Dream 269

'Fighting Demons to Cure Wu Tang Clan's Blindness'

My wisdom teeth were causing me a lot of pain, so I had a very long sleep - approximately 16 hours or more - and during this time had a series of dreams, with short periods of wakefulness in between. Although I remember these dreams vividly, I am not sure how they were divided into separate dreams as they all blurred into one long sequence, with no clear beginnings and endings. Therefore, although this may in fact be a number of separate dreams, I have recorded them as one - with each individual scene demarcated as usual - rather than trying to record them as separate entries.

The first scene was actually so 'normal' that I thought it had happened in real-life, rather than being a dream. When I was awake I had to think back carefully and identify reasons why this would not have been a real-life experience, but it seemed so commonplace, that it was only the fact that I had been asleep all day that indicated it must have taken place in a dream. It was morning and like it is in real-life, the weather was hot and sunny. On the university campus, graduation ceremonies are currently taking place (in real-life). In this dream scene, there was some event - which may have been graduations - taking place, because I could see many cars parked outside my house and also signs directing drivers/visitors to parking areas and other parts of campus. I came out of my house and sat on my doorstep to smoke a cigarette, which is what I would normally do in real-life. Directly in front of my house was a large blue van with several men sat in it, laughing and joking. There was an unfamiliar man - who looked like a workman - sitting on the brick wall outside my house, with his back to me. His trousers (blue jeans) were falling down at the back, exposing his butt crack and he was wearing a dirty white vest. He was approximately 40 years of age, white and quite fat. When I sat on my doorstep, he turned around and said 'hello', while also smoking a cigarette. I said 'hello' in response, and he turned back to the men in the blue van, talking to them through the windscreen/open windows. To my right, I could see two younger looking men - one of whom was ginger-haired and very skinny - trying to move road signs which were positioned at the bottom of the flight of concrete steps which are adjacent to my house. They were struggling with them. I watched this, while smoking, then went back inside my house. 

I then found that I was in a room which felt like my bedroom, but was completely different in appearance - the room was long and narrow with seating along one wall and then opened up into a square space at one end. All the furniture appeared to be white. There were a group of males in the room, who were all taking drugs - I think they were injecting heroin. They were crowded into the square space at one end of the room. I did not feel uneasy however, as I am not disgusted by the drug use of others in real-life. I was unfamiliar with these males - who were all young adults and British - but I think they may have been friends of a friend. There was another male in the room with me - standing beside me. It might have been DL or it may have been PS - I knew this male well, but could not distinguish who it was as I could not see them. I was holding an iPad, which in the dream belonged to me. There was a chip/break in the screen and I was annoyed about this. The familiar male (DL/PS/other) was telling me that I could get the screen polished at a repair centre, but it would cost a lot of money. I was not happy about this and I kept touching the chip/break in the screen, ignoring the unfamiliar heroin user males who were trying to join in the conversation. I then licked my finger and realised that I could wipe away the chip/break, restoring the screen to a brand-new perfect condition. I showed DL/PS/other that I had fixed the iPad and felt proud of myself. I then told the heroin user males that they had to leave because I needed to get ready to go out.

The scene changed and I was in another room, but it was unfamiliar in appearance. However, I knew that it was my former primary school. There was a desk around which were seated the members of the Wu Tang Clan. I was aware that every single one of them was an expectant father (i.e. they all had partners who were pregnant and about to give birth), but the Wu Tang had been cursed with blindness. I also realised that the blindness curse had been made by some small, squiggly black entities, who looked like stick-men. As soon as I realised this fact, I found myself with two other (unidentified) persons in a cornfield. Two black squiggly stick-men rushed through the corn towards me and I used my fingers to form a gun shape and shoot them, killing them. I then returned (alone) to the primary school classroom where I re-joined the Wu Tang Clan, who now had their vision restored by my killing of the black stick-men. However, a pointy yellow witch (about the size of a small cat) entered the room - everything about her was pointy and yellow (she reminded me of a lemon). She was about shin-height. I quickly used my 'gun fingers' to shoot her. The Wu Tang Clan then took part in a runway show, where they paraded up and down the classroom, striking poses and 'voguing' although I was not aware of any music accompanying this. I then realised that I was seated at the desk with other 'students' and we were all involved in a lesson - the task was colouring in pictures. I was holding up my colouring book to inspect it, not really paying attention to those around me. 

The scene then changed again and I was walking along the road my nan lives on in Sheringham, towards my great-great aunt's house which is opposite, but further up the road (away from town, towards a place called Sunway Park) on a corner. I got past her house and a few yards away, down a  turning, was a cul-de-sac (which is not there in real-life). Although it was daylight on the main part of the road, along which I was waling, the cul-de-sac was completely dark, like it was night-time there, but only in this small section of town. I could see fairy lights in the trees and it seemed as if there was a party going on. I went into the cul-de-sac and found that there was indeed a party. MS (a boy I went to high-school with) was there - I joined him. I was sitting on a bench with MS seated beside me, watching other (unfamiliar persons) enjoying themselves. The cul-de-sac was an open square, with houses surrounding it - like a garden courtyard. This is nothing like any of the places I have ever seen in Sheringham. I was showing MS the colouring book I had been using in the previous classroom scene.

