Jen’s Reviews > Why we dream - the definitive answer > Status Update

References and notes start at 90%. Love it! Review to come. It took a while for me to get into this book, but I think the screen I was reading it on was too small and I couldn’t focus well enough on it. Once I switched to a bigger screen, it was great! LOVED this book!

“Interesting studies from WHO show that flourishing rural communities in third world countries, using these sort of naturally supportive approaches, have a much higher success rate in curing psychotic illness than developed western countries that have come to rely on ‘antipsychotic’ meditation. (Note 46)”

“Because psychotic people are so hypersensitive to metaphor, mental health professionals need to be trained how to reduce their patients’ arousal levels with calming metaphors. Conversely, they need to consciously avoid metaphors that may remind patients of their predicament, flipping them back into right hemisphere dominance and psychosis.”

“Neurophysiological evidence confirms that, when schizophrenic people are hearing voices, the speech centers in the left neocortex are activated. (Note 38)”

“We don’t talk when the right hemisphere is dominant during dreaming in REM sleep... during a psychotic episode, if the person is in the REM state awake, there would still be some logical activity and thinking taking place in the left hemisphere. But, because the REM stare is not anticipating any input from the left hemisphere, it has to interpret those thoughts metaphorically...” (aliens, voices, etc)

“...she was very agitated and in an active psychotic state. The more we studied the video, the more it became clear to us that the teacher was exhibiting REM state phenomena. These included rapid eye movements with the eyes open, dissociation, instant emotional responses to metaphors, ... This gave us the possibility...schizophrenia is waking reality processed through the dreaming brain.”

“It is in Stage 4 slow-wave sleep that growth hormones are released, which is thought to repair the damage caused to body tissues by the west and tear of everyday activities.” So too much REM sleep prevents the body from healing.

“In one meta-analysis of hundreds of studies, for example, it was found that depressed people given psychodynamic, ‘insight’ oriented therapy (such as psychoanalysis and gestalt therapy) had a poorer outcome than control groups of depressed people who received no treatment of any kind. (Note 29) In other words, psychodynamic forms of therapy can make depression worse.”

“Today’s worry brings on tomorrow’s depression.”

“Research by drug companies (not highly publicized) has shown that there is virtually no difference in outcome between antidepressant treatment and treatment by placebos. (Note 28)... a well-delivered placebo generates hope. And hope will focus attention elsewhere. With realistic hope in place, individuals are less likely to misuse imagination and catastrophise.”