Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS

Do childrens understanding of life occurrences change based on their dreams?

Child and Adolescent Development

Integrative Project: PSY 5201 Summer 2013

July 30, 2013

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS Table of Contents Abstract. Introduction...3-4 Literature Review Methodology. Results Discussion. References.

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS Introduction While working with children and adolescents, there are going to be many issues and problems that psychology professionals are going to be presented with. Your job as the child psychologist is to assist those children in reaching a conclusion, solution, and healthy lifestyle. There are many things that you will see a lot of such as: behavior problems, cognitive developmental issues and social issues. There are however, different issues that we tend not to think about as much. Have you ever watched a child sleep? Sometimes they smile or smirk, they may make noises and sometimes they might even cry. After speaking with a counselor, she stated that children have dreams just as well as adults, and this could sometimes be the reasons for those facial expressions while they are sleeping. Dreams are a form of world simulation, that is, of evocation of a nonpresent world by means of substitutes like words and images (Montangero, 2012). It has always been a great interest on how dreams impact development or do they have an impact at all. The reason for this topic is because my immediate family members constantly have dreams, whether they are good or bad. As a young child having dreams of losing loved ones, or becoming personally hurt, this has had a huge impact on ones life; even though these things have not actually happened. I am always calling my siblings and my mother if I see an ambulance. Im also very careful and scared when coming in my house at night time. So Im not sure if its actually the dreams that I had when I was younger that affect this, or if it is something else that I need to find out. This is why the area of dreams is being researched. All of this, leaves us with the unanswered question, Do childrens understanding of life occurrences change based on their dreams? Everyone has dreams and you always will.

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS Sometimes we have certain things that happen to us and it causes us to dream strange things. For instance, my brothers friend, whom is 10 years old, lost her twin sister when she was younger and she recently lost her mother. My brother and the girl are really close and she told him that she has bad dreams all the time that she will be next. This of course causes her to act differently and have a strange behavior that children their age, of course wouldnt understand. This is said to illustrate that life occurrences do in fact relate to the dreams that we have. This is a very important topic to study. It is important to me because I and many of my immediate family members have had problems with dreams and life occurrences. Dreams have a more vivid content, which is taken for perceptions; moreover, they are sequences of events including unexpected content and involving animate beings who act and interact (Montangero, 2012). The significance of this proposal is to inform and educate those children who are being affected by these dreams. There is not much information that has been presented on this topic; therefore there is a substantial need for this proposal. Sometimes the topic of dreams gets overlooked and overshadowed by many other problems or issues. Not to say those things are not important, but this arena is constantly lacking information. The purpose of this proposal is to inform, and educate individuals on life occurrences and how they are affected by dreams. LITERATURE REVIEW Working with children requires one to very careful particularly when dealing with delicate psychological issues. Various prominent psychologists have studied issues relating to children psychology and childhood dreams. Many psychology scholars make similar or related conclusions on matters related to children dreams. Adams and Hydes article investigate the significance of dreams in child development. The scholars believe that dreams are part of

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS childrens spirituality and emotional development. The scholars claim that interpretation of dreams or the meanings that children attach to dreams determine their meaning of life. Bulkeley, K and Hartmann (2011) analyses the impact of age on dreams. Unlike their predecessors, Bulkeley and Hartmann believe that dreams are dependent on age. Their studies compliment Adams and Hyde (2008) on the nature of dreams. According to the scholars, dreams are dependent on other social factors such as age, gender, and environment. Unlike other related articles, the article attempt to make an explicit classification of dreams. For instance, the article investigates occurrence of disturbing dreams (nightmares) among adolescents. The researchers established that adolescent girls were more likely to have a nightmare that their male counterparts. The article concludes that teenage dreams reflect their emotions, fears, worries, and ambitions. Studies that are more recent suggest that dreams are rich source of information that psychotherapists can utilize in their daily routine. Hill, et al. (2008) conducted an investigation on the importance of dreams in psychoanalysis. Their results indicated that psychotherapists had positive attitude towards dreams as source of credible information. The authors suggest that recurrence of dreams is the main aspect of psychoanalysis study. The study was conducted through a qualitative study, in which psychoanalytic therapists were the main respondent. From the study, 47 out of 50 psychotherapists confirmed that they achieved satisfactory results while working with dreams. Huermann, et al. (2009) also confirmed the importance of dreams in psychoanalysis. The study gives an account of a survey conducted on 49 mental health practitioners working with students from public schools. Majority of the practitioners confirmed that most of their practice involves a dream. The study also confirmed that majority of the practitioners were most unlikely to mention dreams a preliminary study. This was intended to

