As therapists, we live near our dreams and those of our patients. Dreams intrigue, enrich, and can terrify. We amplify them, to glimpse their meaning, using free association, active imagination and guided imagery. Neuroscientific research now shows the neural network which scripts dreams is the one which understands them – the Default Mode Network (DMN).
Dreams connect us to the Collective, build empathy, evolve memory, develop creativity and balance the mind. They communicate across thresholds between the unconscious and conscious; a continually moving boundary in a complex emergent system – the mind. In ‘The Transcendent function’ (CW 8 para: 131 – 193) Jung explains they are complimentary, balancing each other. This not only happens during sleep, because we ‘day dream’ about fifty per cent of waking life. This is when we link experience to memory and expectation; rework the past and connect to possible futures.
Daydreams are micro-dreams made by the DMN. They occur about every nine to twelve minutes. But we don’t have ‘memories.’ They’re better called ‘reconstructive imaginings.’ (Fernyhough 2012, pp 1 -23). This is why they easily change.
Dreams and daydreams use {both / and / neither /nor} as a conjunction, rather than the {either / or} of consciousness. The neural networks which create dreams begin about twenty weeks pre- birth, as we gradually dream ourselves into our bodies. Children dream about three hours a night, teenagers about four, and adults have two hours of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
Freud supposed dreams guard sleep. Salvador Dali painted ‘A dream caused by the flight of a bumble bee around a pomegranate.’ The dream images or ‘manifest content’ – a roaring tiger – hides the ‘latent content’ – an angry bee. Freud suggested a dream censor hides repressed impulses with symbols and supposed there were ‘standard symbols’ – if it’s longer than it’s wide, it’s a penis. In his view, dreams draw on past events, childhood, and immediate experience, day residues. We amplify them with free associations (a form of play).
Jung agreed dreams communicate symbolically but understand what ‘symbol’ means differently. Symbols are a ‘sign plus X’ – where X is an unknowable (like the square root of minus one, ). Symbols arise from archetypal images and can be predictive. We may explore them using active imagination, amplification and reflection. ‘Dreams are invariably seeking to express something that the ego does not know and does not understand’ (CW 17: para 187). They can be as short as a postcard or as long as a fantasy trilogy (in seven volumes). They may be meaningless or life-changing.
As dream language is symbolic, we don’t need a dream censor. The medium is self- censoring. If you’re not ready to receive a dream, you don’t have the dream, or you forget it. Ninety five percent of dreams are forgotten. For therapists, wondering ‘what does this dream mean?’ may include ‘what is this dream doing in my consulting room right now?’ Bringing dreams can be a defence.
If the brain is the hardware, the mind is the software – the neural networks which constitute it. We knew little about them till we could ‘see’ the mind working, using functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery (fMRI). Active parts of the brain use more blood. Bood contains iron, it’s magnetic. With strong magnets and CT scanner-like technology, we can watch the mind.
There are three main networks on the conscious / unconscious border. When ‘on task’ the Executive network (EN) organises decision making and task management.
When we check the safety of our inner and outer worlds, the Salience Network (SN) takes over. Salient means ‘to stick out.’ It’s always ‘on.’ In sleep it turns down and goes ‘full on’ again when startled (like Dali and the bee). The SN switches between the Executive network and it’s opposite – the Default Mode Network (DMN) – it’s ‘On’ when we’re not concentrating.
A myth amongst neuroscientists is researchers went for a coffee, leaving their subject in the scanner. They’d supposed the brain would rest. But another network ‘lit up,’ and told stories.
The DMN creates the stories we call ‘memories.’ This is done by the Anterior Cingulate gyrus – underneath where a ‘bald patch’ is. It’s the most energy- using part of the brain, and the first affected by Alzheimer’s. It connects to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex – where your ‘third eye’ would be. This draws together awareness of sensations, organises and consolidates ‘memory.’ A third part, the angular gyrus (just below your ears) does memory retrieval and theory of mind – the ability to recognise other living beings have minds too. W
hen these parts don’t relate well, autistic states, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and OCD can occur – as they can around a complex.
Fortunately, as Freud said, dream stories are a ‘a royal road to knowledge of the unconscious mind.’ When we amplify a dream using free association and / or active imagination, we’re using the DMN to tell ourselves stories about stories which integrate dream symbols into daily life.
American psychoanalyst James Grotstein asked, ‘Who is the dreamer who dreams the dream, and who is the dreamer who understands it? (1979). They are the same – the Default Mode Network. If you are curious to know more, look at ‘Dreams: the basics’ – which maps the networks, and says more about how to play with dreams.
References
Grotstein, J., (1979) ‘Who is the dreamer who dreams the dream and who is the dreamer who understands it?’ Contemp. Psychoanal., 15, 110 – 169
Jung, C.G., all references are to the Collected Works, edited by Adler, G., Fordham, M., and Read, H., London, Routledge
About the author
Dr. Dale Mathers, M.B., B.S., (retired psychiatrist, former training analyst with the Association of Jungian Analysts) taught widely in Eastern Europe. His latest book, ‘Dreams: the Basics’ (with Carola, his wife) was published by Routledge in 2024.