The Psychodynamic Theory And The Activation Theory Of Dreams

For as long as human beings have been able to reflect on their own consciousness, there has been a prevailing interest with one of the most mysterious activities of the mind: the formation of dreams. From ancient cultures across the world to modern psychologists, humans have always wondered about the origin of dreams. However a more recent development in the study of dreams has been the question of why dreams occur, rather than how they 're formed. The two major theories involving dreams are the psychodynamic theory and the activation-synthesis model of dreaming. Psychologists from the psychodynamic perspective believe in psychodynamic dream theory as established by Sigmund Freud, which posits that dreams act as a platform for the fulfillment of wishes and the release of unconscious and unacceptable urges. However, other psychologists believe in the activation-synthesis model of dreaming, which states that dreaming is the brain processing its own activity in a subjective way.
Freud wrote about his then new theory in his book, The …show more content…
That is, until Harvard psychiatrists Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley presented their own theory in 1977: the Activation-Synthesis model. According to this model, dreams are the product of the brain interpreting internally generated signals during REM sleep. During this phase of sleep, the limbic system structures (particularly the amygdala and hippocampus) activate. At the same time however, the regions in the brain responsible for registering external stimuli are deactivated. Since there is no new information coming into the brain from the external environment, the activated regions then process signals generated at the base of the brain and synthesize the dream story. Therefore, the dream theory is an amalgamation of different memories, emotions and sensations that are analyzed and consolidated by the