You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Three paid night workers slept one day a week for six to nine weeks while EEG recordings were continuously examined for the combination of rapid, low voltage activity (Stage 1) and rapid, conjugate eye movements (REM's) occurring after an initial period of sleep. One man in a state of strong positive transference, dreamed the usual three to four times during six to seven hours of sleep and, when awakened near the estimated end of each dream, related a dream twenty-five to twenty-six times. Another produced only one clear-cut dream (EEG criteria) and this was on the sixth night after he was urged to dream. Analysis of the dream, and other material, revealed his intense fear of dreaming about 'unclothed women and murder' as well as his convictions that the EEG machine could detect his 'thoughts'. The third man showed a similar marked reduction in REM-Stage 1 periods and gave many signs of a strong negative transference.
The experimental design made each sleep period a 'first night'; reductions in frequency of dreaming on the first night have been previously reported. The interesting question, not studied here, would be whether this suppression could be maintained over several consecutive sleep periods.