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Freud's study of dreams was not only the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious but also an opening to the development of the domain of psychoanalysis as a unique treatment method. As psychoanalysis has developed and transformed throughout the decades there has been a relative decline in interest in dreams and an increased focus on a "two-person" psychoanalysis and the accompanying relational encounters. Dreams continue to be of major relevance because they are the clearest manifestation of the symbolism and metaphor that provide unique opportunities for understanding our crucial conflicts and our most significant inspirations.

When teaching contemporary dream theory to psychoanalytic candidates the inclusion of research material is crucial in order to demonstrate the most up-to-date understanding of dreams. The research articles help us to determine the effectiveness of the methods that we're using, to gain a greater understanding of ongoing process both conscious and unconscious, to expand our knowledge base, to foster analytical skills and critical thinking, and to coordinate psychological and neurophysiological realms.

Here are some articles, most of which have been included in our contemporary dream course at NCP, that address exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory questions about dreams.

• Treatment Effectiveness: Fischmann, T. et. al. (2012). "Changes in dreams of chronic depressed patients: the Frankfurt fMRI/EEG study (FRED)" in The Significance of Dreams. London: Karnac, Pp. 157-181. This article correlates changes in dream content and changes in the fMRI. During the study, subjects were presented with words taken from dreams or with neutral words. Areas of the brain including the precuneus, VLPFcortex, and anterior cingulate that are involved with self-agency and emotional regulation and are activated by conflict, were no longer activated by dream words after one year of psychoanalytic treatment, thus providing physiological evidence for the impact of psychoanalysis.
  
  
• Coordination of psychological and neurophysiological findings: Levin, F. M. (2015). What Neuropsychoanalysis Teaches Us about Dreaming. Annual of Psychoanalysis, 38:131-141. Dreams and REM sleep have different mechanisms and anatomical locations. REM sleep originates in the pons and dreaming starts in the forebrain and involves the limbic system and the occipito-temporal parietal junction. The latter area converts perceptions into abstract internal schemes for storage.
  
  
• Advancement of knowledge base: Schmelowszky, A. (2016). Converging Paradigms: A Reflection on Parallel Theoretical Developments in Psychoanalytic Metapsychology and Empirical Dream Research. Psychoanal. Review, 103(4), 551-563. Current research appears to support Bion's ideas about conversion of perceptual data as well as the presence of dream processes during waking.
  
  
• Understanding process: Fox, K.C.R et. al. (2013). Dreaming as mind wandering: evidence from functional neuroimaging and first-person content reports. Front. Hum. Neurosci., 30 July 2013. Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience, Volume 7 - 2013. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00412. A comparison of dreaming and waking fantasy shows many descriptive and neurophysiological similarities, again supporting the idea that dreaming and waking are more alike than we imagine.

Beverly Feinstein, MD, is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, artist, and senior faculty member at NCP. After an early foray into sleep research, she began a private practice, taught for many years at a number of Los Angeles institutions, and is now retired from her position on the clinical faculty at UCLA. She has a private practice in Santa Monica where she sees adults, couples, and adolescents for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy with a special interest in creativity. She is also available for medication consultations.