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS ensure that dreams that are brought up during such studies were legitimate. The study seems inconclusive since it does not identify critical factors that psychoanalysis needs to investigate in a dream. For instance, the article does not highlight the significance of classifying dreams as either nightmares or normal dreams. Dream content is an interesting topic among most psychologists. Karagianni, et al. (2013), conducted a study to investigate dream content and how it relates to the lives of an individual. Through a quantitative study, the scholars examined dream content among Greek children aged 8 to 12 years of age n= 273 and 13 to 18 for n= 483. Dream content was analyzed through Van de Castle and Hall method. The study established an outstanding male/ female ratio of dreaming. In addition, boys dreams were mostly full of violence and aggression while girls dreams were mainly accompanied by nightmares. The study also established a close connection between dream content and waking thoughts. Most dreams are related to conscious thought and life experiences. The paper also investigates the continuity hypothesis along with the theories of regulating dreams. The study disapproves the continuation hypothesis as the main factor that influences dreams. The scholars concluded that dream continuation is unrealistic and unachievable. However, the study maintains that the continuity hypothesis is helpful to the understanding of dream content. King and DeCicco (2009) investigated the relationship between dreams and waking life. The article maintains that dreams reflect certain aspects of life. The study is based on a qualitative study that was conducted to measure the levels at which people believed their dreams. Majority of the respondents contacted during the study maintained that dreams had crucial information that reflected on their lives. For instance, most people believed dreams that depicted success while they despised dreams that depicted death or failure. However, the researchers did not establish any practical application of dream information in peoples lives.

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS The study provides basic background information on studies investigating the sources of such beliefs. Most recent studies have concluded that dreams are recount of waking life. Montangero (2012) established that dreams content is composed of more past content than future content. What accounts for the narrative character of dreams? Are dreams structured like canonical stories? (Montangero, 2012). These are the two main research questions that the study investigates. The study maintains that dreams are narrations or review of waking like. Although the study utilizes most of the recent research techniques and results it fails to explain some critical factors associated with dreams. For instance, the article does not explain the superhuman nature of most dreams. Moreover, the article does not explain the extra ordinary performances associated with most dream characters. The study identifies dreams as incomplete short stories that give an account of our past lives. The short story understanding of dreams is of particular interest while we are investigating children dreams. Meyer, and Shore (2001), investigate the difference between children and adults dream in terms of content. The study also investigates the significance of dreams among adults and children. The article concludes that dreams are more important to children than they are to adults. Dreams will influence strongly a childs social interactions. According to neuroscientists, both Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) dreams function to stimulate social interactions among people including children. A majority of children with REM dreams for example will exhibit a high occurrence rate of aggressive social interactions compared to those with NREM dreams. The study also reveals that childrens dreams are a mental state and they contribute to the childs emotional development. Siegel (2005) made similar conclusions while he was studying the relationship between dreams and age. In his paper Children's dreams and nightmares: Emerging

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS trends in research. The researcher investigates the variation of dream content with aged. The study reveals considerable victimization in children dreams. Further investigation proved that children were unable to recall their dreams and therefore the continuity aspect of dreams did not apply. The study also revealed considerable relationship between dream content, age, and gender. According to the study, dreams reflect personal lives and creations. The study also suggests that dream content is dependent on individual ambition. This is of particular interests among the children since they have particular interest in superiority. Although the paper provides useful information that relates to dream content and age, it makes contradictory conclusions. For instance, the study does not explain the victimization aspect commonly associated with childhood dreams. However, the study provides useful background information and data for further studies on dreams. The article also highlights the continuity hypothesis and its implication in dream interpretation. Unlike other related articles, the study does not advocate for beliefs in dream content.

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS References Adams, K., & Hyde, B. (2008). Children's grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence. Dreaming, 18(1), 58-67. doi:10.1037/1053-0797.18.1.58 Bulkeley, K. (2012). Dreaming in adolescence: A blind word search of a teenage girl's dream series. Dreaming, 22(4), 240-252. doi:10.1037/a0030253 Big dreams: An analysis using central image intensity, Dreaming, 21(3), 157-167. doi:10.1037/a0024087 Hill, C. E., Liu, J., Spangler, P., Sim, W., & Schottenbauer, M. (2008). Working with dreams in psychotherapy: What do psychoanalytic therapists report that they do? Psychoanalytic Psychology, 25(4), 565-573. doi:10.1037/a0013539 Huermann, R., Crook Lyon, R. E., Heath, M., Fischer, L., & Potkar, K. (2009). Dream work with children: Perceptions and practices of school mental health professionals. Dreaming, 19(2), 85-96. doi:10.1037/a0016522 Karagianni, M., Papadopoulou, A., Kallini, A., Dadatsi, A., Abatzoglou, G., & Zilikis, N. (2013). Dream content of Greek children and adolescents. Dreaming, 23(2), 91-96. doi:10.1037/a0032238 King, D. B., & DeCicco, T. L. (2009). Dream relevance and the continuity hypothesis: Believe it or not? Dreaming, 19(4), 207-217. doi:10.1037/a0017612 content analysis, and word searches.

Running Head: CHILDRENS LIFE OCCURENCES BASED ON DREAMS Montangero, J. (2012). Dreams are narrative simulations of autobiographical episodes, not stories or scripts: A review. Dreaming, 22(3), 157-172. doi:10.1037/a0028978 Meyer, S., & Shore, C. (2001). Children's understanding of dreams as mental states. Dreaming, 11(4), 179-194. doi:10.1023/A:1012288223591 Schredl, M., Pallmer, R., & Montasser, A. (1996). Anxiety dreams in schoolaged children. Dreaming, 6(4), 265-270. doi:10.1037/h0094461 Siegel, A. B. (2005). Children's dreams and nightmares: Emerging trends in research. Dreaming, 15(3), 147-154. doi:10.1037/1053-0797.15.3.147