A Discussion on Dreams & Our Mental Health

Dreaming and your life

Have you ever wondered about your dreams? For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by dreams. I have always had very memorable and intense dreams. I can recall scary dreams I had when I was a child and I had reoccurring dreams with tornadoes for years.

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When I was a young child, I was given a dream interpretation book. Every morning, I would wake up and look up what my dreams the night before meant. My family members would call and tell me their dreams and I would find their interpretation for them from my book. I lost the book along the way, but to this day I will look up dream meanings online and I discuss my dreams almost daily with family members.
As I worked in the mental health field I have wondered about the connection between our dreams and our mental health. I have been researching and contemplating dreams for quite a long time, so I wanted to put together some interesting information that hopefully gets you thinking more about your dreams and what they mean for you.

What are dreams?

Do dreams have meaning?

Dreams & mental health

What are dreams?

There are times I have thought dreams are similar to hallucinations. Elaborate strange stories strung together that don’t make much sense. You’re in one place and then suddenly you are in a different location. There are people there that you don’t know or people that have passed away. There are even times we can be aware we are dreaming but are powerless over what is going on in the dream and it’s a very strange experience. The usual constraints of reality don't exist in dreams.
Dreams are stories and images that our brain makes while we sleep. Some research shows that dreaming is an activity of the brain that is “hard-wired”, to show reality in a story-telling manner. A reality show in your brain while you sleep! This shows you how hard the brain is working even when we are asleep. One explanation of dreaming is: “…dreaming reveals itself to be a complex cognitive state affected by a wide variety of medical, psychological, sleep and social variables”.

Studying Dreams

Dreams are hard to study because most of the time dreams are not remembered and there is no easy way to study the way dreams work in the brain. I write down my dreams as soon as I wake up, especially if they’re interesting or complicated, to make sure I remember all the details. Dreams are also hard to keep track of because once we wake up the dream can start fading away almost immediately.

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Changes have been found in the brain during other phases of sleep versus REM sleep, when dreaming occurs more frequently. The brain may organize experiences into stories and parts of the brain are able to get rid of the reality part that exists when we are awake. “Dreaming may represent a potent, naturally occurring form of confabulation in which imaginary events are not only created and believed but are vividly experienced as organized, multimodal hallucinations.” (I called it!)

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Do dreams have meaning?

No one seems to know for certain what dreams mean. I put a lot of faith in my dream interpretation book as a child but as I’ve gotten older, I can see how dreams could mean various things. Sometimes you can put things together as to why you had such a dream based on what is currently going on in your life. I have experienced dreams that I recognized as my subconscious trying to manage and process things that are going on in my life. But then there are those seemingly random dreams where there isn’t an easy connection to make such as why you’re lost in a random building you’ve never seen. (Although it seems the feeling in a dream of being lost or confused can sometimes correlate to your life.)
Writing down your dreams when you wake up is a good practice for you to see what is happening in your dreams and if there are any patterns or reoccurring dreams. Even if something seems silly at the time, it may end up having a meaning to you later. Or you can connect what is happening during dreams to what is happening in your life. Writing down dreams gives you time to contemplate your dreams and draw meaning from them.

Dreams and our mental health

I wonder if we could learn some things about ourselves if we tune into our dreams and what they are telling us. I feel that even if we cannot determine what our dreams mean, there are messages there if we look close enough. There may be unfinished business or some situation that you need to handle. The Cleveland Clinic found that you dream more when you are under stress. Being in tune with your dreams could help you to be in tune to what is going on with you mentally and physically.
There is no proof that dreams mean anything, or tell the future, but dreaming is still a part of our lives that can hold some type of significance. Dreaming could help you sort out your feelings about a stressful event or give you a clue into how you feel about something. I’ve had dreams give me a sense of calm when I have had visits from loved ones that passed away. Sometimes dreams give you clarity and show you how you truly feel about someone or something. Dreams can be silly and fun, but they are also a chance to connect with yourself and listen to how you are feeling, which can bring you to a better understanding of your mental well- being.