The scene again transitioned seamlessly, and I was in my former home in Pine Grove, Sheringham. I was standing by the stairs, with my hand on the bannister. My stepdad was in the lounge and my mum was in the doorway of the lounge, so standing between the stairs where I was stood and my stepdad. My mum told me she was going for a walk and asked if anyone wanted her to bring back fish and chips. She was going to visit her brother (my uncle) who has recently had marital problems (in real-life, so the dream reflected my actual knowledge of his family circumstances). I said I did not want anything, but I then thought about it and changed my mind, telling her to bring me back a large portion of chips. My stepdad shouted through from the lounge: 'I want some vodka lemonades!' (my stepdad does not drink vodka lemonades, but this is one of my favourite alcoholic drinks).

I then found myself on a moving bus, during daytime. The bus was coming down Sunway Park, towards my nan's house. I was aware that the cul-de-sac where I had spent time with MS was approaching on my right, so I decided to look at it out of the window, as I would reach this before my stop (the one near my nan's house, further down the road on the left). I saw that it still looked like night-time in this cul-de-sac. I was seated against the window, with a woman (middle-aged, unfamiliar in the dream and real-life) wearing a grey raincoat/mac sitting next to me on the aisle seat. There was another unfamiliar middle-aged woman, wearing a headscarf and carrying an umbrella seated in front of me. I realised that I was approaching my stop and leaned over to press the button which was mounted on a post next to the seat in front of my own. I thought that I hadn't quite pushed the button, as I did not hear it make a noise to alert the driver. However, the woman sitting next to me said: 'you didn't mean to ring the bell then'. I said: 'yes I did' and stood up to pass her and alight from the bus. I made sure I had all my bags (plastic shopping bags) but I was holding three, as the fourth one was stuck under my seat. I pulled it free and the woman next to me moved so that I could get past and dismount from the bus. I then decided that instead of going home to my nan's or my home at Pine Grove, I would go back to the cul-de-sac and see MS - this is where he was living, although in reality his house was some distance away, closer to my former school. In the dream I did wonder why his house was so close to my nan's when it seemed like a longer walk (recalling my real-life experience of walking between the two places). I woke up. 

Dream 268

'Watching a Robot Diver Travel the Globe'

I do not remember the very start of this dream clearly. I seemed to be in some form of flats/apartment complex which was made up of stacked square rooms, made of blue smoked glass. The scene then changed and I found myself walking in what seemed to be a very dark office complex, with mobile partitions (which could be moved to create new 'internal' walls to separate areas within the main rooms) which were made of the same green or blue carpeting that was also on the floor. The office looked very basic and functional - like a public institution of some kind, such as a school or a job centre. I walked down a very dark corridor which had been created by lining up the mobile partitions, blocking off the main space of the room. I was aware that I was in the 'CPM office' which I perceived to be the new name for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service). As I walked down the corridor, I was aware of other persons seated behind the partition, in the main part of the room as I could hear voices. I wondered who would be in there.

I turned a corner and came into the main part of the room, which was brightly lit. There was a cluster of sofa seating in the centre of the room, which looked like a waiting-room or common room area, with wooden coffee tables and shelving (positioned against the back of the mobile partitions which had formed the 'corridor' I had just walked down). The room was filled with other persons, sitting or standing around - they all appeared to be unfamiliar to me, both in the dream and real-life.

I saw ED2 - he was reading while waiting for something. I asked him what he was reading and he showed me a book. I then found myself standing on some kind of balcony with ED2. We were looking over the railing of this balcony or mezzanine level at what appeared to be the whole world - like a slightly curving surface. The world looked like an old fashioned map or globe - there was blue sea and all the landmasses were a dusty brown or green colour - as if it had faded. There were objects scattered around the 'world' - such as prominent buildings or landmarks and ships in the sea. Everything looked like a Victorian illustration rather than realistic or tangible objects in three dimensions. I would describe what I was seeing as a 'vintage atlas map' - but on a huge scale. From our position above, on some form of balcony/mezzanine/bridge, the world map spread out below us as far as the eye could see. I noticed that the proportion of water to land was far greater than normal. There seemed to be much more ocean/sea than in real-life. Although everything looked like an illustration when you just looked out across the vista, if you looked down and concentrated on something specific, it looked 'real' and normal, rather than illustrations. I could see the swells of the waves on the ocean.

The world was moving very slowly - so it appeared that we were on a bridge resembling looking down and watching everything pass under us. I then saw a huge (compared to the size of the landmasses) bronze/brass robot, which resembled an old fashioned metal diving suit. It was horizontal - belly downwards - flying around the world. I realised that ED2 and I were 'watching' the storyline of the book that ED2 had been reading. He then something to me which indicated that he had seen Rihanna and assumed that I had also seen her. I leaned over the edge of the balcony/railing/bridge and tried to see Rihanna, but directly below me was sea, not land. I thought I saw a tiny life buoy in the water and assumed that Rihanna was standing on that, but too small for me to see. I pretended that I had seen her too. 

The scene then changed and again and we were in the same room as before. I was standing beside the shelving - which contained objects which may have been books or something else. I think they were books as I intended to find a book of my own so that I could join in with the others who all seemed to be reading. Some of the books were more like small square black boxes. I reached to take some 'books' off the shelf and they all fell on the floor, so I picked them up and returned them to the shelf. I then went over to the sofa where ED2 was now seated with his robot book and sat down beside him. An unfamiliar and vaguely-recalled female (I remember she was ordinary looking with red hair) entered the room. She was either a tutor or a leader of some kind. She was telling those persons gathered in the room that something was about to begin shortly. I was aware that I was out of place and did not belong with this group, but I remained seated with ED2. I recall that my nan entered the dream at some point, but I cannot recall anything more.

