Do you remember your dreams?
Julio Rodriguez
Junior Creative Editor
Dreams occur in the sleeping-mind of every Hudson Valley student.
“We dream multiple times every night. Even if we don’t remember them, we’re dreaming repeatedly every night,” said Andrew Schott, professor of psychology.
A majority of the dreams we experience during the night remain unknown to us. “Usually we forget our dreams because we don’t wake up during them. We cycle through the different stages. Stage one, two, three, four and we go into R.E.M. Sleep. Then without waking up we repeat the cycle,” said Schott.
Students have experienced this phenomenon, like business administration student Poke Poke, who has been experiencing a loss of her own dreams.
“I dream, but I only remember some parts,” said Poke. Some psychologists believe that our dreams hold a deep manifested meaning to them.
Individual studies student, Emily Kuiber, has been experiencing the opposite effect and remembers her dreams. “I usually remember my dreams because my alarm will wake me up while I’m sleeping in my R.E.M. cycle.”
“In the Freudian, psychodynamic view, therapists will analyze dreams and try to get a hidden and unknown reason for the nature of our feelings and behaviors. That’s somewhat controversial, but dream interpretation has been going on for 100 years,” said Schott.
Kuiber experienced a recurring dream as a child. Freud would analyze the dream in relation to his psychodynamic theory: a view that explains personality in terms of conscious and unconscious forces.
“This abominable snowman would come onto our front porch, and it would look into our windows. I knew that it was going to try to eat us, so I would tell my dad, ‘Dad, you have to hide.’ But he wouldn’t hide and I would end up being the only one hiding. I told him, ‘ Dad, you’re going to die! You need to hide!’” Kuiber explained.
Freud would likely analyze Kuiber’s dream to have a meaning beyond the obvious. Most of the contents of the unconscious mind are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety or conflict.
Dreams are a normal biological function in the human brain. However, the presence of extra sensory perception in dreams is a phenomenon which many believe to be coincidence.
Kuiber said, “I want to believe, but at the same time science is telling me no. It would be mad cool if people could use ESP. I know that there are people who have claimed to have been able to. It’s a yes and a no from me.”
Schott believes that the supernatural side of extra sensory perception is a phenomenon which is not backed by scientific evidence.
“I don’t think that there is any solid evidence for the supernatural side of dreams; to have visions of the future. I do think that sometimes we dream things that give information we might not be aware of in our conscious state,” said Schott.
Even after years of research, psychologists are still unable to agree on the cause of our dreams. Schott said, “Clearly, we need to dream for our psychological functioning and for our brain function. The meaning of our dreams is up for debate.”