How to problem-solve in your dreams

 Taken from AMERICAN HEALTH July/August 1987.

How to problem-solve in your dreams

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  Your dreams are "written" in your own private vocabulary; that's why

their menaing is often unclear (and why dream books you buy at the corner

newsstand won't explain your own visions). Moreover, the language of dreams

is sensory and visual, whereareas the language of daily life is verbal. You

need to translate a dream much as you would a foreign language.

  Unfortunately, the same force s that make us disguise problems in our

dreams are likely to hinder our recognizing them whne we're awake. Even

Freud had trouble with self-analysis. So an impartial listener - atrained

therapist - can help. "It's a collaborative process," says New York

psychoanalyst Walter Bonime, author of the classic text, THE CLINICAL USE OF

DREAMS (Da Capo Press, $29.50)

  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't explore your dreams alone or with a

partner. People who keep dream journals say that over time, patterns often

emerge.

  To put your dreams to work solving problems, try this routine:

 o Program yourself to wake up after every REM period. I did it while

   writing this article simply by telling myself I wanted to at bedtime. But

   don't make it a regular habit. "The ability to maintain consciousness

   during sleep can backfire," says Dr. Neil Kavey, director of the

   Columbia-Presbyterian sleep lab. "If you can't shut it off, you may have

   trouble remaining asleep, or you may sleep so poorly that you feel you

   didn't sleep at all."

 o Put a notebook and pen or tape recorder at your bedside.

 o At bedtime, select a problem and sum it up with a question, such as

   "Should I take this new job?" Write it down and list possible solutions.

 o Turn off the lights and reflect on these solutions. Stick with it until

   you drift off to sleep.

 o When you wake up - during the night or in the morning - lie still. To jog

   your memory, pretend you're a detective interviewing an eyewitness.

   What's the last thingyou remember? Before that? Going backward can help

   you more easily reconstruct a dream.

 o Write down or tape record all that you remember. Do it before you shower

   and have breakfast.

 o If you have trouble catching dreams, try sleeping late on weekends

   The longest dreams occur in the last part of sleep and many of us cut

   sleep short on week nights.

  Once you've recorder your dream, how do you decode it? Tell it to yourself

in the third person, suggest psychologist Lillie Weiss in DREAM ANALYSIS IN

PSYCHOTHERAPY (Pergamon Press, $11.95). This may give you some distance from

the dream and help you see the actions more clearly. Then look at the part

of the dream that is the most mysterious. "Frequently the most incongruous

part provides the dream message," Weiss says.

  In her dream-therapy study, Cartwright asks participants to examine and

try to change repetitive, troublesome dreams along seven dimensions:

 o Time orientation. Do all your dreams take place in the past? Try

   positioning them in the present or future.

 o Competence to affect the outcome. Try finding a positive way to resolve a

   dream.

 o Self-blame. In yor dreams, do you hold yourself responsible  when things

   go wrong? Must you?

 o Relation to former role: If your divorced, do you still dream of yourself

   as married? If you have lost your job, do you still see yourself at work?

   Consider alternatives.

 o Motivation. Do you dream of being nurtured? Can you think of a way to

   take care of yourself?

 o Mood. What would make a dream more pleasant?

 o Dream roles: Do you like the part you play in your dreams? What role

   would you prefer?