La Ghash Dream Throwback Series #2

Dream#2 (16 December 2011)

To read the original report of this dream and the contemporary analysis, please click on this link.

Dream 267

'The Soham Murders'

This was a terrifying a disturbing dream, although very brief. It warrants some background information to explain the context and why I experienced this dream as a nightmare which left me feeling uneasy and troubled when I awoke. I apologise in advance for the gruesome and tragic content of this particular dream report.

I am not comfortable recording this dream because of the sensitive nature of the content (i.e. the murder of innocent children by a sex offender), but I undertake to record all my dreams regardless of whether I want to or not so I have made this decision, albeit with significant reservations.

The Soham Murders

The Soham Murders took place in the small Cambridgeshire village, Soham, on 4 August 2002, and have been described as one of the most shocking crimes of early twenty-first century Britain. The victims were Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, both aged 10 years. Ian Huntley, caretaker at the local secondary school was convicted of the murders and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment (with a 40 year tariff) in December 2003. Huntley's girlfriend, Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls' primary school was convicted of perverting the course of justice (for providing Huntley with a false alibi) and sentenced to 42 months imprisonment. Huntey remains in prison, while Carr has been released and granted anonymity (and a new identity) for her protection. 

Huntley was known to the police and authorities as a sex offender, targeting children and young female adults. He had been dismissed from an earlier school caretaker job for having an inappropriate relationship with a female pupil. Subsequent investigation has revealed that Huntley had been suspected of committing a number offences, including burglary, several indecent (sexual) assaults and rapes, none of which had resulted in convictions. The Soham school where he had been working as a caretaker had not checked his references, relying on Carr's recommendation of him for the position. Carr had suffered various incidents of domestic violence at the hands of Huntley.

The girls had been at a family BBQ, which they left in the evening, to go and buy sweets. On the way, they saw Huntley outside his home and they spoke to him. Huntley invited them into the house, telling them (falsely) that Carr, whom the girls were fond of, was inside. Carr was in fact visiting family in Grimsby. Shortly after the girls entered Huntley's home he murdered them. Huntley's motive for killing the girls - and also the method of murder - is unknown, but it is speculated that he killed them in a fit of jealous rage as he had just had an explosive argument with Carr on the telephone. There was no evidence of premeditation.

During the initial search for the girls, photographs were released to the media and  footballer David Beckham made an appeal for the girls to be returned home safely. Huntley conducted TV interviews, stating that he was the last person to have seen the girls before their disappearance. Carr was later interviewed by the police, speaking about her affection for the missing children and urging them to come home. Both Huntley and Carr made witness statements to the police on 16 August 2002. During a search of Huntley's lock-up, items of clothing belonging to the girls - Manchester United football shirts - were found, burnt. Huntley and Carr were arrested on suspicion of murder the next day, when the bodies of Holly and Jessica were found in a ditch near RAF Lakenheath. The bodies were in a decomposed, partially-skeletonised state, making it difficult to ascertain the precise cause of death, and there was evidence of attempts made to burn evidence at the scene, to destroy forensics.

During his trial at the Old Bailey Huntley stated that the girls had gone to his bathroom because Holly had suffered a nosebleed. While attempting to stem the blood flow, Huntley had accidentally knocked Holly into a bath of water, causing her to accidentally drown. Jessica had suffocated when Huntley tried to stifle her screams and by the time he realised what was happening it was already too late and both girls were dead. This account was not accepted by the jury, who convicted him by a majority verdict. 

While on remand awaiting trial, Huntley attempted to commit suicide by overdose of antidepressant medication. He made similar attempts in 2006. Whilst serving his sentence at HMP Wakefield in 2005, Huntley was scalded with boiling water by another inmate. In 2010, while at HMP Frankland, Huntley had his throat slashed by another prisoner, who was subsequently convicted for this and a second attack on a sex offender prisoner.

There has been criticism of the way in which the initial police investigation of the girls' disappearance - because of a lack of local resources, vital clues had been missed in the early stages. Further, the murder lead to the Bichard Inquiry into child protection procedures and the vetting and intelligence-keeping of information relating to child sex offenders. Findings of the Inquiry led to the enactment of the Police Act 2002. Additional complications of this case emerged when Operation Ore uncovered evidence that a police officer involved in the investigation of the Soham murders had committed child pornography offences for which he was convicted. 

I have had a prolonged interest in true crime - hence my decision to study criminal law. Prior to this dream I had written a short section of my PhD thesis, discussing the new secret identity and anonymity granted to Maxine Carr in connection with the Soham Murders. I recall vividly the police investigation when the girls initially disappeared and also the appeal by Beckham and have read/discussed this case on various occasions. The Soham Murders are burned onto the  public consciousness and Huntley remains a figure of intense hatred and repulsion, while Carr's current circumstances are largely unknown, save for the fact that she has had relationships, may be married and now has a child. Both Huntley and Carr are periodically mentioned in the media in connection with the Soham Murders and the aftermath.

