Dreaming During sleep, especially REM sleep, people tend to have dreams: elusive first-person experiences which despite their frequently bizarre qualities seem realistic while in progress. Dreams can seamlessly incorporate elements within a person's mind which would not normally go together. They can include apparent sensation of all types, especially vision and movement. Dreams can also be suppressed or encouraged; using anti-depressants, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or alcoholic beverages is thought to potentially suppress dreams, whereas melatonin may have the ability to encourage them.
People have proposed many hypotheses about the functions of dreaming. Sigmund Freud postulated that dreams are the symbolic expression of frustrated desires that have been relegated to the unconscious mind, and he used dream interpretation in the form of psychoanalysis to uncover these desires. Freud's…
