Sunday, April 26, 2009

Colouring The Dreams of Women with Breast Cancer

As a continuation of the previous blog, the women with breast cancer that participated in the study had a very interesting colour pattern in their dreams. Specifically, white in dreams was strongly correlated with lymph node involvement, which indicates a more serious form of the disease. The colour white was also correlated with a diagnosis of cancer in other parts of the body. This colour seems to be related to the seriousness of the illness and to the extent that it has spread in the body.

Black on the other hand, was strongly and negatively correlated with radiation treatment. Black was not significantly correlated with any particular discovery category, or meaning. The same was true for white in dreams and discovery of the dream's meaning.

Another interesting finding is brightness in dreams. The longer patients were away from their original diagnosis of breast cancer, the more brightness they had in their dreams. Furthermore, the more brightness in their dreams, the more discovery about happiness.

Colour in dreams is both fascinating and interesting however, the current study appears to show that colour in the dreams of women with breast cancer is perhaps indicative of recovery and other waking day issues. Further research is certainly warranted.

7 comments:

  1. Anch’io nel mio lavoro psicoterapico con persone che avevano patologie tumorali ho trovato questa prevalenza di bianco , anche se sinceramente non gli avevo dato peso .
    Bianco per esempio come distese di neve ecc.
    Il bianco e la luminosità mi fanno venire in mente un sogno che leggevo ieri su di una rivista intitolata “Alchimia del sogno” , un sogno di pre-morte dopo un intervento chirurgico andato male:

    “ Sono stato in un luogo meraviglioso e ho visto una cosa favolosa .
    Brillava una luce bianca ed era un luogo bellissimo ma non saprei descriverlo .
    C’era una grande pace e serenità. “

    A proposito dei colori , penso che quando sono presenti , siano senz’altro in rapporto alle difese immunitarie che sono ben attive .
    Forse allora il nero , legato all’irradiamento del tumore, è legato anche all’ annullamento delle difese immunitarie?

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  2. One of the most interesting personality tests I've ever been using is the Luscher Colours Test. Luscher claims that the subject does not react to a colour primarily upon a semantic basis (that is, what a particular colour is associated to in one's culture and emotional history)rather upon the physical features of that colour.
    So if I do not go wrong we perceive the black when a surface or a body does not reflect light, absorbing all the light that it receives. So could black, in dreams related to radiation therapy, refer to a distressing or eccessive absorption?
    Could, on the contrary, the white colour in such dreams be connected to a loss of differences and organization (like when snow covers a place and you find hard to tell a part from another), due to the fact that we perceive white when all the light is reflected?

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  3. Salve Massimo.
    Eravamo preoccupati di non sentirti...
    Ciao

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  4. Donatella says she's been a little worried because she and the other followers didn't read anything from me in the last weeks.
    Actually there are circumstances that currently keep me away from these proviking dialogues much more than I'd like to, although I try at least to read the posts.
    It's been very nice for me to read these words from Donatella. Furthermore it helps to produce ideas, because creativity is fostered by a climate of good affections.
    Grazie Donatella

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  5. Good affections are themselves healing. In our waking day and in our dream life, relationships that are nurturing and caring are reflected. It is the very least we can do for each other.

    In terms of colour, there seems to be an important connection with this in our consciousness. Though we have not yet come to fully understand this, it is important. The personality test is very interesting indeed!

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  6. Donatella knows Jungian thougth much better than me, so I suppose that she is really experienced in telling the several symbolic implications of the white colour.
    In my mind I have to recognize that I tell two different connotations of white. A "good" and bright one, carrying feelings of overabundant life and salvation("plenty" of life and being)and a "bad" one connected to decayed, indifferentiated, entropic states. It could be interesting to investigate the passages from one kind of white to the other.
    Tibetan Buddhism says many things about white light, but right now I don't rember exactly.

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  7. Teoricamente non sono affatto molto preparata , ma per la mia esperienza di lavoro quello che dice Massimo è molto giusto : ci sono , credo , 2 tipi di bianco , il “bad” e il “ good” Il 1° l’ ho trovato in situazioni patologiche , anche nelle grosse crisi nervose . E’ frutto forse del blocco psichico in quel caso . Il 2° , il bianco “good” , l’ho trovato nelle situazioni in cui la persona cresce “spiritualmente “. Allora appaiono animali o altri esseri bianchi ( nei sogni , nei disegni , nelle scene sulla sabbiera) .
    Riguardo al Buddhismo Tibetano credo che la luce bianca sia caratteristica di uno stadio di morte e se ne parli nel libro dei morti.
    Riguardo al nero ricordo una donna con tumore all’ovaio in metastasi che , dopo un forte ciclo di trattamento con chemioterapici , ha cominciato a sognare una miniera : in questa oscurità scendeva sempre di più…

    Buon 1° Maggio a tutti !

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