Maxine Carr (b. 1977) & Ian Huntley (b. 1974)

Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman (1991 - 2002) - the photograph released to the media at the start of the police investigation into their disappearance was taken on the day of their murder

In this dream, I was Jessica Chapman, but my name in the dream was 'Alice'. I knew I was Jessica because I was with Holly. We were both in Huntley's home, although he did not physically appear in the dream at any stage. I was terrified and wanted to leave, as if I knew something awful was about to happen to Holly and I. The room was quite dimly lit and I am not sure what type of room we were in exactly - although it appeared to be a laundry room or kitchen. I could see white surfaces/furniture items. Suddenly I saw Holly had been put in a washing machine, which was on a spin cycle, filled with water. This was how Huntley had murdered her. I knew I was about to be murdered next. I started screaming: 'Huntley put Holly in the washing machine and she's shrunk to death!' I could see that Holly (not yet dead) - her face distorted by fear and pain, pushed up against the glass door of the washing machine - had been shrunk down to the size of a doll. She looked twisted and deformed. I was hysterical at both her murder by Huntley and the knowledge that I was about to suffer a similar fate. 

I suddenly found myself floating above a country-side landscape with green fields and hedgerows. It was daylight and the sky was greyish-white. I could feel the fresh air/breeze on my face. I knew I was escaping Huntley and my own murder. I felt in a state of abject panic and dismay about the loss of Holly, my best friend. I woke up terrified and disgusted by this dream. 

Afterwards, I felt compelled to watch a documentary about the Soham Murders. Until I watched the documentary I had not consciously realised that Huntley (in his defence at trial) claimed Holly had accidentally drowned in bath water, but I must have subconsciously known this fact from watching/reading the news at the time of his trial/conviction which in my dream was symbolised by her being submerged in the water within the operative washing machine. While watching the documentary I was also made aware that I am acquainted (via my previous employment) with the barrister who prosecuted Huntley - I have met him on several occasions in a professional context.

La Ghash Dream Throwback Series #1

Hi! I decided to create a new series of videos on my Youtube channel, sharing old dreams and interpretations from the beginning of my online Dream Diary! I have just posted the first upload, La Ghash Dream Throwback Series #1. To read the original entry on my Dream Diary (from 15 December 2011), please follow this link.

I hope you enjoy this new series of Viva La Ghash videos. As this is only the second video that I have ever made and uploaded onto the internet I am sure I come across as a little self-conscious and awkward, but with plenty of practice I will eventually polish that performance and produce some better quality videos for you to enjoy. If you like this video, please give it a 'thumbs up' and subscribe to my Youtube channel and remember, I conduct free of charge dream analysis for my viewers/readers, so please leave me a message in the comments if you are interested in this service!

You can follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/TallulahLaGhash

Dream #1 (15 December 2011)

Dream 266

'Pigeonhole'

Dream date: 18 July 2014

On occasions when I am unable to recall a significant amount of my dream content to record my dream in narrative form (i.e. when I recall the emotions, colours, sensations, characters etc, but none of the context, action or dialogue) I am going to attempt to create original stream-of-consciousness imagery to illustrate the sensation of the dream because that seems like a more flexible medium. The images may be abstract because I am painting an emotion (rather like Abstract Impressionism or Expressionism, depending on whether I am capturing the visual shape, form and colour of a fleeting moment or a more emotive representation of an inner thought or feeling) and doing so unconsciously, without planning, editing or precision. I am not producing these images with the objective of creating aesthetic, comprehensible or pleasing artwork - I am intending to convey something which cannot be expressed through existing imagery found on the internet or words. Where possible I will use text to add anything I can recall from the dream which may shed light on how the image may be interpreted. Although I excelled at Art & Design in high school and have an undergraduate degree in English Literature & History of Art as well as a lifelong interest in art (notably, Contemporary, Conceptual and Postmodern art), I am not a trained artist, just a keen amateur. These paintings may tell a story, but it is for the viewer to 'read' that story through engaging with my stream of consciousness imagery, which hopefully will inspire and enlighten. 

Key material:

PS

Bright lights, lightbulbs

Compartmentalised, pigeonholes, boxes, rooms, flats

Choose a room

White and yellow

Black cross(es)

Content and positive outlook

Finality

Jay-Z has a new track/music video about cheating on Beyonce, car scene, suburbia, green bushes, I can't believe they are being so honest with the public...

An Introduction to Dream Speech - Emil Kraepelin & Sigmund Freud

This is an introduction to the phenomenon of dream speech. Dream speech is the verbal or acoustic language of dreams, which most commonly occurs in the form of dialogue between the dreamer and other dream characters. This article focuses specifically on the contributions of psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (1856 - 1926) who produced an impressive opus of dream speech material and analysis of Kraepelin's self-reported dreams using Freudian psychoanalysis. I will be posting a further, more generalised, article on dream speech at a later stage.

Dream speech (or Traumsprache in German) is internal speech within a dream, in which errors of speech may occur. This phenomenon was defined by Emil Kraepelin in On Language Disturbances in Dreams (1906), which analysed various types of dream speech, presenting 286 examples. Dream speech is distinct from 'the language of dreams' which refers to the visual symbols used to represent thoughts in dreams. Kraepelin identified three categories of dream speech, within which there are numerous subdivisions:

1. Disorders of word selection (paraphasias)
2. Disorders of discourse (aggrammatisms)
3. Thought disorders

Kraepelin found that the most common type of dream speech was neologism - the use of words which only have meaning for the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning and not necessarily accepted in mainstream language. Kraepelin studied dream speech because he hoped it would provide him with insight into analogous language disturbances in schizophrenic persons. In 1920 he stated that: 'dream speech in every detail corresponds to schizophrenic speech disorder'. Kraepelin was interested in the psychiatric as well as psychological aspects of dream speech, but modern dream scientists and psychologists are interested in speech production in dreams in relation to cognitive processes in the dreaming mind. Some modern studies have confirmed Kraepelin's earlier findings. Kraepelin is well-known as a pioneer of biological psychiatry and the 'spiritual father' of the DSM classificatory system for psychiatric disorder.

