https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2021.540
Working on dreams, from neuroscience to psychotherapy
Submitted: March 15, 2021
Accepted: June 2, 2021
Published: August 12, 2021
Accepted: June 2, 2021
Abstract Views: 5509
PDF: 1239
HTML: 111
HTML: 111
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Within the current clinical practice, the debate on the use of dream is still very topical. In this article, the author suggests to address this question with a notable scientific and cultural openness that embraces either the psychoanalytic approach (classical, modern and intersubjective), and the neurophysiological assumptions and both clinical research and cognitive hypotheses. The utility of dream - in the clinical work with patients - is supported by the author with extensive bibliographic references and personal clinical insights, drawn from his experience as a psychotherapist. Results: From an analysis of recent literature on this topic, the dream assumes a very different function and position in the clinical practice: from ‘via regia to the unconscious’ of Freudian theories - an expression of repressed infantile wishes of libidinal or aggressive drive nature - it becomes the very fulcrum of the analysis, a fundamental capacity to be developed, a necessary and decisive element for the patient’s transformation. The dream can also be use with the function of thinking and mentalization, of problem solving, of adaptation, as well as an indicator of the relationship with the therapist in the analytic dialogue or of dissociated aspects of the self. Finally, the author proposes a challenging reading of the clinical relevance of dream: through listening to the dream, the clinician can help the patient to stand in the spaces of his own self in a more open and fluid way and therefore to know himself better, to regulate his affects, to think and to integrate oneself.
Aserinsky, E. & Kleitman, N. (1953). Regularly occurring periods of eye motility, and concomitant phenomena during sleep. Science, 118(3062), 273-274.
Bertini, M. & Violani, C. (1984). Cerebral hemisphere, REM sleep and dreaming. In M. Bosinelli & P. Cicogna (Eds.), Psychology of Dreaming (pp. 131-135). Bologna: Clueb.
Bion, W. R. (1962). Learning from Experience. Tavistock Publications.
Blechner, M. J. (2018). Data, Dreams, and Drives: Interpersonal and Relational Innovations in Perspective. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28(6), 670-678.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10481885.2018.1538744
Blundo, C. (2011). Neuroscienze cliniche del comportamento. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Bottone, M. (2019). Il desiderio e la sua interpretazione al di là del sogno. In R. Musella & G. Trapanese (Eds.), L’interpretazione dei sogni. Dialoghi sulla tecnica psicoanalitica (pp. 159-174). Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Braun, A. R., Balkin, T. J., Wesenten, N. J., Carson, R. E., Varga, M., Baldwin, P., Selbie, S., Belenky, G. & Herscovitch, P. (1997). Regional blood flow throughout the sleep-wake cycle. Brain, 120(7), 1173-1197.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/120.7.1173
Bremer, F. (1935). Cerveau isolé et physiologie du sommeil. Comptes Rendus des Séances de la Société de Biologie et de ses Filiales, 118, 1235-1241.
Bromberg, P. M. (1998). Standing in the Spaces: Essays on Clinical Process, Trauma and Dissociation. El Dorado Hills, CA: The Analytic Press.
Bromberg, P. M. (2000). Bringing in the Dreamer: Some Reflections On Dreamwork, Surprise, And Analytic Process. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 36, 685-705.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00107530.2000.10745795
Bromberg, P. M. (2006). Awakening the Dreamer: Clinical Journeys. Milton Park: Taylor & Francis.
Bucci, W. (1997). Psychoanalysis & Cognitive Science. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Cartwright, R. D., Llyod, S., Knight, S. & Trenholme, I. (1984). Broken dreams: a study of the effects of divorce and depression on dream content. Psychiatry, 47(3), 251-259.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1984.11024246
Castellet, Y. Ballarà, F. (2018). What can neuroscience contribute to the interpretation of dreams and their working through? A clinical case. In R. Spagnolo (Ed.), Building Bridges. The Impact of Neuropsychoanalysis on Psychoanalytic Clinical Sessions (pp. 127-133). London: Routledge.
