ABSTRACT

Severe traumatic experiences of war and violence, accidental fires and natural disasters, rape and sexual abuse, disease and painful treatment may produce echoes in dreams long after the events, perhaps even throughout an entire lifetime. In single, isolated dreams, memory traces may also be present as redundant information where many elements, themes or characters recurrently refer to traumatic events with strongly charged associative links. Both Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung were aware that extreme traumatic events, such as shell shock and other mental injuries, exposed the victims to persistent, repetitive dreams. Therapists and researchers generally assume that there is a continuum from normal dreams to traumatic nightmares. According to E. Hartmann, dreams as well as therapy can create connections between trauma and the other parts of a patient’s life. Swedish doctor of psychology Binnie Kristal-Andersson has described dreamwork with torture victims and their associations to each other’s dreams.