Kraepelin continued to collect examples of dream speech until his death in 1926, from his own personal experiences which he recorded and can be seen in the Archive of the Max Plancke Institute of Psychiatry in Munich. Kraepelin's dream speech specimens were published in 1993 - the second dream corpus had not been censured and is annotated with the date, as Kraepelin (who had been collecting specimens of dream speech for 40 years) approached this exercise with scientific precision. 

Kraepelin's own dream speech began during a period of personal crisis and depression (1882 - 1884). In 1882 Kraepelin was fired from the Leipzig Psychiatry Clinic after only working there for a few weeks and two months later his father died. From the early years of his career Kraepelin had witnessed schizophrenic speech disorder ('schizophasie') in his patients - a condition which can often make it impossible to understand what the schizophrenic patient is trying to express. Using the classic dream-psychosis analogy, Kraepelin attempted to study dream speech, hoping it would shed some light on schizophasie. He recorded his own dreams, but did not use psychoanalysis to analyse them, instead using them for scientific research. He found that he was able to record 'deviant language' from the dream, and also the intended utterance (which was not possible in the case of his schizophrenic patients who cannot cross the boundary between psychosis and reality in order to communicate this distinction). Most neogolisms (the deviant utterance) have a meaning (the intended utterance). 

Kraepelin was able to identify two fundamental disorders in dream speech: a diminished functioning of the Wernicke's area of the brain (cerebral cortex involved in the understanding of spoken and written speech); and diminished functioning of the frontal area which deals with abstract reasoning. Therefore individual ideas, rather than general ideas, are expressed in dreams. Kraepelin included proper nouns (i.e. names such as Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune) in their widest sense within this model.

Kraepelin's dream speech specimens range from simple to intricate and his own analysis is somewhat limited in scope. Below are some examples:

'Vi tafalk!' 

This was an order given to a gravedigger named Vi to bring a coffin for the body during a funeral. 

'Tafalk' is a shortcut for the German 'katafalk' (catafalque' meaning the raised platform on which a coffin sits during a funeral)

'nsens' 

'Nonsence' minus 'one'

'Crap a ace' ('crap' meaning 'rubbish' in English, 'a' being the Greek prefix for 'without' and 'ace' representing 'one)

'Crap a ace' is a derivative from the metathesis of 'carapace'

'Carapace' (dorsal section of an exoskeleton) refers to 'schild' (shield) from 'Firmenschild' (German for 'company logo')

Schild = (1) carapace - (2) crap a ace - (3) nonsense without one - (4) nsens

(1) and (3) are conceptual associations ('code-type' associations in cryptography)

(2) and (4) are word form associations ('cipher-type' associations)

Kraepelin (who did not provide this particular analysis) termed 'nsens' as an example of 'syllable combinations jumbled in a completely arbitrary way' and thought 'nsens' was Russian. According to scholars, this assertion originated from the associative networks of his dreaming brain. The Russian word 'krapkea' means 'firm' which is an association with 'Firmenschild', provoking the transformation to 'carapace'

'Serre'
'Serre' - a word with no meaning in German. Kraepelin associates the word with 'an animal, by appearance, a heavy panther, but in fact a harmless herbivore which cannot turn over again once it is lying on its back and is completely defenceless'.
He includes the word 'turtle' - in German 'schildkrote' ('shield-toad')
'Serre' in French - linked to 'talon' (bird of prey)
French for 'turtle shell' -= 'carapace'
French for 'bird of prey' = 'rapace'
German for turtle = 'krote' (toad)
'Krote' translated in French = 'crapaud'
'Crapaud' associates with the German 'krapfen' and 'hook' - i.e. 'talon'
'Serre' - is linked to 'schildkrote' by 'carapace' and 'crapaud' - which in turn are linked to 'Kraepelin'

'Trafei'

'Trafei' - linked to 'Trafoi'

Implicit critique of Freud's analysis of  'Trafoi' in the 'Signorelli parapraxis' (see my previous article on 'Freudian Slips' for the background to this analysis)

'Trafoi' - 'trofei' (Italian for 'trophy')

'Trofei' - 'Siegeszeichen' (German for 'victory-signs' - 'Signum' (Latin for 'sign') - Sigmund (Freud)

Words such as 'Krapea', 'crap' and 'carapace' are all Kraepelin-words, which seem to associate to the proper noun, Kraepelin and influence/direct associational processes. The key role of the proper noun (or name) can be explained by referring to the 'Cocktail Party Effect', which states that during a cocktail party we tune into our discussion party, neglecting any background noise. However, we notice when someone in the background din mentions our name (or something that sounds like our name). This effect has been replicated in studies using dichotic listening techniques, showing that only proper nouns break through the attentional barrier and can be heard even when our attention is at its lowest. What happens within 'outer speech' during a cocktail party occurs similarly with 'inner speech' whilst dreaming. Code words, which are linked in sound with our proper name will be detected in a set of associations during thinking.  The ongoing thought process will then deviate because code words will act as priming words, influencing the direction in which the associations will go. 

