The authors continue their studies of electroencephalography and the dream and attempt to integrate their findings with psychoanalytic theory. They point

out that dreaming appears to be primarily a visual sensory experience, continuous through EEG Stage I. They postulate that intensive 'dream deprivation' may result in a 'dream deficit' leading to an intensification of the pressure of instinctual drives toward discharge in the nondreaming state and psychotic symptomatology. They propose that 'the total dream level … on any given night is the outcome of the balance between the pressure of instinctual drives toward discharge and the adequacy of the defensive and controlling functions of the ego'. The authors suggest that dreaming sleep is different from nondreaming sleep. A possible neurophysiological correlate is described.