When you think of the word ‘dream’ what comes to mind? For some it may bring up thoughts of the future and potential achievements. For others it may bring up reoccurring nightmares or nightly dreams that they just can’t shake. And of course, there are the day-dreamers. There are so many meanings to this single word that we could focus on, so today I would like to focus on the meaning of dreams that occur at night.
Reoccuring dreams or nightmares can be haunting and confusing - Why do I keep having the same dream? What does it mean? What does this say about me and my life? Many different theorist in the world of psychology have come up with different ways to look at and interpret our dreams. The first person that comes to mind when thinking of dream theories is Freud. He wrote the book ‘Interpretation of Dreams’, which stated that our dreams were a way of fulfilling our desires that we kept repressed in our subconscious. He believed that our dreams, both good and bad, held hidden meanings within them. Seems intriguing, right? Well not to everyone, apparently. McClarley and Hobson have a different theory when it comes to dreams, and it is the opposite of Freud’s. Their theory is known as the Activiation-Synthesis Theory and it states that our dreams are caused by our brain circuits being activated during REM sleep. Though this theory looks at dreams as mainly random firings within the brain, they do believe that some dreams could be useful.
These theories are just two of the many theories out there that discuss dreams, their origin, and whether or not they hold meaning. However, sometimes when our dreams are distressing we need a little bit more then a theory to help us understand and process their distressing nature. That’s where I can help - as a counselor I can help walk you through those dreams and help you build the tools to process them. One of the best tools out there is keeping a dream journal. I can help walk you through how it can be helpful and how you can create your own journal.
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to looking at dreams, so listen to your mind and form your own opinion on what dreams symbolize to you.
