Is there any proof that dreams mean anything other than our brain re-enacting recent events, a television programme we've seen, or a book we've read? I can often trace "the storyline" of my dreams to one or more of these.

I have to admit that my recurring dreams are more of a puzzle. Why do these keep returning every so often?

I don’t know that there is any real proof, exactly, but there have always been studies and interpretations of dreams. For Freud, everything was sexual. Other psychologists/ psychiatrists/ dream analysts see different meanings in the same thing. Sometimes, dreams are a result of having eaten something particularly rich shortly before bed. Sometimes they are the result of stress or worry, or recent events or television shows, as you said.
They’re just a way for the brain to work out subconscious issues without overburdening your mind. Coincidentally, I have noticed that people who say they “never dream” are usually pretty grouchy and snappish. Hmmm.

In a round about way (like going to the east by going west) there are strong suggestive clues to their being something more to dreams then just a random bunch of "broken images".

First we have to understand that the brain while we are sleeping is very active, it goes through different rhythms and processes. Lets use your desktop computer as an analogy.

1. Consider awareness, wakefulness to be the desktop. On our desktop we have short cuts to many programs and files. The whole file or program is not on the desktop. Just a neat icon which when we think of a thing we open the program or file. We are not aware of all of our abilities at the same time, we are not aware 24/7 that we can say play the piano, but we instantly run the Play Piano Program when we click on the correct icon in our minds.

2. The brain does not keep full files. Like trying to copy a same named file into a file in the computer the brain will not endure a redundancy, it will usually chuck the older version for the newer version. Our memories will be seeded with newer versions of details and are rarely composed of the original data. The brain does not keep a record of each and every-time we smell a rose. There is only one rose scent file, it may be updated and modified with each time we get a whiff of rose, we do not copy the scent of roses to a new file each and every time we smell a rose. Most often he brain elects the stronger image/scent, record. Thus many of us may complain that roses don't smell as strongly as we remember. To furthr cofuse that matter we will tag the same scent on similar scent files. Meaning that if a certain scent is closely related to another it is most likely the other scent with an attached modifying file.

3. The Brain processes emotion through association. That means that we will connect an emotion with a visual. We are visual beings, we respond to images far better than sounds, we abstract think in pictures, not words. We will associate different images to different feelings.

4. As a species we tend to have agreed upon images which mean certain things. EXAMPLE: A Valentines heart shape is universally accepted (in the western world) as the symbol of love. It is an agreed upon reference which everyone knows and understands to have a certain meaning. Just like the icons on our desktop have specific images tied into what the program is, our brain has specific images tied into our memories and files. Certain Symbols, colours, sounds evoke a generally agreed upon emotion in people. So many of the Dream Books will have these symbol images which relate to a specific thing simply because most people agree that Symbol = specific emotion/concept.

5. Most of our problems and experiences are emotional. This is why strong emotions tend to tie a particular memory more firmly in our mind than a dull emotion. We tend to remember very happy or sad times far longer and in greater detail than we do those dull moments. Though we have a distinct memory of standing in line at DMV for 3 hours last year, we do not have a full memory of it. But we can recall the first time we fell in love in astonishing detail even if it took place decades ago.

6. Like a computer at night the desktop (waking mind) is in screen saver mode and beneath that (sleep) our brain is running our nightly system tools, scan disk, clean disk, debug, virus scan followed by an elaborate stacking (defragging) which is where everything we have done in the past waking hours is being filed, matched up, discarding details, deleting redundant memories, updating with newer memories of similar things, referencing, cross-referencing and lastly stacking it all together to take up the least amount of space as possible. That stacking process also places a range of importance on things, the touch of clothing is recorded but not really needed to be flagged for recall because we will most likely not need to recall the feel of the clothing on our skin.

This process can lead to answers to daily problems, solutions rendered as the brain goes through the files comparing and deciding what is worth saving and what is not.

Yes, many of our dreams are directly related to what happened during the day. However, there are things which can be taking place which are serious problems we are unaware of as problems and the brain will flag them and attach the stronger emotions to to grab our attention and to leave an impression on us to where we will "do something" about the issue when we wake up.

