Psychology 5.2

*Dreams are repressed desires

*Provide access to the unconscious

*Use symbols to represent something other than we would normally think

*Freud

*Dreaming is the brain's attempt to make sense out of random electrical activity that enters the forebrain during REM sleep

*Dreams are a response to this electrical activity and have no meaning

*During dreaming, unneeded neural connections are cleaned up or cleared out which is why the brain creates random electrical energy

*Allows us to learn by integrating new and old information

*Brain would become overloaded if we don’t dream

*Lets us work out solutions to problems

*Dreams are the interplay between the psychological triggering of brain waves and the psychological function of the imagination and interpretation parts of the mind

*Mental experience that occurs during REM sleep and consists of vivid images

*Eyes move

*Irregular heart rate, breathing, body temperature

*Muscles become paralyzed

*Lucid Dreaming

*When a sleeper is aware of dreaming while a dream is happening

*Can take control of the dream

*May be able to change dream to help/heal ourselves as we sleep

*Creative vs Non Creative

*Dreams of obstacles- not people they have to overcome

*More animals

*More story like

*vivid

*More about assault and victimization

*Things happen to them

*Not a lot of control

*Dream manipulation

*Dreams can be manipulated

*Insert characters in dreams but what happens depends on who it is and what they do

*By varying the character we can vary the outcome

*Dreams-Age and gender

*3-4 animals and home

*5-6 more activities and feeling

* Girls more pleasant thing and a more active role

*Boys more unpleasant dreams and a passive role

*7-8 boys unpleasant dreams have almost disappeared

*9-10 more about school and happiness

*11-12 more about people their age, less of sadness

*13-14 increase in dreams where people are angry

*Necessity of dreams

*If we don’t dream we become irritable, have trouble concentrating , memory lapses

*Insomnia

*The difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep

*Causes: depression, drugs, stress, scary scenes

*Treatment: medication, regular schedule

*Narcolepsy

*Uncontrolled, recurring, sudden onset of REM sleep and total loss of muscle control

*Cause: anxiety or stress (exact cause is unknown)

*Treatment- medication

*Sleep Apnea

*Frequent stoppage of breathing during sleep that last at least 20 sec

*Sleep is interrupted when breathing is restored

*Signals: heavy snoring, snorting, and daytime sleepiness

*Night Terrors

*Sudden awakening in which sleeper sits up, eyes open in terror and may scream

*NREM sleep

*Usually doesn’t remember

*More common in males

*Hypersomnia

*Excessive sleep; over 12 hours a day

*Hard for the person to wake up and may feel drowsy all day

*Causes severe depression, drugs, physical disorders

*Sleepwalking

*Walking or sitting up during NREM sleep

*No critical judgment

*Need to be monitored

*Sleeptalking

*Talking during NREM sleep

*Speech not usually understandable

*More common in children

*Nightmares

*Disturbed dreams that occur during REM sleep

*Common themes: monsters, being pursued, being accused or punished unfairly, inadequate in some way

*What parents can do: take them seriously, don’t shame them, try to work through it, if they feel if they are in charge, they may work out problem causing nightmare