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Biomedical subjects

F Strunz

Publications and source records attributed to F Strunz.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

[The dream as a tool in diagnosis, healing and life orientation in antiquity].

The dream is usually discussed in connection with the work of Freud und Jung and the dreamlore initiated by these two eminent dream scientists. Therefore the dream knowledge gathered by investigators of classical antiquity is almost forgotten, although the same diagnostic and therapeutic aims have been followed by them as they are by modern psychotherapy and medicine. Hippocrates and the other Greek physicians saw in dreams indications of bodily and psychosomatic disturbances. Dreams from the gods, especially Ascelepios, helped those who travelled from afar to be healed while sleeping in the temples. Popular dream interpretation availed itself of just as sophisticated an interpretative system as has been set up by modern depth psychologists. Dreams served to give orientation in life and warn of fateful future events. In spite of its elusive quality truth is sought in dreams today as it was in antiquity. Dream interpretation was then, and is now, one of the preferential techniques of existence.

Diagnosis↗
PubMed1993

[Dreams in the elderly: contents and clinical usefulness].

This article reviews the literature on the dreams of persons beyond 50 years of age. A reduced dream recall rate, if at all, does not appear to be the result of weakened memory capacities at that age, but may rather be due to a lower rate of current concerns. In a similar way, the changes in contents are not a function of aging per se, but have taken place already between the 20th and 45th year of age. The dreams of the dying can, because of the unusualness of the situation experienced by this group, be of a very particular nature and quality. At any age of life, the dream can become instrumental in healing processes. Dreams seem to be of vital importance in supportive psychotherapy after bereavement and, of course, during the process of dying.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

[Nightmares of children--causes, prevention, healing].

This paper tries, after a phenomenological description of the nightmare, to expose the different aetiologies that have been attributed to the origin of nightmares and night terrors by the literature of the past hundred years. External and physiological causes for bad dreams are preferred in the older medical and psychological literature, whereas younger authors consider nightmares as psychogenic or mediated by psychic trauma. New impulses to aetiological theories came from the rise of the psychoanalytic theory, but also from ego-psychological developments that base its concepts on the actual conflicts of the ego. Preventive procedures against the constitution of nightmares are then discussed as well as the different intervention methods developed by former and contemporary therapies for the elimination of the nightmare phenomenon.

Child↗
PubMed1991

[The will to meaning in dreams--the dream as the will to meaning].

As the literature on logo-therapy and existential analysis has not up to this day developed a dream theory and dream interpretation method of its own, this paper tries to suggest, on the basis of Frankl's books, some procedures for a dream interpretation method in existential analysis. The will to meaning and the meaning in dreams are, according to this view, but the two sides of the same coin.

Dreams↗
PubMed1990

[The dream of Irma's injection. Theme polyphony and problem solving].

This paper on the specimen dream of psychoanalysis presents in its first part a survey of the manifold interpretive themes that have been found in this complex dream. Apart from wish fulfillment attributed to its content by Freud himself, this dream contains themes of the dreamer's creativity and points out the developmental state of psychoanalysis existing at that time. It gives a rather accurate picture of Freud's knowledge on transference and countertransference in 1895 and informs us on a series of psychological problems of the dreamer himself: his feelings of guilt, his latent homosexual tendencies, his aggressiveness toward colleagues and women as well as the state of his marital relation. A problem solving interpretation of the Irma dream reveals the still defective state of his new healing method as illustrated by the many therapeutic errors committed in the therapy of his patient Irma. The polyphony of themes that can be seen in the initial dream of psychoanalysis warns of monothematic interpretive proposals by therapists that are likely to be ill-understood or frankly rejected by patients in favor of openended interpretations.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1989

[The use of dreams in the management of criminals].

The article describes the peculiarity of dreams to be not only a kind of mirror of everyday reality - as is mostly the case - but also to be concerned with emotions in highly strung personalities who repress these emotions during waking awareness and deny their subconscious existence. In this respect dreams are suitable for diagnosing and anticipating the actions of the probationers for whom the social rehabilitation worker has to care. They can also serve as a medium of self-insight for such probationers who can realise their own conflicts. It is a well-known fact that such self-insight can be much more effective than any effort by outsiders to produce readaptation to a normal environment.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1989

[Functions of the dream--I].

The presentation of the multiple functions of dreams as they are attributed to them today is the aim of the present essay. Contrary to the disdain of the dream by 19th century psychiatrists and the investigators of the physiological concomitants of sleep, recent authors stress the adaptive functions of dreams. Dreaming participates in problem solving and contributes to the restoration of a threatened homeostatic inner balance. In the case of heavily traumatized persons dreaming helps the individual in his defence against the traumatic impetus. Personal and scientific creative processes are largely furthered by dreaming. Only in a few special cases, as in malignant somatic disease, can dreaming become detrimental. Dreaming's full measure of usefulness is, however, developed only when taken into service either by the dreamer or a psychotherapist.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

[The weakness of individual psychologic dream theory].

This article undertakes a critical evaluation of Adlerian dream theory. The main weakness of the theory is found to be its lack of an inherent instance of truth that shows the dreamer the way to a better and more feasible life style. Contemporary Adlerians' treatment of the master's dream dogmas and their practical use in psychotherapy are described. There seems to be a convergence movement of today's practical application methods of the dream in all psychotherapeutic schools. Adlerian dream interpretation in the original sense intended by Adler is practised nowhere by psychotherapists today and seems largely antiquated.

Dreams↗
PubMed1987

[Etiology and therapy of nightmares].

Theories and evidence on the aetiology of the 3 distinct forms of nightmares (REM nightmares, NREM night terrors, posttraumatic nightmares) are exposed. Depth psychological theories try an aetiological integration of the nightmare into their respective theories of dream formation, whereas empirical work stresses the personality-typical traits of nightmare sufferers. Clinical casework reports relate anxiety dreams to existing psychological and somatic pathology. Posttraumatic nightmares are repetitive mental reactions to heavy traumatic or life-threatening events. Nightmare therapy, insofar as it has become an independent variety of psychological intervention, uses drug medication, which is able to suppress the symptom of the sufferer when on the drug, whereas behavioural and insight treatment not only eliminate the dreams, but can have an enduring healing effect.

Dreams↗
PubMed1986

[Castration attempts in the dream. Psychophysiologic research of dreams and psychoanalysis].

The author gives a brief survey on psychophysiological correlational dream studies since 1953. Early optimism of physiologists and psychoanalysts on the possibility of building bridges between psyche and soma that could further the understanding of the dream over and above the psychoanalytic contributions has largely given way to more sober considerations. The subjective side of dreams and their importance for therapeutic and maturational processes has never been the subject of psychophysiologic investigation. Its objectives did not go beyond mere correlational studies of physiological events and dream content categories. Reductionist theories of certain neurophysiologists that conceive of the dream as an epiphenomenon of physiologic arousal were followed by some psychoanalysts' reconceptualization of oniric understanding. Psychological and physiological levels of interpretation must, for lack of a superordinate framework, be strictly kept apart. Psychophysiologic dream studies have, on the whole, added little to the understanding of the dream as a significant mental product of clinical importance.

Arousal↗
PubMed1985

[Function of REM sleep].

The author gives a review of the biological and psychological functions ascribed to paradoxical sleep. Most of the investigative work in the field has been dedicated to proving a relationship between REM sleep and learning. For intellectual learning the evidence is inconclusive, whereas there do seem to exist some ties between REM time and emotional learning. REM sleep functioning should not be viewed separately from the functions of NREM sleep and the waking state.

Animals↗