Dream Analysis Flashcards
The theory of dream analysis
Who are the key people in Dream Analysis theory?
Sigmund Freud
Jung
Patrick McNamara Ph.D.
What is Patrick McNamara’s theory of dream analysis?
McNamara argues that both dreams and religious experiences are characterized by a four-stepcognitive“decentering” process.
Decentering involves a simultaneous disengagement of executive control/diminution in personal agency (step 1) and a subsequent entry (step 2) of the disengaged self into a liminal state (what I call in the book a “suppositional space or possible worlds space”). In step 3, a narratively constrained search for an optimal self occurs and takes whatever time brain resources allow to “locate” or settle on a “new self” and which then facilitates step 4 or integration of the old into a new self that ends the liminal state.
In every dream, the dreamer subjectively experiences step 1, a sense of a diminishment of self or loss of agency and control, along with a transient increase offearor negative affect (step 2)anxiety, disorientation during the liminal state etc., linked to that loss of agency or control. And then there follows (step 3) a sense of effort or search to reestablish control or a more effective sense of self, and finally some resolution (step 4). Ideally that resolution would involve re-establishment of executive control and a deeper more unified sense of self but in dreams the resolution all too often involves reintegration with a dark side of the self.
The key to individual dream interpretation is to assume that every dream involves trying on a differing sense of self. The dreamer uses narrative and the decentering process to do so. We need one more piece of information before we can interpret any given dream: We need to link up or translate the four-step decentering process into the four major literary tropes linguists and literary scholars have identified as occurring in most or all narrative types. (White, H. V. 1999).Figural realism: studies in the mimesis effect(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press) has argued that people unconsciously utilize the four major stylistic tropes metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony when analyzing historical materials and constructing histories. Metonymy (step 1, disengagement and entry into liminal state) involves breaking up those materials into parts; synecdoche (step 2, liminal state) involves reorganizing those materials into a new whole;metaphor (step 3) involves a comparison of materials with something familiar (narrative search for ideal self); and irony (step 4, resolution/reintegration) involves reflection on that new whole. In 1999, White showed that these four tropes are effectively equivalent to Freud’s dreamwork operations such as displacement (metonymy), condensation (metaphor), presentation (synecdoche) and secondary revision (irony). “The four operations identified by Freud function in the same way that the tropes do in allegory to mediate between the literal and the figurative levels of meanings of the text.” (White 1999, p. 103).
What is Metonymy (step 1)?
Metonymy—breaking up those materials into parts (step 1, disengagement and entry into liminal state).
Dreamer needs to lose old identity/agency before trying on new identity.
What is Synecdoche(step 2, liminal state)?
Synecdoche involves attempts to reorganize materials into a new whole.
What is Metaphor(step 3)?
Metaphor(step 3) involves a comparison of materials with something familiar (narrative comparison of old self with possible new self)
What is irony (step 4)?
Irony(step 4, resolution/reintegration) involves reflection on that new whole.
Dreams and attachment styles
Dreams facilitate emotionalattachmentto romantic and other significant others.
McNamara et al. (2001) documented significant positive associations between attachment orientation, dream recall rates, and image intensity in dreams. McNamara, Pace-Schott, Johnson, Harris, and Auerbach (2011) found that people classified as anxiously attached evidenced reduced REM latencies and were more likely to have dreams containing themes ofaggressionand self-denigration compared to people with other attachment styles. Mikulincer, Shaver, and Avihou-Kanza (2011) reported similar findings regarding associations between insecure attachment and negativeself-conceptin dreams. Mikulincer, Shaver, Sapir-Lavid, and Avihou-Kanza (2009) found that both attachment-related avoidance andanxietycorrelated with less dream content denoting secure attachment such as less support seeking, less support availability, and less distress relief in dreams. Most important, Selterman, Apetroaia, Riela, and Aron, (2014) demonstrated that attachment-related dream content influenced daytime attachment behaviors.Specifically, they found that the frequency with which participants reported dreams about their romantic partners was positively associated with the extent to which they interacted with their partners and felt morelove/closeness on days subsequent to dreaming about them. When people high in attachment avoidance had greater negative affect in dreams of their partners, they reported interacting less with their partners on subsequent days. For those high in interdependence, having a dream containing sexual behavior with one’s partner was associated with increased love/closeness on subsequent days.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/dream-catcher/201708/you-really-need-be-tracking-your-dreams
