Understand Your Dreams - Prof. Mark Solms

With his wealth of expertise, Dr. Solms presents an enlightening talk that explores the intricacies of why we dream and unveils the hidden meanings behind these enigmatic nocturnal experiences.

Throughout the lecture, Dr. Solms navigates through cutting-edge research and timeless theories, providing viewers with a comprehensive understanding of the neuroscience behind dreaming. Drawing on his own pioneering studies and decades of exploration, he presents compelling evidence that underscores the importance of dreams in our cognitive and emotional landscapes.

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Professor Mark Solms is best known for his discovery of the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and for his pioneering integration of psychoanalytic theories and methods with those of modern neuroscience. He holds the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology). His other positions have included: Honorary Lecturer in Neurosurgery at St. Bartholomew’s & Royal London School of Medicine, Director of the International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Centre, London, and Director of the Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuro-Psychoanalysis at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.

Professor Solms’ books include: Clinical Studies in Neuro-Psychoanalysis (winner of the NAAP’s Gradiva Award Best Book, Science Category in 2001), The Brain and The Inner World (2002), and most recently: Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (2021).

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[MediaFolkus]

Dreams are the basis of all thoughts and are happening whether you are in waking consciousness or asleep. The difference is that you are not as aware of the image level of your dreams when you’re awake as much as when you asleep. When you are awake, you get very little of the dreaming part, but it’s still what underlies your conscious thinking.

It is not random firing nor is it some deep hidden reveal of meaning. You may not be able to interpret what the dreaming is about — or, you may project onto it based on what you want it to mean. Conversely, you are looking at your thought process as you sleep. You are thinking about things as you sleep — but, you are only aware of your subconscious level of those thoughts — because the waking consciousness part of you is what is asleep. It is not separate from your actual thinking, it is part of it. But, not something you can necessarily or readily figure out. There’s something else that is able to process it between that level and your logical waking thinking and your dreams — that is actually smarter than your waking logical thinking.

[zoltankovary]

This is not "understanding", this is "explanation". The two phenomena are largely different from each other, this was a basic distinction for continental philosophy (like Dilthey) and all the human science psychologies (like Jaspers' "psychology of understanding") based on this. Explanation of brain machanisms is of little use in self-knowledge and psychotherapy, while understanding is something that you cannot live without in this area. I do not know anythong more helpful in my therapy work as the interpretation of dream content related to the dreamer's inner life history and her/his relation to the therapist and the process of therapy ; these are the experiences that cannot be grapped by impersonal neurobiological mechanism :)

[hxxzxtf]

🎯 Key points for quick navigation:

00:15 *🤖 Dreams are inherently meaningless and random activation of the cortex by firing of neurons in the brain.*
04:10 *💡 Damage to different parts of the brain does not affect dreams, except for damage to the prefrontal cortex, which has no effect on dreams.*
06:00 *🔥 The part of the brain responsible for generating REM sleep is not responsible for dreaming, as patients with damage to this area still report dreaming.*
09:11 *🚫 Damage to the parietal occipital Junction leads to a loss of dreaming, but preservation of REM sleep.*
11:00 *👀 The part of the brain marked in red (mesocortical mesolimbic dopamine system) is crucial for dreaming, as damage here leads to a loss of dreams.*
14:06 *💊 Antipsychotic medications block dopamine in this circuit, leading to a reduction in dreams.*
16:06 *🔥 Boosting dopamine in this circuit increases dream frequency, intensity, and bizarreness.*
18:11 *🔍 Positron emission tomography (PET) scans show that this area is most active during dreaming sleep.*

Made with HARPA AI

[theplanetruth]

I would love an expose on the documovie (my term), WAKING LIFE.

[Selam-jk]

Very interesting! But how about psychotic patients who are on antipsychotics? Would they have fewer dreams or not at all? As it's known that the mesocortical pathway is already hypoactive in psychotic patients and typical antipsychotics tend to worsen that.

[cindychurch]

Thank you for this explanation of dreams. My adult daughter has always had very vivid dreams, nightmares a lot of times. I feel so sorry for her sometimes waking up in tears because they feel so real to her. You said more dopamine can cause this but she takes no pharmaceuticals. She does often drink too much alcohol which I worry about. Is there any connection here?

[theplanetruth]

5:45– so, does he not acknowledge lucid dreaming?