Anxiety dream

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Depiction of a dream of falling, from the early 20th century comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend Dream of the Rarebit Fiend 1905-01-28 (cropped).jpg
Depiction of a dream of falling, from the early 20th century comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend

An anxiety dream is an unpleasant dream which can be more disturbing than a nightmare. Anxiety dreams are characterized by the feelings of unease, distress, or apprehension in the dreamer upon waking. Anxiety dreams tend to occur in rapid eye movement sleep, [1] and usual themes involve incomplete tasks, embarrassment, falling, getting in to legal or financial trouble, failed pursuits and being pursued by another, often an unrealistic entity but other human beings can also be the pursuer. [2] Anxiety dreams may be caused by childhood trauma, or an adult dealing with conflict. Though they create anxiety in the dreamer, anxiety dreams also serve as a way for a person's ego to reset. [1]

Contents

Classification and provenance

Though most individuals awakened by a disturbing dream will likely call it a nightmare, the classification is not that simple. Anxiety dreams, punishment dreams, nightmares, post-trauma dreams, and night terrors are difficult to distinguish because they are commonly clumped under the term "nightmare". The different types of dreams, however, have different qualities. The stage in which the dream occurs is key. Anxiety dreams, punishment dreams, nightmares, or post-trauma dreams occur in the REM stage of sleep, while night terrors will occur in the NREM stage. [1]

Ernest Jones, author of On The Nightmare, states that the characteristics of a nightmare are: "Intense or agonizing dread; the sense of oppression or of weight on the chest which dangerously threatens the continuation of breathing; and the dreamer’s conviction of being helpless or paralyzed." Published in 1911, these characteristics lasted sixty years until American sleep researcher, Charles Fisher, and his colleagues recognized that they were too broad. Fisher concluded that distressing dreams in REM sleep will contain the feeling of weight on the chest and sense of helplessness, but the intense or agonizing dread is a characteristic of NREM dreams. These dreams are more commonly known as night terrors. [1]

The division of distressing dreams within REM sleep is subtle. The distinction between an anxiety dream and a nightmare comes down to what, contributing author of The Nightmare, Ruth Bers Shapiro calls the "profoundly disturbing" content that distinguishes the nightmare from the anxiety dream. [1]

Common themes

Common themes in anxiety dreams involve incomplete tasks. These can include such things as a suitcase that has not been packed or an exam that has not been taken. [1] [2] Another common theme is the loss of a family member. Freud places these dreams into two categories: "those in which there is sorrow attached to the death and those in which there is no grief." Other themes can involve embarrassment. The dream of falling [3] or being chased is also prevalent in anxiety dreams. These usually take place at the onset of sleep during pictorial consciousness[ further explanation needed ] and have little structure or plot. [2]

Pre-Freudian explanations

In literature

Anxiety dreams have a long tradition in (Western) literature, beginning with Homer, who describes in Book 12 of the Iliad how Achilles is unable to catch up with Hector, "As in a dream a man is not able to follow one who runs from him, nor can the runner escape, nor the other pursue him, so he could not run him down in his speed, nor the other get clear." This anxiety of not being able to escape (or catch up) was borrowed from Homer by Virgil in Book XII of the Aeneid , where Turnus is unable to catch up with Aeneas; subsequently the dream is found (always in simile, never reported directly) in Oppian's Halieutica, in Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered , and in Phineas Fletcher's Locusts and Purple Island, to be "burlesqued" in Samuel Butler's Hudibras . An anxiety dream related more directly is Eve's in Books 4 and 5 of John Milton's Paradise Lost , who dreams prophetically that she will eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, an event that will take place in Book 9. Other such anxiety dreams are found in the Anglo-Saxon elegy "The Wanderer" and in Arthurian romances such as Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ll. 1750-55). [4]

Supposed origin

In contrast to the supernatural and somatic origins for dreams proposed in classical dream theory, anxiety dreams were considered to be continuations of the thoughts when interrupted by sleep. Such references are found (cryptically) in Greek authors including the pre-Socratics and Herodotus, and (more explicitly) in Ecclesiastes 5:3 and Ecclesiasticus 34:1-7. Aristotle confirmed in the Problemata that waking thoughts are continued in sleep, and that even some prophetic (normally divinely inspired) dreams may result from anxiety continued in a dream. This theory is confirmed by Cicero (De diviniatione), Lucretius, and Petronius (Fragment 31). An English translation of a well-known medieval couplet by seventeenth-century poet Abraham Cowley: "What in the day he fears of future woe / At night in dreams, like truth, affrights his mind". [4]

