Friday, June 7, 2013

Dream Intensity

One of the important indicators of dreams is the "intensity" of the imagery and emotions. This function is important because it triggers waking day connections for the dreamer, it provides important information to researchers about the dream, and is a function that can be explored for clinical purposes. Calvin Yu (2010) published the Dream Intensity Profile which is a scale useful for evaluating components of dream intensity as clinical markers. This research provided strong evidence that the scale of dream intensity can predict specific disorders. Comment on this finding and how research should progress in terms of clinic applicablity.

60 comments:

  1. If Yus dream intensity profile can predict certain disorders then it can be a big break through in clinical work. if a disorder can be seen just through evaluating the intensity of a dream then this could be very a efficient method of diagnosis. Research should immediately test to see the reliability of this method in clinical trials and see how it works in clinics.

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    1. I think that Calvin Yu’s dream intensity profile being able to predict certain disorders is interesting yet not surprising. As mentioned in lecture many aspects of an individual’s life can be revealed through dream reports and various dream interpretation processes such as gender, age and cultural background. This is a significant finding in terms of clinical practice. There are already ways to diagnose individuals with specific disorders, however this prediction can just add to the accuracy of any diagnosis. On the other hand a disorder may not be as obvious and clinicians may have a difficult time diagnosing a parent, this is where the dream intensity profile could be useful as an aid in diagnosis. Dreams may reveal what the individual is actually feeling as well as any underlying feelings or emotions that may lead to a further diagnosis. The combination of what clinicians already know and with what the dream intensity profile provides, patients would be receiving more accurate care and more appropriate treatments overall.

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    2. It would be interesting to know if this scale has multiple points like a 10 point scale, versus a 5 point scale which may have more room for error with individual answers of dream intensity.
      This would be an additive method once tested many times to the classification of specific disorders. Researchers would also have to be aware of what certain disorders have the highest dream intensity on Yu's proposed scale.
      The intensity of the dream could also possibly tell researchers how often and prevalent the dreams of the patients are.
      I'm sure there is a correlation between dream intensity and the amount of times that the person comes to their own dream interpretation. For example, high intensity score, more chance of dream discovery?
      Testing this method/scale needs to be accepted by the field of psychology and clinicians before it is widely accepted as a method for predicting/diagnosing specific disorders.

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    3. In addition to what Lindsay had mentioned about adding to accuracy of diagnosis, etc., sometimes people with certain disorders (i.e. schizophrenia) may not be able to verbalize how they are feeling, or explain their symptoms. If dream intensity could provide some insight, this may be helpful.
      I was unsure as to whether this is a self-rating of intensity using the scale, or clinicians rate the intensity based on what is told to them/written down for them.
      From my personal experience with this course, it would be interesting to self-rate intensity as I hadn't really considered that a factor in my dreams, but could see how it would place emphasis on certain areas in the analysis portion.

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    4. Prabhjot DhaliwalJune 7, 2013 at 1:28 PM

      Yu’s dream intensity profile allows clinicians to have a more concrete method to diagnose disorders among patients. I believe this method should be used in addition to other methods of diagnosing psychological disorders because this will increase the likelihood of the diagnosis being correct. This profile is useful because it makes diagnosing easier when patients cannot verbally explain their symptoms or emotions to clinicians. Future research should test the reliability and validity of this method, and whether it can be depended upon solely to diagnose disorders. Clinicians must also be educated about the intensity of imagery and emotions to ensure a more valid connection.
      Prabhjot Dhaliwal

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    5. I agree with the above comments in that there are already ways to diagnose individuals with specific disorders and the intensity of the dream may be able to shed some insight onto the researchers with regards to how often and prevalent the dreams of various patients are. However, while this information may not be new or surprising as we already know that dreams can lead to individual discovery in waking day life, Calvin Yu's Dream Intensity Profile specifies which disorder an individual may have. This is very beneficial when it comes to providing the proper treatment to those suffering from a specific disorder. Instead of lumping all the disorders together, being able to pinpoint the disorder one has is beneficial for the treatment of the patient.Research should progress in terms of expanding the method/scales used in order to strengthen the reliability/validity of the findings of Calvin Yu. Furthermore, according to Yu the components of dream intensity can serve as indicators in the clinical field of the hysterical tendencies to dissociation and conversion (2010).

