A dream can impact a person so profoundly that it may permanently alter his or
her life, beliefs, or behaviour. Most of the time, these gifts of insight happen to only a
rare few and usually occur without intention. These life-altering dreams are spontaneous
and unpredictable. While most studies focus on the content or meaning of dreams after
they occur, this study explores the possibility of using dreams to influence behavioural
changes in the waking world. This study examined three of the dream elements
associated with profound dreams that could potentially be used to develop a systematic
method of using dreams to create behavioural changes. The three elements are (a)
Emotion: the ability to generate high-emotion states within a dream; (b) Narrative: the
formation of narratives within a dream; and (c) Reality: the ability of the dreamer to
perceive and accept the dream as reality.
This study was conducted using a qualitative research design with a narrative
analysis approach in order to explore and understand the subjective experiences of two
participants. Data were collected through the participants‘ interviews and dream journals
to help determine themes emerging from each of the participants‘ individual experiences.
The themes were then analysed for any information regarding the three elements of
dreaming as well as the dreams‘ personal significance to the dreamer. Further analysis
explored whether lucid or non-lucid dreaming was able to intentionally produce an
experientially-based shift in a specific target behaviour. The results of this research study
suggest that there is potential for using dreams to induce behavioural change. The
research provided a preliminary inquiry into this new field of dream therapy. This
exploration of key elements to a potential dream method may prove essential to defining
a basic framework and the tools that may be required to implement a new dream method.
Future studies are necessary to uncover the correct combination of elements that will
produce profound dream experiences at will. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/20947 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Melchione, Cheri |
| Contributors | Mojapelo-Batka, Emily Mapula |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xiv, 294 pages) |
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