Parts one and two of the interview of sleep psychologist Prof. Dr. Günther W. Amann-Jennson with the journal “Leben & Erziehen” (Living and Educating) dealt with the reasons and the contents of dreaming during pregnancy, the third and last part deals with the function of these dreams.
What are the functions of those dreams?
From the scientific point of view, this is still an unsolved question. Nonetheless, analyzing our dreams might still be useful. It is certain, that they consolidate experiences and emotions in our brain. This turns our nightly “cinema in the head” into an active and important mental process. Basically, dreams are very important and positive for processing mental stress as well as subconscious fears.
Pregnant women are subjected to a complete restructuring process. Out of this reason, their dreams are especially intense and lasting. Primary, dreams are encrypted visions and always cause emotions and feelings. And, when the dreaming content is negative, also fear. For Sigmund Freud, for example, each dream was there to control impulses and fulfilling wishes as well as was a guardian of sleep. Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, found in his research into the interpretation of dreams that our subconscious is a creative power of our soul. Meaning, in our dreams we easier find more creative solutions. And this in turn is good for our self-development and self-confidence.
Are there any studies concerning dreaming and pregnancy?
Unfortunately, only few scientific studies where physiological as well as mental factors are both considered deal with dreams of pregnant women. On the one hand, there is a great outlay for whole-night-recordings and on the other hand, nightmares rarely occur during examinations in a sleep laboratory. But, there are numerous reports of dreaming contents like dream diaries or other records. Also, there are some very interesting books concerning this topic, like “The Dream World of Pregnancy” of Eileen Stukane. The most amazing facts here are the substantive agreements as well as their personal and individual meaning.
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