A Comparative Study of Nightmares, Lucid Dreams, and Archetypal Dreams Significance to the Dreamer's Life

Abstract

This study explores when and how people perceive their dreams as significant and creative in their lives by focusing on a comparison of nightmares, lucid dreams and archetypal dreams. The selection of these three types of dream experiences was based on Hunts's theory of intensified dream forms, which is detailed in his Multiplicity Of Dreams (1988). He proposed that cognitive theories of how dreams are formed, specifically the linguistic-mnemonic models as proposed by Freud (1900/1955) and more recently Foulkes (1985), do not take into account the evidence of creative-imaginative elements in the formation of dreams (Globus, 1987). Hunt's (1989) research indicated that while the mnemonic model adequately accounts for "ordinary dreams", it does not sufficiently explain the formation of bizarre imagery which is remote from the memories of everyday experience. These bizarre images are particularly found in nightmares, lucid dreams and archetypal dreams. He sees these types of dreams as being formed from a more imaginative-creative capacity of the dreaming mind, and as being characterized by a heightened visual, kinesthetic and emotional experience which cannot be explained in terms of nearby memory sources.