Dreaming: Function And Meaning

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and therefore can be
either meaningful or meaningless, varying greatly in terms of psychological
significance.

Interpretation Of Dreams Revisited

If we are to understand Freud's view of the dream, we need to consider
his concept of the dreamer's brain. We know today that the nervous system
contains two types of nerve cells (excitatory and inhibitory). Both types
discharge and transmit electrochemical impulses to other neurons. Both do
this spontaneously, without any kind of outside stimuli, as well as when
they themselves receive excitatory impulses from other cells. However, one
critical difference between these two types of neurons is that one type,
called "excitatory" transmits impulses to other neurons which causes
increased nervous activity or "excitation" in them. The other type of
neurons is called "inhibitory," because they send messages to other neurons
that cause decreased activity or "inhibition." The human brain is
constructed of an unimaginably complex ...

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or medications, or by rapid withdrawal from them, or by
physical conditions such as illness and fever. The nightmares of early
childhood likely reflect the struggle to learn to deal with normal
childhood fears and problems. Many people experience nightmares after they
have suffered a traumatic event, such as surgery, the loss of a loved one,
an assault or a severe accident. The nightmares of combat veterans fall
into this category. The content of these nightmares is typically directly
related to the traumatic event and the nightmares often occur over and over.
Other people experience nightmares when they are undergoing stress in their
waking lives, such as difficulty or change on the job ...

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