The link between schizophrenia and dream speech was the topic of debate between linguists Victorian Froomkin and Elaine Chaika in the 1970s. Chaika believed that schizophasia was a form of intermittent aphasia, whilst Froomkin stated that schizophasia could occur in non-schizophrenic persons. By 1995, Chaika conceded that schizophasia is not due to aphasias linked to actual brain damage, but is a form of speech error which may be caused by a deficiency in language production or the result of a failed intention. Thus, she adopted a position similar to Kraepelin, who stated that speech errors resembling schizophasia occur in normal individuals during dreams. 

Dream speech appears to play a very marginal role in Dream Theory, although David Foulkes highlights its significance, claiming: 'however visual dreaming may seem, it may be planned and regulated by the human speech production system'. Deirdre Barrett at Harvard University describes examples of dream literature in The Committee of Sleep (2010) where dreamers had dreamed of heard/read words which they later recorded when awake. She observed that most of these literary works tend to be poetry rather than prose or narrative fiction, although the title Vanity Fair appeared to William Makepeace Thackeray in a dream, as did Katherine Mansfield's Sun and Moon. Barrett suggests that poetry fares better in dreams because grammar tends to be well-preserved in dream speech, while meaning suffers and rhyme and rhythm are more prominent than while awake - characteristics which benefits poetry, but not necessarily other literary forms. In another study, Barrett looked at verbatim language in the dream speech of college students and found them similar  in these characteristics to literary examples of dream speech - intact grammar, poor meaning, rhyme and rhythm. She stated that this is evidence that within the two language centres in the brain - the Wernicke's area and the Broca's area, there is a malfunctioning in the former. Dream speech resembles that of persons with Wernicke's aphasia - the same conclusion reached by Kraepelin in 1906. 

Kraepelin's dream speech has been psychoanalysed by others, using Freud's technique. One theory is that Kraepelin's dreams reveal a desire to preserve his uncommon family name. Freud was initially schooled in notions of anatomical localisation of mental functions and the idea that consciousness was an epiphenemenon which was caused by strong cortical stimulation. He later rejected these ideas, favouring those of John Hughlings Jackson, who suggested that neural functioning was hierarchical and dynamic, as opposed to static and localised and often outside the conscious awareness of the individual. In On Aphasia (1891), Freud focused not only on neurology, but also linguistics. leading to his recognition as the first neo-grammarian neurologist (Junggrammatika) and he advanced distinctions between hysterical speech impairments and true organic aphasia. He introduced the idea of 'word presentation' in schizophrenic subjects - that speech is invested with psychic energy and consciousness, with words manipulated by the schizophrenic, as if they were 'things'. He expounded this theory further in The Unconscious (1915). Although Freud's work on dream speech was neurologically orientated, he later turned towards psychoanalysis as an explanation, characterising speech as a 'secondary process' (phylogenetically and ontogenetically advanced) which occurs in normal functioning wakefulness. He contrasted this secondary process with primary processes which occur at an unconscious pre-verbal level - condensation, displacement and symbolisation.

Many of Freud's own dream reports contain complex verbal content - lengthy 'speech' which is grammatically appropriate to the context in which is occurred. Dreams are 'compromise formations' resulting from the interplay between primary and secondary processes - however, the primary processes are far more active in dreams than normal wakefulness and thus, it would be expected that speech - a secondary process - would be subjected to severe disturbances during dreaming. Freud's dream records show that his dream speech was remarkably well-formed. In The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) Freud addressed the theoretical dilemma of secondary process speech occurring within primary process dreaming. He employed 'replay hypothesis' as an explanation, stating that audible/acoustic speech in dreams is a playback of actual speech heard by the dreamer in their waking life. Non-acoustic utterances within dreams had their origin in previous wakeful ideas and thoughts of the dreamer. This material may have undergone 'splicing' or 'editing'. He applied his theory to several of his own dreams, notably, 'The Autodidasker Dream' and 'The Castle by the Sea' dream, both of which demonstrated that dream speech, while perceived as being in the dreamer's native language, may involve links from other foreign languages of which he has some knowledge.

The problem with using the psychoanalytic method to dissect Kraepelin's dreams is that Kraepelin did not free associate upon his own dreams or use psychoanalysis as a tool for exploring their meaning. Thus, any psychoanalytical study of Kraepelin's dreams are third-party analysis - like Freud's inclusion of Hanns Sach's psychoanalytic interpretation of Bismark's dream which was included in The Interpretation of Dreams and focused on infantile sexuality. In doing so, Freud pointed to 'firmly established linguistic usage' - the idea that dream speech may take on a visual, physical representation, rather than presenting in verbal form.

On 5 April 1926, six months prior to his death, Kraepelin recorded a dream. The only information provided is that the phrase 'Ruhrochs gibt es nicht mehr' ('there is no more scrambled ox') was uttered 'in an inn'. The dream utterance has been analysed in the following way:

'Ruhrochs gibt es nicht mehr'

The neologism 'Ruhrochs' = 'scrambled ox'

'Ruhrei' = 'scrambled eggs'

'Ochsenaugen' = 'eggs sunny-side up'

'Ochs' = sounds like English word 'ox'

'Ruhrochs' associated with Latin word 'Praecox' which is linked semantically with 'Ochsenaugen'

'Ochsenaugen' also means 'Apricot cake'

Apricot/aprilkose = 'praecox' - a form of early-ripened peach

'Praecox' translates to the German 'fruhreif' which translates as 'early-ripe'

'Fruhreif' - becomes 'fruhreif'

Latent meaning: 'Dementia praecox is no more' ('Dementia praecox' was Kraepelin's term for what we now call 'schizophrenia')

Bleuler's term 'schizophrenia' had superseded Kraepelin's terminology and become the accepted medical classification, whilst Kraepelin was at the end of his career and near death.

