The dream mechanisms and/or dream contents of psychotics must be substantially different and distinguished from ours. Their dreams must be "dysfunctional", unable to tackle unpleasant, bad emotional residue of coping with reality. Their dialogue must be disturbed. They must be represented rigidly in their dreams. Reality must not be present in them not at all. Most of dreams, most of time must deal with mundane matters. Their content must not be exotic, surrealist, extraordinary. They must be chained to dreamer's realities, his (daily) problems, people that he knows, situations that he encountered or is likely to encounter, dilemmas that he is facing and conflicts that he would have liked resolved. This, indeed, is case. Unfortunately, this is heavily disguised by symbol language of dream and by disjointed, disjunctive, dissociative manner in which it proceeds. But a clear separation must be made between subject matter (mostly mundane and "dull", relevant to dreamer's life) and script or mechanism (colourful symbols, discontinuity of space, time and purposeful action). The dreamer must be main protagonist of his dreams, hero of his dreamy narratives. This, overwhelmingly, is case: dreams are egocentric. They are concerned mostly with "patient" and use other figures, settings, locales, situations to cater to his needs, to reconstruct his reality test and to adapt it to new input from outside and from within. If dreams are mechanisms, which adapt model of world and reality test to daily inputs – we should find a difference between dreamers and dreams in different societies and cultures. The more "information heavy" culture, more dreamer is bombarded with messages and data – fiercer should dream activity be. Every external datum likely generates a shower of internal data. Dreamers in West should engage in a qualitatively different type of dreaming. We will elaborate on this as we continue. Suffice it to say, at this stage, that dreams in information-cluttered societies will employ more symbols, will weave them more intricately and dreams will be much more erratic and discontinuous. As a result, dreamers in information-rich societies will never mistake a dream for reality. They will never confuse two. In information poor cultures (where most of daily inputs are internal) – such confusion will arise very often and even be enshrined in religion or in prevailing theories regarding world. Anthropology confirms that this, indeed, is case. In information poor societies dreams are less symbolic, less erratic, more continuous, more "real" and dreamers often tend to fuse two (dream and reality) into a whole and act upon it. To complete their mission successfully (adaptation to world using model of reality modified by them) – dreams must make themselves felt. They must interact with dreamer's real world, with his behaviour in it, with his moods that bring his behaviour about, in short: with his whole mental apparatus. Dreams seem to do just this: they are remembered in half cases. Results are, probably, achieved without need for cognitive, conscious processing, in other, unremembered, or disremembered cases. They greatly influence immediate mood after awakening. They are discussed, interpreted, force people to think and re-think. They are dynamos of (internal and external) dialogue long after they have faded into recesses of mind. Sometimes they directly influence actions and many people firmly believe in quality of advice provided by them. In this sense, dreams are an inseparable part of reality. In many celebrated cases they even induced works of art or inventions or scientific discoveries (all adaptations of old, defunct, reality models of dreamers). In numerous documented cases, dreams tackled, head on, issues that bothered dreamers during their waking hours. How does this theory fit with hard facts?

(continued)

Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He is a columnist for Central Europe Review, United Press International (UPI) and eBookWeb and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com.

Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com

So, what are plots good for? They are instruments used in procedures, which induce peace of mind (even happiness) in client. This is done with help of a few embedded mechanisms:

The Organizing Principle – Psychological plots offer client an organizing principle, a sense of order and ensuing justice, of an inexorable drive toward well defined (though, perhaps, hidden) goals, ubiquity of meaning, being part of a whole. It strives to answer "why’s" and "how’s". It is dialogic. The client asks: "why am I (here follows a syndrome)". Then, plot is spun: "you are like this not because world is whimsically cruel but because your parents mistreated you when you were very young, or because a person important to you died, or was taken away from you when you were still impressionable, or because you were sexually abused and so on". The client is calmed by very fact that there is an explanation to that which until now monstrously taunted and haunted him, that he is not plaything of vicious Gods, that there is who to blame (focussing diffused anger is a very important result) and, that, therefore, his belief in order, justice and their administration by some supreme, transcendental principle is restored. This sense of "law and order" is further enhanced when plot yields predictions which come true (either because they are self-fulfilling or because some real "law" has been discovered).

The Integrative Principle – The client is offered, through plot, access to innermost, hitherto inaccessible, recesses of his mind. He feels that he is being reintegrated, that "things fall into place". In psychodynamic terms, energy is released to do productive and positive work, rather than to induce distorted and destructive forces.

The Purgatory Principle – In most cases, client feels sinful, debased, inhuman, decrepit, corrupting, guilty, punishable, hateful, alienated, strange, mocked and so on. The plot offers him absolution. Like highly symbolic figure of Saviour before him – client's sufferings expurgate, cleanse, absolve, and atone for his sins and handicaps. A feeling of hard won achievement accompanies a successful plot. The client sheds layers of functional, adaptive clothing. This is inordinately painful. The client feels dangerously naked, precariously exposed. He then assimilates plot offered to him, thus enjoying benefits emanating from previous two principles and only then does he develop new mechanisms of coping. Therapy is a mental crucifixion and resurrection and atonement for sins. It is highly religious with plot in role of scriptures from which solace and consolation can be always gleaned.

Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He is a columnist for Central Europe Review, United Press International (UPI) and eBookWeb and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com.

Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com