Sometimes these serious problems, issues, are either repeated or unresolved. In extreme cases of abuse an individual who has not worked through it or is unable to process the events will have reoccurring nightmares as the brain attempts to resolve the underlying emotions attached to the events. In many instances the event itself is played over and over and over again as the brain attempts to find a solution and to file the issue.

In most unresolved problems the brain attempts to bring our attention to the problem by giving us different images which evoke related emotions. Its a visual language to express emotions. A reoccurring dream becomes the only way the brain knows to express a particular issue. The lack of enough words to express an idea is what we are looking at, so the brain attempts to use the same set of words to say what ever it is saying hoping that if it repeats it enough times you will make a mental connections and arrive at an understanding.

Why this lack of communication in our own brains? We are complex. We have a conscious level and a subconscious level, and then we have other levels which we can at times be aware of and other levels we never are aware of.

For instance, breathing, we rarely think about it but it happens all the time. This is on one level. At the same time our temperature and heart rate is being regulated we are never aware of these.

Then we have the conversation, exterior and interior. We can (and many of us do) say one thing out loud while thinking something else. We have different levels of awareness, say driving the car while holding a conversation with a passenger, we are conscious of both, multiprocessing.

Then there is the animal side to us (Made up of instinct, emotions and other irrational aspects) and the "logical" or rational "Thinking Man" part of us. The two are pretty well mapped out to specific locations in the brain and are assumed to have developed at different times in evolution. The "animal" parts being far older than the "Thinking" fore brain. Between the higher thinking brain functions and the animal instinctual emotional action/reaction emotions there are a few million years between. Not only are they basically alien to each other, but they are using different languages. This is like trying to use a Windows Program in a Mac - Possible, but not efficient.

Unless you are having a recurring dream which is of a specific event, it is possible that your brain has a set of dreams which is uses to flag a general distress to a group of related issues.

That means that you can have one dream which is used to cover a wide variety of issues, problems or questions which the dreaming mind throws out. All related by a particular emotional state or a feeling evoked by this set of images. Just like the similar scent files being connected with a common scent with the added modifying file, our brain has a limited range of images or emotion evoking plays it can use to call attention to a general emotional state.

Then there are the variations on a theme, such as variations on the flying dream, or the sex dream or the suddlying being aware of being naked at ____________ dream.

Psychologist have always been interested in listening to a patients dreams, but they are much more interested in what feelings these dreams raise in the patient and what the patient thinks the dream means. The First "gut reaction" is most usually the message the dream is trying to make.

Though we are granted with the ability to think, we tend to over think emotional issues, this causes a break in the problem solving system simply because the thinking mind attempts to over think the meaning of things exhausting all routes, while the emotional instinctual mind has a fight or flight yes/no pattern.

A person is pretty much aware of the emotions that are going on inside of them, dreams cause us to feel certain things. Dreams are remembered either because they were extremely silly or because they caused a strong emotion in us. The Silly ones are usually discounted as being the brains way of trying tomake sense of a Scan disk were erronous unrelated data was heaped together. We get some silly images which stick simply because they were so silly.

The strong emotive dreams stick with us because they have caused an awareness of a specific emotional state. It is that emotion which we sould think on, and try to place a connection between what is happening in our lives to that emotion.

David

Thank you for taking the trouble to explain DvdGSwrt, and my apologies for being unable to respond until now. What an excellent way that was, likening us to a computer. What you said made sense.

Like I said I can very often see where the storylines of most of my dreams come from, but the recurring theme I occasionally get baffled me. Though the storyline itself is different, as is the location, the actual "happening" (that I need to use the bathroom, but then find that either there is no door, or, more commonly, once I'm in there lots of people suddenly appear and naturally I then feel very embarassed and "exposed") is the same.

I think you are right that it is a sign that something is worrying me, though I don't know what it is. I have had this dream for many years now, so it is either a long term problem or perhaps a feeling of inadequacy of some sort.

Does anyone know how I can find out?

Try a Therapist.

No you do not have to be insane to see one, it may help though

In reality I have learned a lot about myself going to therapy for other issues. I come home with useful tools that I can apply in my daily life, I have gotten a deeper understanding of myself which has made it far, far easier for me to be good to myself.

I think that everyone needs to see a therapist and get to learn a little about themselves.

David