The dream interpretation above can be interpreted as a 'loss of name' - and can be analysed in a similar way to Kraepelin's other dreams, noted above, which also link to his moniker. Thus Kraepelin's family name is key to unravelling the meaning of his dream speech - his anxiety that his name/legacy might become extinguished, or his contribution to medicine may be lost. His dreams seem to display a wish that his name and nomenclature would continue to live on after his death. Additional interpretations of Kraepelin's dream speech suggest that it displays an unconscious motive to demonstrate his intellect and mental complexity, therefore reinforcing his overall claim of historical importance. Validation of the theory that preservation of Kraepelin's unusual family name was of psychological importance to him can be found in biographies (Steinberg (2001) & Burgmair et al (2000) for example). It is suggested that the concern about the loss of his family name and his desire for its endurance may have been idiosyncratic to Kraepelin under the particular circumstances of his personal life. However, analysis of his contributions to dream speech and psychoanalytic interpretation using Freud's techniques may enable a more generalised hypothesis to emerge: in dreams which are almost entirely made up of utterances/dream speech rather than visual representations or imagery, one's proper name - an aspect of their identity - may constitute a remnant of a diminished sense of identity or a 'minimal characteristic of the ego' (Engels et al (2008)) which the dreamer clings to. The deeper roots of the dream may concern childhood fears of elimination or annihilation. These theories can be tested in a psychoanalytic setting, via use of Freud's methods of free association. Certainly, irrespective of whether Freudian interpretations of Kraepelin's dreams are accepted as truth, Kraepelin left a rich legacy of dream material capable of illuminating the intricate nature of speech functions and the unconscious mind. Kraepelin's name endures in this respect and his dream records may be dissected within a linguistic, neurological or psychoanalytical framework, each possibility offering valuable insight into the speech patterns of dreams.

Dreams 256 - 265

I have not posted anything on my Dream Diary for some time as I have had to interrupt my sleeping routine for the last month or so, sleeping for a few hours in the morning and staying up all night to study, as I am in the process of preparing an academic article for publication. When I have had dreams,my recall has been very poor, as you will see below in the Dream Reports in this post. I did however, manage to experience one lucid dream during this period.

Dream 256

'Beds & Battery Acid'

Dream date: 6 June 2014

I was told that AP (a girl who I went to high school with) was 'desperate for love'. I am not sure how I was told this (in what context) or by whom. I thought: I bet she is with PS now...I was sitting in the dark on some grass when N the dog sat in front of me and began to lick my face. I was so pleased to see him again. 

The scene changed and I was in a brightly lit room. There was a double bed in the room which had 'unmade' bright blue linen/duvet and pillows. There were two other persons in the room with me, but I am not sure who they were. We were looking at the bed through a computer screen (as if there was a webcam pointed capturing it as a 'photo' which we were viewing on the screen rather than looking at the actual bed, which was behind the computer). I realised that this was a modern interpretation of Tracey Emin's controversial My Bed (1998) art installation, although there was nothing other than the bed. I used the 'CTRL' key on the computer keyboard to capture photographic images of the bed from the webcam. I then saw there was a white surface - like a kitchen work surface - which I was leaning on. A big splash of orange-gold liquid was approaching my elbow - like a tidal wave which rises and then crashes back down, moving forwards. It looked fizzy and resembled spilled Lucozade drink. I knew it was battery acid, and scared, I moved my arm away quickly. I noticed that the battery acid was leaking from my mobile phone which was sitting on the surface.

Dream 257

'Flapping White Cotton'

Dream date: 7 June 2014

I was in a car with my mum and some other (unknown) persons. We were in my Dream Town (the town which often appears in my dreams - I do not know if it is a real town I have 'remembered' or whether it is a town created in my dreams, but I always know when I am in that location and sometimes try to 'find' it on a map or discover the name while still in the dream). We were driving towards a sea front location - and a big Tudor-style (black and white timber-framed walls with a thatched roof) hotel which overlooked the beach. It looked like we were going to drive straight into the front of this hotel, which was called 'International'. However at the last moment before impact (at this time I realised that we were in an open-top car) we swerved to the left and drove up a flight of concrete steps, into the city centre. It was now evening and I realised we were at an intersection, one end leading down towards the 'ghetto' end of the city, and the other leading towards the better end, which had Georgian town houses and buildings which looked a lot like those in Chelsea, London. The intersection had some tall lit-up buildings and boutiques/posh shops with lots of lights. I saw some people heading towards a nightclub. There was traffic on the road, and some huge advertising bill boards, but I did not see what they said.

The scene changed and I was in a house, but I am not sure whose it was or whether it is one I know in real-life. I did not see much of the decor, but the lights were on and everything seemed a bit orange. I was with a female. She was very strange looking - although I cannot remember why this was so, because I cannot recall any details about her appearance other than she had bright orange hair. We were standing by a window. The female was holding something made of white cotton in her hands - either a shirt or a sheet. She flapped it at me like a flag.