Caviglia, G. (2006). ‘Simbolo ‘vero’/simbolo ‘falso’: il dilemma clinico del simbolo diabolico’. In AA.VV., Simbolo, metafora, esistenza. Saggi in onore di Mario Trevi (pp. 101-114). Bergamo: Moretti & Vitali.
Colace, C. (2014). Drug dreams: Clinical and Research Implications of Dreams about Drugs in Drug-addicted Patients. London: Karnac Books.
Danon-Boileau, L. & Tamet, J.-Y. (Eds.). (2016). Des psychanalystes en séance: Glossaire clinique de psychanalyse contemporaine. Paris: Éditions Gallimard.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/gall.tamet.2016.01
Dement, W. C. & Kleitman, N. (1957). The relation of the eyes movements during sleep to dream activity: an objective method for the study of dreaming. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 53(5), 339-346.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0048189
Derbyshire, A. J., Rempel, B., Forbes, A. & Lambert, E. F. (1936). The effect of anesthetics on action potentials in the central cerebral cortex of the cat. American Journal of Physiology, 116(3), 557-596.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1152/ajplegacy.1936.116.3.577
Domhoff, G. W. (2005). The content of dreams: Methodologic and theoretical implications. In M. H. Kryger, T. Roth & W. C. Dement (Eds.), Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. Fourth Edition (pp. 522-534). Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.
Ellman, S. J. (2010). When Theories Touch: a Historical and Theoretical Integration of Psychoanalytic Thought. London: Karnac Books.
Ellman, S. J. & Weinstein, L. (2012). When theories touch: an attempted integration and reformulation of dream theory. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 109-125). London: Routledge.
Ferro, A. (2019). Psychoanalysis and Dreams. Bion, the Field and the Viscera of the Mind. London: Routledge.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429054518
Varvin, S., Fischmann T., Jovic, V., Rosenbaum, B. & Hau, S. (2012). Traumatic dreams: symbolisation gone astray. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 182-211). London: Routledge.
Fonagy, P., Kächele, H., Leuzinger-Bohleber, M. & Taylor, D. (2012). The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge.
Fosshage, J. L. (2007). The organizing functions of dreaming: Pivotal issues in understanding and working with dreams. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 16(4), 213-221.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08037060701442166
Freud S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams. Standard Edition, 4. New York, NY: Hogarth Press, (1953).
Hartmann, E. & Brezler, T. (2008). A systematic change in dreams after 9/11/01. SLEEP, 31(2), 213-218.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/31.2.213
Hill, C. E. & Knox, S. (2010). The Use of Dreams in Modern Psychotherapy. International Review of Neurobiology, 92, 291-317.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0074-7742(10)92013-8
Hobson, A. & McCarley, R. W. (1977). The brain as a dream generator: an activation synthesis hypothesis of the dream process. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 134(12), 1335-1348.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.134.12.1335
Jiménez, J. P. (2012). The manifest dream is the real dream: the changing relationship between theory and practice in the interpretation of dreams. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 31-48). London: Routledge.
Jouvet, M. (1962). Recherches sur les structures nerveuses et le mécanismes responsables des différentes phases du sommeil physiologique. Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 100, 125-206.
Kaplan-Solms, K. & Solms, M. (2000). Clinical Studies in Neuro-psychoanalysis. London: Karnac Books.
Legrenzi, P. & Umiltà, C. (2018). Molti inconsci per un cervello. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Leo, G. (Ed.). (2014). Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis. Lecce: Edizioni Frenis Zero.
Leuzinger-Bohleber, M. (2012), Changes in dreams - From a psychoanalysis with a traumatised, chronic depressed patient. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 49-85). London: Routledge.
Leuzinger-Bohleber, M. & Fonagy, P. (2012), Introduction. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. XXII-XLII). London: Routledge.