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    6. Courtney FriedrichJune 7, 2013 at 7:04 PM

      I think this discovery of dream intensity being a predictor of certain disorders extremely interesting, and its jsut another benefit of understanding dreams. Dreams have the ability to tell you so much about a person, such as their gender, cultural background, etc. So it is not that surprising that the intensity of a dream can help determine a certain disorder.

      I think that this information should be researched to determine the validity of predicting disorders, as well as if it has the ability to predict anything else. If this holds true, then this information may be beneficial in diagnosing, and treating disorders because we are learning more and more information about the patient, and the disorder.

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    7. T agree with the above comments. Dream Intensity Scale(DIS)is a great tool to determine component of a dream intensity. However, the study does not indicate if the questionaire is self administer...In terms of reliability, is the result constant? I believe further research would be an idea to determine both reliability and validity of predicting disorders. Then, diagnosis and treatments would follow. As Calvin Yu, stated in his studies, "The component of dream intensity can serve as indicators in clinical field of hsyterical...conversion"(2010).

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    8. I think that the Dream Intensity Scale should be applied to more clinically prevalent disorders, such as anxiety, depression. I also think dream research should also look into the dreams of individuals with suicidal ideation. Suicidal behaviour is common in disorders such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. If suicidal patients could get more insight from the emotional aspects of their dreams about their waking day life than the tool may become more applicable in a clinical setting. For now I believe that this tool is limited to it's uses in research because it does not focus on delineating dream imagery in more clinically troubled areas such as preventing suicide and suicide risk.

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    9. As Andrea Hennings has mentioned, the use of this scale with different scoring systems would be interesting and may lead to error if different studies used scales with different point systems. This finding would be extremely beneficial if it could predict specific disorders that have a genetic predisposition. For example, if a parent were to be diagnosed with a specific disorder then the dream imagery of their children could be examined to determine whether the children might suffer from the same disorder. This research shows that dream intensity can predict external disorders. These findings could progress and be used to examine whether external activities, such as meditation, could be used to reduce the intensity of dream imagery. This would be extremely applicable in a clinical practice and could potentially be used as an alternative to medication.

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    10. I agree with the above comments. The Dream Intensity Scale is a great tool to add additional support to other diagnosis methods. By using multiple methods to diagnosis patients, this will increase the likelihood of the diagnosis being correct. I completely agree with what Marsha Roscoe states above. Some patients are unable to express their feelings and emotions verbally, which makes it very hard for the clinician to get a deeper understanding of the diagnosis. However, by using The Dream Intensity Scale, this will allow the research to get insight towards the diagnosis by simply looking at the patients dream imagery. Like Lindsay Blain explains, patients will receive accurate and appropriate treatments since there are many methods available to diagnosis now.
      I wonder if The Dream Intensity Scale could be used as a method on its own to diagnosis. Or would you need a combination of methods to ensure accurate results?

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    11. The Dream Intensity Profile scale is an excellent addition to the treatment and prevention of psychological disorders. It seems logical that the intensity of dreams would provide information of specific disorders of the dreamer because dreams are often a theatrical representation of your subconscious. How this may apply to clinician is that they can start by treating the individuals as usual, but they can now start using dreams to reveal whether their treatment methods are actually treating the disorders. If a treatment is working for an individual, they can tell because the dream intensity will reflect such results.

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    12. I also agree with people above that this method is really interesting and exciting!
      Like what Nathylova Nesmon mentioned, it would be good to start practicing the "dream intensity scale" adjunct to the method that is already used to diagnose clinically. I am sure it can be used not only predict but also diagnose specific disorders, once we have enough statistics of the cases.

