Proto Himbo EuropeanTL;DR: Maybe dreams aren't trying to tell you something, but instead might provide clues about how your generally well-meaning brain is trying to organize your memories.
Dream interpretation: Generally total BS, Barnum statements, carnival fortune teller stuff. BUT...
What if we look at dreams functionally (in a specific way) instead of as messages from our supposed unconscious? Instead of asking "what is this dream trying to tell me?" maybe we could ask "what cognitive processes is this dream a byproduct of, and can I glean any information about how my brain is trying to take care of me?"
My rough understanding is that dreams might be part of the memory consolidation process for memories active since the last sleep. My (also not expert) understanding of that process is:
If a memory of something on your mind during the day is still rememberable by night time, then it is already in long-term memory (LTM). There is no memory store with a duration between "seconds if I lose focus on the thought" (i.e., short-term memory/working memory) and "years and years" (i.e., long-term memory; LTM). In other words, 50 First Dates is probably not possible.
If the above is true as stated, then memory consolidation isn't "putting the memories into more permanent storage"--they're already there--it's "organizing the memory warehouse". Side note: Memory organization is, for most people and situations, the problem in "remembering": If LTM is organized more effectively for a particular situation, we are able to remember more as we need it.
Cognition is not "cold" and emotionless, it is generally "hot". Emotion seems to be a key part of how many (most? all?) of our thinking systems work. Therefore, LTM organization/consolidation probably involves thought/feeling composites, not just "thoughts".
LTM is an active, dynamic system. Many phenomena studied by psychologists point to LTM essentially organizing itself, constantly, in ways we're not aware of. This leads to forgetting, confabulated memories, and probably a good dose of prejudice and discrimination FWIW, but it is also the reason we can remember anything.
[Getting speculative]: Maybe the executive functions that organize LTM, including during REM/dream memory consolidation, have evolved to be helpful to us. As with most evo psych this seems difficult or impossible to prove, but also like maybe it could be a thing.
THEREFORE: Dreams might provide clues to what those possibly-helpful processes are doing with our memories.
When you hugged your ex-boyfriend's abuser and felt filled with warmth? When the terrible bad monster was coming for you and you were armed only with a Twinkie? When you watched insects eating each other and then one looked like your mom? When you were in a high-speed chase, constantly trying not to crash while driving a very twitchy Mario Kart-style vehicle? Your brain isn't trying to tell you something with those things. Those are just the echoes of what your brain's opinionated, active, mysterious, and maybe sometimes benevolent file management system is doing.
Some more concrete possibilities:
Anxiety dreams (e.g., naked in class without studying for the test) are the memory management system (MMS; just made that up) making sure you can easily access your memories about things that make you anxious when certain situations happen, because anxiety generally evolved to keep us safe.
Dreams about fucked-up behavior like murdering someone or making out with your brother-in-law or torturing an animal might be your MMS connecting those fucked-up thoughts (which everyone has, occasionally, because our brains are very imaginative) with a network of other thoughts and feelings so that they remain identified as fucked-up just in case you ever get an actual urge--you'll get the "Nah, that's fucked up" feeling.
Other fucked-up dreams might just be by-products of rational organization, like when you had sex with your cousin maybe there's no message, just your MMS making the connection that your cousin is, in some technical sense, fuckable.
Dreams about incomprehensible, bizarre shit might be your MMS trying to rearrange a chunk of your LTM classification system to incorporate new thoughts. For instance, maybe a lot of things need to get moved around and re-filed to create a little node/category for furries who make amazing cocktails.
Caveat 1: I do not have a broad or deep understanding of research on #dreams, #sleep, or states of #consciousness
Caveat 2: Because of the first caveat it's likely this is not a remotely original idea
(NOTE: Markdown syntax rendering here seems to ignore a lot of line breaks no matter what I do...)
Cárlisson Bardo 🇧🇷✉️
Cárlisson Galdino