Lichtenberg, J. D., Lachmann, F. M. & Fosshage, J. L. (1996). The clinical exchange: Techniques derived from self and motivational systems. Psychoanalytic inquiry book series, 16. Analytic Press.
Lucarelli, D. (2015). Le travail psychanalytique avec le couple: le rêve comme possibilité de figuration de trames primitives traumatiques partagées. International Review of Psychoanalysis of Couple et Family, 14, 1-13.
Mancia, M. (2004). The dream between neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 142(4), 525-531.
Maquet, P., Péters, J.-M., Aerts, J., Delfiore, G., Degueldre, C., Luxen, A. & Franck, G. (1996). Functional neuroanatomy of human rapid-eye-movement sleep and dreaming. Nature, 383(6596), 163-166.
Musella, R. & Trapanese, G. (Eds.). (2019). L’interpretazione dei sogni. Dialoghi sulla tecnica psicoanalitica. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Nicolò, A. M. (2014). Family myths and pathological links. In A. M. Nicolò, P. Benghozi & D. Lucarelli (Eds.), Families in Transformation: A Psychoanalytic Approach (pp. 279-291). London: Karnac Books.
Nicolò, A.M. (2019). Il sogno e i processi inconsci interpersonali. Giornale italiano di psicologia, 3, 579-584.
Nielsen, T. A., Vealain, D. G., Stenstrom, P. & Powel, R. A. (2004). Immediate and delayed incorporations of events into dreams: further replication and implications for dream function. Journal of Sleep Research, 13(4), 327-336.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2004.00421.x
Nielsen, T. A. & Stenstrom, P. (2005). What are the memory sources of dreaming? Nature, 437(7063), 1286-1289.
Nofzinger, E., Mintun, M., Wiseman, M., Kupfer, D. & Moore, R. (1997). Forebrain activation in REM sleep: an FDG PET study. Brain research, 770(1-2), 169-201.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-8993(97)00807-X
Ogden, T. H. (2004). This Art of Psychoanalysis. Dreaming Undreamt Dreams and Interrupted Cries. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85(4), 857-877.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1516/D6R2-9NGF-YFJ2-5QK3
Payne, J. & Nadel, L. (2004). Sleep, dream, and memory consolidation: the role of the stress hormone cortisol. Learning & Memory, 11(6), 671-678.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.77104
Perrella, R., Del Villano, N. & Caviglia, G. (2016). Referential activity, dissociation, psychopathology and psychotherapy. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, 19, 165-171.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2016.243
Rustin, M. (2012). Dreams and play in child analysis today. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 17-30). London: Routledge.
Sapisochin, G. (2019). Enactment: Listening to psychic gestures. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 100(5), 1-21.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2019.1600372
Scharff, D. E., & Scharff, J. S. (2011). The library of object relations. The interpersonal unconscious. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
Schredl, M. (2010). Characteristics and content in dream. International Review of Neurobiology, 92, 135-154.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0074-7742(10)92007-2
Schwartz, S. & Marquet, P. (2002). Sleep imaging and the neuropsychological assessment of dreams. Trend Cognitive Science, 6(1), 23-30.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01818-0
Skrzypińska, D. & Szmigielska B. (2018). Dreams in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. In O. Şenormanci & G. Şenormanci (Eds.), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Clinical Applications (pp. 97-115). London: IntechOpen, Ltd.
Solms, M. (1995). New findings on the neurological organization of dreaming: implications for psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 64(1), 43-67.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21674086.1995.11927443
Solms, M. (1997). The Neuropsychology of Dreams. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Solms, M. (2000). Dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23(6), 843-850.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00003988
Spagnolo, R. (2018a). Gateways into the dream. In R. Spagnolo (Ed.), Building Bridges. The Impact of Neuropsychoanalysis on Psychoanalytic Clinical Sessions (pp. 3-22). London: Routledge.
Spagnolo, R. (Ed.). (2018b). Building Bridges. The impact of Neuropsychoanalysis on Psychoanalytic Clinical Sessions. London: Routledge.
