| While we dream across our lifetime, the character of our dreams changes as we age. The various seasons of our lives offer differing dream themes and images, as well as differing types of nightmares. This panel will look across our life span, showing us where we have come from, where we are now, and where we are going in our dream world.
How Children’s Dream Themes Differ from Adult’s Dream Themes
Patricia Garfield
Do dream themes of children differ substantially from those of adults? If so, how? In this paper, Dr. Garfield describes three major contrasts in dream themes and imagery between the two groups (including some examples from Federico Fellini’s recently published dream journals) and discusses their implications.
The Continuity Hypothesis of Dreaming
Michael Schredl
The continuity hypothesis postulates that dreams reflect waking life directly. Since everyday life changes across the life-span, dream content is expected to change in a similar way. In a representative survey in Germany, we found that formal aspects of dreams like bizarreness and intensity of emotions do not change with age. Dream content, however, clearly indicate differences between young persons and older persons. Empirical findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming.
Discussant: Ernest Hartmann
Dr. Hartmann will lead the discussion and make mention of his own dream journaling, observations in his studies, and future directions we can take to further document the changes in our dreams across our life span. |