Nightmare after Trauma as Paradigm for All Dreams: A New Approach to the Nature and Functions of Dreaming

Abstract

Nightmares, far from being unsuccessful dreams or exceptions to rules about dreams, can be considered paradigms for all dreaming. They allow us to follow exactly how a disturbance or perturbation is handled by the processing systems in our minds. The data considered here consists of dream series in the weeks and months immediately following trauma in adults--in other words, nightmares and dreams occurring as the trauma resolves. It appears the traumatized person may dream first about the actual trauma (though not always), then, very quickly, the dreams appear to deal with the dominant emotion. Dreams of being overwhelmed by a tidal wave or being swept up by a whirlwind are common after almost any trauma. Clearly, such dreams are not about the sensory input from the actual trauma. Rather, the dreams are about the dominant emotion. The dreams contextualize (find a picture context for) the emotional concern. After trauma, the dominant emotion is usually first terror and fear, then often followed by guilt (such as survivor guilt). This too is pictured in the dream series. The same pattern of contextualizing an emotional concern can be seen in stressful situations, in pregnancy, or in patients whose lives are dominated by one emotion. This pattern is paradigmatic for all dreams, but it may be difficult to detect in "ordinary" dreams, because there may be a number of other relatively smaller emotional concerns present, as opposed to the one clear-cut dominant one (as after trauma). A theory of dreaming is sketched out based on these data which suggests that overall dreaming makes connections more broadly than waking in the nets of the mind, and that the connections are not made randomly but guided by the dreamer's emotional concerns. It is also suggested that the making of connections may be functional for the organism in the sense of "weaving in," or integrating, new material.

Disturbed dreaming, posttraumatic stress disorder, and affect distress: A review and neurocognitive model.

“…Such a possibility is consistent with the frequent observation that trauma-related nightmares intermix traumatic elements with elements of long-past fearful experiences (Hartmann, 1998b;Kramer et al, 1987). This phenomenon has been hypothesized to reflect some kind of adaptive assimilation or working through of a current trauma.…”

Os sonhos: integrando as visões psicanalítica e neurocientífica

“…In other words, the representations tend to associate themselves with others that have the same affective connotation. 2,43 This is in accordance to the Hebbian learning rule, which states that "a synaptic connection between two neurons increases whenever the neurons are activated at the same time by an external source." While we sleep, the recent experiences are first paired with more remote events, with which they present any similarity, and then integrated to the permanent records of memory.…”

“…Nevertheless, for Ernest Hartmann, 43 nightmares are not an exception; on the contrary, they represent the paradigm of all dreams. He studied the dreams of people who went through major traumatic experiences and noted that, in the beginning, there was often a mere repetition of the trauma.…”

“…It is believed that, in the dream, the neural networks are more easily connected than during waking. 43 Nonetheless, these connections do not occur randomly: the emotions would be the organizers of the neural networks. In other words, the representations tend to associate themselves with others that have the same affective connotation.…”

“…45 Therefore, the remembrance of a trauma (childhood or recent) is associated with other memories, which makes it less powerful and disturbing. 43 13 DISCUSSION Dreams may be defined as states of consciousness that take place during the sleep. But we still know very little about them.…”