Dream 258

'Legs Like a 60s Model'

Dream date: 10 June 2014
I was sitting on my unmade bed with DL. My legs were bent at a 45 degree angle. DL said: 'you have the legs of a 60s model'. I then saw myself in third-person - I had managed to position my short, thick legs so they looked long and lithe - the fat was hidden. I was wearing shorts or a mini-skirt so they were bare and appeared tanned. I felt pleased.

Dream 259

'Canteen Babies'

Dream date: 15 June 2014
I was in a canteen/cafeteria - it appeared to be brightly lit and there were some square white tables, with a long service station/hot counter at the back of the room. People were queueing at the counter to be served food - they were carrying plastic trays. I was sitting at one of the tables closest to the counter, watching. I saw that the customers were pupils from my high school, grown up as they are in real-life. I got up and joined the queue in the middle, rather than at the end. There was a young man dressed as a doctor, in a white coat standing beside me. He said he was giving out pills which made women instantly pregnant. This was what the my former classmates - both male and female - were queueing up to receive. The doctor walked off to the left while I stood at the counter.

Dream 260

'Makeup Mix-Up'

Dream date: 22 June 2014
I was given two plastic white plastic bags. I looked inside one of them. There was a collection of makeup and beauty products - various items, all brand new. Some of them appeared to be sample-size, in yellow packaging, with swirly writing. I felt pleased to have got these products for free. I then found myself on a train - the seats were facing each other, lined along the sides, like an underground tube train, although we were overground, as I could see through the windows. It was daylight, but not sunny. I am not sure who was with me, but I do not think that I was alone. I suddenly realised that I only had one of the white plastic bags with me, and the one I had forgotten had contained more luxury, desirable beauty products. I felt anxious and annoyed. I called my mum on my mobile phone. She told me that she had picked up the bag and was keeping it safe for me. I felt relieved. 

Dream 261

'Renting Rooms'

Dream date: 26 June 2014
I was in a positive mood as PS was helping me to rent a series of rooms. The rooms were in the same building and painted white. I do not remember anything else about this dream. 

Dream 262

'Bad Teacher'

Dream date: 30 June 2014
I was teaching a class, but it was in a subject (which I cannot recall) that I had no knowledge or experience in. I was looking at my notes, but could not find which material I needed to explain the subject to the students. My handwriting was really big and looped, in thick, black ink. I realised that I was doing such a poor job of teaching and that I would lose my job anyway, so I gave up and left the class halfway through. I was then standing in The Lobster Pub, in Sheringham. I was wearing a cropped white top. I realised I was six months pregnant. I had a suntan and felt quite calm and happy. I am not sure exactly who was with me, but I was with two males, one of whom I think was DL. They were sitting on stools in the window seat of the front bar, and I was standing by the wall where the jukebox used to be. I could see through the window that it was daytime.

Dream 263

'Sailors'

Dream date: 2 July 2014
I was on a small sailing boat with a group of male sailors, all of whom were people I knew, but cannot recall from the dream. The males were dressed as traditional sailors, in white and navy uniforms. They were standing in the middle of the boat. It was sunny and cloudy at the same time and the boat was rocking gently on the waves of the open sea. My memory of this dream is very vague.

Dream 264

'Confusion Over TV Show Plot'

Dream date: 4 July 2014
This was almost a dream-within-a-dream, although it was more a dream about a false dream memory, constructed within the real dream. I was walking on the field outside my house with DL - we were walking home from the lake and it was early evening.We were discussing an American TV show (which I cannot recall, but it was something made by HBO that DL had watched, but I had not). I was telling DL that an (unrecalled) actor or actress had joined the cast of this TV show and that there was a particular storyline involving this actor/actress. I described the storyline - although I cannot remember what I said in the dream. I fully believed that what I was saying was true and had actually happened. DL seemed confused. I said: 'did that just happen in one of my dreams?' He said that I must have dreamed it, because that actor/actress was not part of the TV show and there was no storyline involving them. I felt confused as I could not remember having a dream about this TV show and/or actor/actress. 

Dream 265

'Shooting Animals'

Dream date: 8 July 2014
I was in my room, I think I had a false awakening, as I seemed to have just got up and out of bed. My room looked normal, although it was quite dark and I could not see clearly. I suddenly became lucid, but I am not sure what triggered it. As soon as I realised I was dreaming, I began to levitate several inches from the floor. This felt really wobbly and unstable and I tried to balance, while focusing on my body to maintain lucidity. It felt as if I was standing on top of an invisible (unstable) ball. I managed to get myself back down to the ground, although I moved down slowly and it took a lot of force, as though the ground was repelling me or there was no gravity. I found that if I jumped, I would levitate again, but I soon stopped, as it was so much effort to return to a normal standing position. I saw that there was an animal in the room with me - it was either a badger, an otter or a beaver - I am not sure which. I made my fingers into a gun shape, with the index and middle finger pointed towards the animal. I was not entirely in control of my actions at this point, although my mind was telling me that I should be able to control myself, as I was in a lucid dream situation. I tried to 'fire' the gun my fingers had made, in the direction of the animal, even though I did not feel under threat from it, as it was pretty static and silent. I said: 'bang! bang!' and I saw a cartoon explosion where the animal was. When the explosion dispersed into smoke clouds, I saw the animal was gone, but I did not think that I had killed it. I fought to remain lucid, but felt myself waking up. I either woke up without realising, or went back into a normal dream, which I cannot recall.