years delving deep into all aspects of dreaming and various controversial theories have been proposed. In Sigmund Freuds, The Unconscious (1891), he states that our assumption of the unconscious is necessary and legitimate, and that we possess numerous proofs of its existence. It is necessary because the data of consciousness have a very large number of gaps in them; both in healthy and in sick people psychical acts often occur which can be explained only by presupposing other acts, of which, nevertheless, consciousness affords no evidence." Some scientists, such as Freud, say dreaming influences our behavior and

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may give reason to why we do certain things. When exploring the unconscious mind, there may be much more to it than just images. To understand the concept of dreaming, one must first understand the concept of sleep. The average human typically spends about six hundred eighty-eight hours a year sleeping. As I previously stated, dreaming occurs in the REM stage but there are four stages that occur before a dream sets in action. These four stages are said to be a part of SWS or slow wave sleep. Stage one sleep involves our breathing slowing, our muscle tone decreasing, and our body relaxing, with slow and low-voltage EEG (electroencephalograms). Stages 2-4 are notable for the person not awakening by outside sources. These stages are marked by increasing frequency of delta waves, and the continued slowing of the body's functions. Then finally in REM, there are no delta waves, and the voltage activity is low and fast. There is almost a full clampdown of muscle responses of the body and it seems to be almost paralyzed. Humans usually enter REM ninety minutes into sleeping and go through Stages 1-4, plus REM, 5-6 times per night (Thinkquest 1). The first cycle starts out as short as three minutes, but the duration increases with each cycle, so by early morning, the last cycle can last up to 55 minutes. Ultimately, in one year, a human could have on average 1825 dreams but why is it that we only remember very few? The most well-known explanation for forgotten dreams is Freuds Theory of Repression. Freud theorized that we forget our dreams because they contain our repressed thoughts and wishes and so we shouldn't want to remember them anyway. In his book The Interpretation of Dreams, he argues that all dream content is a product of wish fulfillment. So when we dont remember certain aspects of a dream, its our brains way of blocking out wishes or longings that

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were not emotionally equipped to handle. Freud also believed that our brains dont want us remember certain content because its simply too traumatic. Some psychologists have followed in Freuds footsteps to propose their own theories regarding dream recall. Some suggests that dream content isnt organized enough for us to comprehend its events in waking life. Some believe that our memories are formed through repetition and finding connections to other parts of our lives, So when dreams are especially unique or too undefined to be relatable, its harder to tie them to real-life events and remember them (Santillano 1). It is somewhat peculiar that we easily recall dreams that cause us anxiety (nightmares) versus dreams in general. It makes one question if there is a link between memory and dreams that induce emotion. There is no definite answer as to why we dont remember dreams but the theories above have yet to be disproven. Over the years, scientists who study the field of oneirology have conducted experiments to explain the purpose for dreaming. The results only leave them with more questions and more theories to explore. According to Ernest Hartmann, a professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and the director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Newton Wellesley Hospital in Boston, Mass, he believes that there is a whole continuum in the making of connections that we subsequently experience as mental functioning. One end of the continuum is focused waking activity, while the other end is mental activity that becomes less focused, looser, more global and more imagistic. This is where dreaming comes into play. Dreaming is said to be a state in which we make connections most loosely. The scientists who believe loose making of connections to be a random process also believe that dreams have no meaning. The Contemporary Theory of Dreaming explains that the process is not random, however, and that it is instead guided by the emotions of the dreamer.

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