Freudian theory

Function

Freud’s theory is explained in his Interpretation of Dreams . One aspect of Freud’s work was his wish fulfillment theory; however, anxiety dreams were not always thought to fit within this theory as normal human nature is to avoid anxiety. Freud expected others to point out the discrepancy, and psychoanalyst Charles Brenner did just that. Freud countered Brenner by explaining the different ways that anxiety dreams and wish fulfillment could be intertwined. Freud gave one specific example in which a child dreamt his mother had gone missing and he had no one to comfort him. Freud explained, "the child dreamt of exchanging endearments with his mother and of sleeping with her; but all the pleasure was transformed into anxiety, and all the ideational content into its opposite." In this way the function of the anxiety dream is to disguise the unsavory wish fulfillment with a sense of punishment and resulting anxiety. [1]

Causes

One cause suggested which could induce anxiety dreams is that they can stem from childhood trauma. [5] A factor in this is the developing ego of the child. This is especially true of children about one year in age. At this age anxiety dreams occur because the child's ego can't integrate his or her daily experiences. Shapiro also explains that the growing ego is easily affected by trauma and conflicts the child may be experiencing. This is an important factor because the ego-defense mechanisms (e.g. repression and intellectualization) are key in staving off anxiety dreams and nightmares. [1]

Conflict in a child's life as well as the approaching of developmental stages can also cause anxiety dreams. For example, there may be conflict present as a child begins toilet training. "Toilet training precipitates conflicts between the wish to soil and fear of loss of parental love. If, during this period, the child is subject to disturbing experiences which leave him feeling helpless and unprotected, his anxiety over parental disapproval is exacerbated." [1] This anxiety could likely lead to anxiety dreams in a child.

Effects

Positive

Anxiety dreams have an important function. When the ego has been overworked, often the only way it can reset is when one wakes up. Anxiety dreams will build until the dreamer is forced to wake and thus let the ego refocus. Shapiro also noted that anxiety dreams may serve in "alerting the dreamer to a psychologically dangerous situation". [1]

Negative

General anxiety is a negative effect of anxiety dreams. Individuals dealing with distress in their dreams have been found to have general anxiety more often than those who were experiencing real life events that could be equally as stressful. [6]

Treatments

Barry Kraków developed three steps to alleviate any anxiety dream or nightmare. These steps include:

Once a person has been taught the first step he/she can continue using the second and third steps to overcome any new anxiety dreams that might develop. [7]

If more help is needed one might consider workshops that utilize psychodrama and psychotherapeutic techniques. [8] As doctorandus Herma Reeskamp explains, workshops such as these aim to "help patients change the haunting themes of their nightmares and anxiety-filled dreams". [8]

Related Research Articles

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Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind, and which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders. The discipline was established in the early 1890s by Sigmund Freud, whose work stemmed partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. Freud developed and refined the theory and practice of psychoanalysis until his death in 1939. In an encyclopedic article, he identified the cornerstones of psychoanalysis as "the assumption that there are unconscious mental processes, the recognition of the theory of repression and resistance, the appreciation of the importance of sexuality and of the Oedipus complex." Freud's colleagues Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung developed offshoots of psychoanalysis which they called individual psychology (Adler) and analytical psychology (Jung), although Freud himself wrote a number of criticisms of them and emphatically denied that they were forms of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was later developed in different directions by neo-Freudian thinkers, such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, and Harry Stack Sullivan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dream</span> Event occurring in the mind while sleeping

A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, although the dreamer may perceive the dream as being much longer than this.

A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety, disgust or sadness. The dream may contain situations of discomfort, psychological or physical terror, or panic. After a nightmare, a person will often awaken in a state of distress and may be unable to return to sleep for a short period of time. Recurrent nightmares may require medical help, as they can interfere with sleeping patterns and cause insomnia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dream interpretation</span> Assigning of meaning to dreams

Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sleepwalking</span> Sleeping phenomenon combined with wakefulness

Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism or noctambulism, is a phenomenon of combined sleep and wakefulness. It is classified as a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. It occurs during slow wave stage of sleep, in a state of low consciousness, with performance of activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness. These activities can be as benign as talking, sitting up in bed, walking to a bathroom, consuming food, and cleaning, or as hazardous as cooking, driving a motor vehicle, violent gestures and grabbing at hallucinated objects.

