How the science behind dream analysis is changing – and what this means for you

There’s something mysterious about dreams; they’ve fascinated us for as long as we’ve existed. To this day, researchers still don’t know exactly why we actually dream. But one thing is certain – if you work with your dreams, you can learn a lot about yourself. So says Prof. Dr Michael Schredl. He’s a dream researcher and head of the sleep laboratory at the Mannheim Central Institute for Mental Health.

Mr Schredl, what exactly is a dream? How do dream researchers define it?

Michael Schredl: There are two definitions. The first involves the dream or «dream report». Basically, the experiences we remember upon waking up. The second is dreaming as a subjective experience while we sleep. It’s always relevant because even though we sleep, our brains don’t. As one of our main organs, it’s always turned on. There’s no off switch for your brain. In other words, we’re continuously dreaming while we sleep. We only stop when we wake up.

So everyone dreams in their sleep and does so all the time? Why then do many people claim they never dream?

Yes, everyone dreams. But it depends on what happens when we wake up. Do we wake up and think: what’s on the agenda today? what have I got to get done now? Or even, oh, I’m still so tired, just a few more minutes...? If you don’t pay any attention to your dreams, you’ll get used to not thinking about them and be left with no dream memory. In short, that’s the case for many people; they don’t even think to actively remember their dreams.

Can we change that?

I’d tentatively say that almost anyone can promote dream recall by paying attention to their dreams; you’ll gradually remember them more and more. Try making a dream diary; keep track every day for two weeks straight whether you’ve dreamed or not. If you practice, you can significantly increase your dream recall. Which goes to show that whether or not you remember your dreams is not an indicator of mental health.

From a health point of view, does it matter or not if you pay attention to your dreams?

Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say. It makes no difference. Your brain will still do all it needs to at night. Whether you remember it in the morning or not doesn’t matter. Therefore, if you don’t enjoy thinking about your dreams, you needn’t do so.

But could doing such «dream work» benefit our psyche?

First of all, working with your dreams is fun. Dreams are incredibly imaginative and taking a look at them can be rewarding. Secondly, when you confront negative dreams and overcome them, they disappear! That conveniently means we end up sleeping better and having fewer nightmares. Thirdly, by working with dreams, we learn more about ourselves and often cope better with life. It helps us grow. Honestly, though, I must say there have been no conclusive long-term studies to back up this view.

Has research shown why we dream?

We dream because processing subjective experience is one function of a healthy brain. As I said, the brain can’t be switched off – and dreams are the result. Whether dreaming serves an additional purpose or benefits us in another way – we’ve not yet figured out. There are theories that we practice how to be better the next day in our dreams overnight. That dreams help our chances of survival, for example. But ultimately – at least so far – this all remains speculation.

Then it might suffice to say that we dream about what’s on our minds. And our realities.

The great thing about dreams is they offer us a new perspective. This is what I focus on most in my work. I’ve developed my own method and don’t stick to your typical exercises. I take a closer look at what each person is experiencing in a dream, accompanied by the question: what can you learn from what you’ve experienced in your dream?

Can you explain this with an example?

Take a dream in which you’re being chased. Either by someone or something. The only thing I can do to completely avoid the danger and get myself out of danger is to wake up. But if I do that, I won’t have demonstrated any constructive abilities in my dream. It’s a basic pattern – when facing a fear, you experience a flight response.

Side question: by «basic patterns», are you referring to well-known «dream symbols»?

No, that’s not the same thing. Dream interpretation with symbols has been around for a long time and was advocated by Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung. It’s when a certain meaning is assigned to an animal, a person, a landscape, etc. But as we know, what you dream about is influenced by what deeply moves you and what you experience in waking life. Because life experiences are different for everyone, a clear-cut classification isn’t possible. An example? My team and I were the first to scientifically study how often a person dreams about dogs – depending on whether the person has a dog or not. And big surprise. People who own a dog dreamt about dogs much more often. The study also revealed that individuals who had negative experiences with dogs in childhood had more negative dreams about dogs as adults. That goes to show that a simple interpretation such as «a dog in a dream means this or that» is useless.

Okay, then what are basic patterns in dreams?

In basic patterns, as we use them today in dream therapy, concrete objects or people in a dream don’t play a pre-determined role. Instead, it’s about what a person experiences in their dream and how they react and feel in their dream. In the example of the chase dream, the person is afraid and runs away. That’s the basic pattern. It doesn’t matter whether the pursuer is a dog, horse or lion. If you reflect on the dream while awake, think about it and talk about it, you can learn a lot from it. That’s what we’ve found to be true in our studies. So in dream therapy, we ask the person: since running away is useless, what else could you do? Most people immediately think of something. They could turn around and confront the pursuer, asking: what do you want from me? If you practice doing this while awake, such chase dreams will often disappear relatively quickly.

If every person lives and dreams differently, are basic patterns also different for each person?

Basic patterns differ from person to person but are fundamentally similar. After all, every culture deals with fear, grief and anger a little differently. For instance, in one study we found fear was reflected through the societal fears of the time. In the 1960s, children were haunted by witches and devils in their dreams; in the 1920s, the bogeyman was the persecutor; and today, it’s evil characters from comics and movies.

So now the big question – how do we interpret dreams?

We don’t interpret dreams. We work with dreams. Interpreting symbols, as in classical dream interpretation, is no longer relevant. Interpreting dreams may be fun, but that’s about it. It’s different when you work with your dreams. We ask ourselves the following basic question: what does my dream have to do with what is currently going on in my life? What conclusions can I draw from this dream?

If dreams are associated with our present day-to-day life, then why did a colleague of mine still dream about maths exams years later, when she was long into her career? Maths was her scary subject in school.

The question is: why is she still plagued by this dream when she’s successfully graduated from school? She’ll never have another exam in mathematics again. One explanation is that a subject that is frightening to you and is something you’ve personally experienced can become the basis of a dream. The basic pattern in dreams centred around a test is: how do others rate my performance? This is something that still occurs later in professional life. The dream shows the fear associated with it. Can I do it, can I afford it, am I smart enough for it? What might supervisors or colleagues think about my performance today?

The dream theme reflects the basic fear of being evaluated by others?

Exactly. You should also know that dreams tend to dramatise – like a good movie director – anything that provokes anxiety in us. In waking life, it may be a small concern about what others think of me. In a dream, however, I fail the maths exam or have no clue what it’s about. If your dream ends in a negative way, it means you’re experiencing some sort of fear in your waking state. By the way, our dream self is emotionally weaker than our waking self. This possibly has to do with the fact that our dream ego draws more strongly on childhood. In other words, everything that we’ve experienced in the past.

To sum it all up: everyone should work with dreams as he or she feels like it and as circumstances allow?**

Exactly. The only time it gets tough is when unpleasant topics like nightmares arise. Otherwise, you’re much more likely to be naturally motivated to deal with a dream on your own. But no one has to force themselves to do dream work. It’s a shame that dreams are often considered a topic of esoteric interest. Followers of C. G. Jung even believe that dreams carry a message from our higher selves, who have the power to make everything turn out right. Anyone who shares this belief needs a high tolerance for frustration. Because, of course, it doesn’t work as some esoteric book authors would lead you to believe. But if you shrug off such claims and see dreams simply as experiences from which you can learn, you’ll find working with your dreams to be a much more rational and relaxing exercise.