Stern, D. B. (2010). Partners in Thought. Working with Unformulated Experience, Dissociation, and Enactment. London: Routledge.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203880388
Varvin, S., Fischmann, T., Jovic, V., Rosenbaum, B. & Hau, S. (2012). Traumatic dreams: symbolization gone astray. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 182-211). London: Routledge.
Walker, M. P. & Stickgold, R. (2014). Sleep, memory and plasticity. In G. Leo (Ed.), Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis (pp. 93-156). Lecce: Edizioni Frenis Zero.
Weinstein, L. & Ellman, S. J. (2012). ‘It’s only a dream’: physiological and developmental contributions to the feeling of reality. In P. Fonagy, H. Kächele, M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, & D. Taylor (Eds.), The significance of dreams. Bridging Clinical and Extraclinical Research in Psychoanalysis (pp. 126-146). London: Routledge.
How to Cite
Caviglia, G. (2021). Working on dreams, from neuroscience to psychotherapy. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, 24(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2021.540
Copyright (c) 2021 the Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
Similar Articles
- Cristina Marogna, Emanuele Montanari, Silvio Contiero, Klodjana Lleshi, Dreaming during COVID-19: the effects of a world trauma , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 24 No. 2 (2021): SPECIAL ISSUE "Working on dreams, from psychotherapy to neuroscience"
- Cecilia Serena Pace, Ester D'Onofrio, Viviana Guerriero, Giulio Cesare Zavattini, A proposal for a brief-term post-adoption intervention in the attachment-perspective: a single case study with a late-adopted child and his adoptive mother , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 19 No. 1 (2016): Special issue on Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: part 2
- Giorgio Falgares, Sandro De Santis, Salvatore Gullo, Danilo Carrozzino, Daniela Marchetti, Maria Cristina Verrocchio, Gianluca Lo Coco, Daniel Kopala-Sibley, Osmano Oasi, The Italian version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: psychometric properties and validation in students, community, and clinical groups , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 20 No. 1 (2017)
- Michela Gatta, Marta Sisti, Laura Sudati, Marina Miscioscia, Alessandra Simonelli, The Lausanne Trilogue Play within the outcome evaluation in infant mental health: a preliminary report , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 19 No. 1 (2016): Special issue on Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: part 2
- Christopher B. Harte, Raymond C. Hawkins II, Impact of personality disorder comorbidity on cognitive-behavioral therapy outcome for mood and anxiety disorders: results from a university training clinic , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 19 No. 2 (2016)
- Eunice Barbosa, Maria Amendoeira, Tiago Ferreira, Ana Sofia Teixeira, José Pinto-Gouveia, Joào Salgado, Immersion and distancing across the therapeutic process: relationship to symptoms and emotional arousal , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 20 No. 2 (2017)
- Gaia Albano, Arianna Teti, Arianna Scrò, Rubinia Celeste Bonfanti, Lucia Fortunato, Gianluca Lo Coco, A systematic review on the role of therapist characteristics in the treatment of eating disorders , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 27 No. 2 (2024)
- Cristina Marogna, Chiara Masaro, Vincenzo Calvo, Simona Ghedin, Floriana Caccamo, The extended unconscious group field and metabolization of pandemic experience: dreaming together to keep cohesion alive , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 25 No. 3 (2022): SPECIAL ISSUE: "Group psychotherapy: between settled benchmarks and new horizons"
- Hubert de Condé, Emmanuelle Zech, Jochem Willemsen, The person behind the therapist: a recall study on significant events that contribute to therapists’ personal and professional development , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 27 No. 2 (2024)
- Kelsey Armusewicz, Miriam Steele, Howard Steele, Anne Murphy, Assessing therapist and clinician competency in parent-infant psychotherapy: The REARING coding system (RCS) for the group attachment based intervention (GABI) , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 25 No. 1 (2022)
<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >>
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