Castration anxiety is an overwhelming fear of damage to, or loss of, the penis—a derivative of Sigmund Freud's theory of the castration complex, one of his earliest psychoanalytic theories. The term refers to the fear of emasculation in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightmare disorder</span> Medical condition

Nightmare disorder is a sleep disorder characterized by repeated intense nightmares that most often center on threats to physical safety and security. The nightmares usually occur during the REM stage of sleep, and the person who experiences the nightmares typically remembers them well upon waking. More specifically, nightmare disorder is a type of parasomnia, a subset of sleep disorders categorized by abnormal movement or behavior or verbal actions during sleep or shortly before or after. Other parasomnias include sleepwalking, sleep terrors, bedwetting, and sleep paralysis.

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In Freudian Ego psychology, psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. Freud believed that personality developed through a series of childhood stages in which pleasure seeking energies from the child became focused on certain erogenous areas. An erogenous zone is characterized as an area of the body that is particularly sensitive to stimulation. The five psychosexual stages are the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital. The erogenous zone associated with each stage serves as a source of pleasure. Being unsatisfied at any particular stage can result in fixation. On the other hand, being satisfied can result in a healthy personality. Sigmund Freud proposed that if the child experienced frustration at any of the psychosexual developmental stages, they would experience anxiety that would persist into adulthood as a neurosis, a functional mental disorder.

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A recurring dream is a dream which is experienced repeatedly over a long period. They can be pleasant or nightmarish and unique to the person and their experiences.

Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep. Parasomnias are dissociated sleep states which are partial arousals during the transitions between wakefulness, NREM sleep, and REM sleep, and their combinations.

Psychoanalytic dream interpretation is a subdivision of dream interpretation as well as a subdivision of psychoanalysis pioneered by Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century. Psychoanalytic dream interpretation is the process of explaining the meaning of the way the unconscious thoughts and emotions are processed in the mind during sleep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oedipus complex</span> Idea in psychoanalysis

In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex refers to a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire for her father and hostility toward her mother is referred to as the feminine Oedipus complex. The general concept was considered by Sigmund Freud in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), although the term itself was introduced in his paper A Special Type of Choice of Object made by Men (1910).

Scholarly interest in the process and functions of dreaming has been present since Sigmund Freud's interpretations in the 1900s. The neurology of dreaming has remained misunderstood until recent distinctions, however. The information available via modern techniques of brain imaging has provided new bases for the study of the dreaming brain. The bounds that such technology has afforded has created an understanding of dreaming that seems ever-changing; even now questions still remain as to the function and content of dreams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wish fulfillment</span>

Wish fulfillment is the satisfaction of a desire through an involuntary thought process. It can occur in dreams or in daydreams, in the symptoms of neurosis, or in the hallucinations of psychosis. This satisfaction is often indirect and requires interpretation to recognize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freud's psychoanalytic theories</span> Look to unconscious drives to explain human behavior

Sigmund Freud is considered to be the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology, which looks to unconscious drives to explain human behavior. Freud believed that the mind is responsible for both conscious and unconscious decisions that it makes on the basis of psychological drives. The id, ego, and super-ego are three aspects of the mind Freud believed to comprise a person's personality. Freud believed people are "simply actors in the drama of [their] own minds, pushed by desire, pulled by coincidence. Underneath the surface, our personalities represent the power struggle going on deep within us".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kellerman, Henry (1987). The Nightmare: Psychological and Biological Foundations. New York: Columbia University Press.
  2. 1 2 3 Hobson, Allan (1988). The Dreaming Brain (1st ed.). New York: Basic Books, Inc.
  3. ↑ dream of falling
  4. 1 2 Weidhorn, Manfred (1967). "The Anxiety Dream in Literature from Homer to Milton". Studies in Philology. 64 (1): 65–82. JSTOR   4173557.
  5. ↑ Semiz, Umit; Basoglu, Cengiz; Ebrinc, Servet; Mesut, Cetin (2008). "Nightmare disorder, dream anxiety, and subjective sleep quality in patients with borderline personality disorder". Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology. 62 (1): 48–55. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1819.2007.01789.x. PMID   18289141. S2CID   32152853.
  6. ↑ Joelving, Frederik (2010). "More Than Just a Bad Dream". Scientific American Mind . 20 (7): 1.
  7. ↑ Moorcroft, William (1993). Sleep, Dreaming, & Sleep Disorders (2nd ed.). New York: University Press Of America.
  8. 1 2 Reeskamp, Herma (2006). "Working with Dreams in a Clinical Setting". American Journal of Psychotherapy. 60 (1): 23–36. doi: 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2006.60.1.23 . PMID   16770914.
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