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    13. If the Dream Intensity Profile scale is verified as a diagnostic tool for determining if an individual has a disorder, this would be a huge development and help for doctors and those struggling with mental illness. The scale would be even more useful if it could determine if an individual has one disorder rather than another, as symptoms often overlap and it is extremely difficult to diagnose.

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    14. I think that Yu's Intensity Profile scale is a great thing to predict certain psychological disorders. In today's society, there is so much stigma surrounding psychological disorders.I think it's great that there is something that will help diagnose, therefore help those living with a psychological disorder. To move forward, using this scale could help clinicians diagnose psychological disorders. If there is a way that can help with these disorders, it will help those with these disorders reduce the stigma.

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    15. This method is very interesting! If the Dream Intensity Profile could help diagnose a disorder, that would be a great and exciting discovery. I agree with Samantha and many others above me that using multiple methods to dignose a patient can help increase the potential of that dignosis being correct.

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    16. I agree with the above comments that the Dream Intensity Profile has the potential to be an excellent addition to the methods already in place for diagnosing disorders. I also agree with Nathylova Nesmon's comment that consideration of the patient's dreams throughout treatment may be a helpful indicator that treatment is working. However, one of my concerns for using the Dream Intensity Profile, and how I think research should progress in terms of clinical applicability, is whether or not this scale works for both medicated and unmedicated patients. I know that one of the side effects of medications for mood disorders, for instance, is vivid and intense dreams. It would be important to distinguish whether or not the vivid dreams are a function of the disorder or the medication (or both). If a patient is diagnosed using the scale and then placed on medication, a continuation of vivid and intense dreams that could possibly be linked to the medication would make it difficult and challenging to determine if the treatment was working using the scale alone. On the other hand, if a patient were already on medication, the ability of the scale to further diagnose or diagnose an additional disorder may be confounded by the dreams experienced as a result of the medication.
      If this potential issue could be addressed, I think this scale also has the potential to play a role in disorder categorization. As the DSM evolves over time, grouping disorders together, separating previously grouped disorders, and adding and eliminating other disorders, perhaps dream imagery and vividness could be factored into this process by highlighting similarities and differences and so on.

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  2. Ashleigh-Anne GureckasJune 7, 2013 at 9:36 PM

    I think that Yu's Dream Intensity Profile Scale is an interesting tool to determine and predict some certain psychological disorders. I think that this scale could be used in conjunction or in contrast with other methods with a high success rate of determining and predicting disorders, in order to understand how well this Dream Intensity Profile Scale works for diagnosing on its own. However, I think to get the best results this method should be used in addition to other methods of diagnosing psychological disorders because this will increase the likelihood of the diagnosis being correct. More research on the validity of this testing/prediction method is required to understand if it is a beneficial method to eventually reply fully on (or not) in the future.

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    1. Angelica Palillo-BucknallJune 8, 2013 at 4:15 PM

      I agree that The Dream Intensity Scale would be beneficial especially when used with other methods of dream interpretation. For the future, using this method along with the other methods we have learnt about could lead to a reliable form of predicting disorders or illnesses. Dream imagery in people suffering with psychological disorders such as OCD or OCPD may contain a lot of emotions, such as stress or constantly dreaming about work. A family member of mine has OCPD and complains that her dreams are extremely emotional. She often wakes up feeling like she is already late for something. She often dreams she is failing at work, angry with coworkers and fighting with coworkers. She also says she feels tense when she wakes up because she has dreamt so vividly of feeling overwhelmed at work and not being able to handle it anymore. By recognizing that these emotions are constantly present in different people suffering with OCPD, these intense emotions may act as a predictor for people who are undiagnosed. Depressive patients may experience emotions such as sadness r feelings of impending doom in their dream imagery. If these emotions are consistent with the dream imagery of depressive patients then with the use of the other methods of dream interpretation and the Dream Intensity Scale, predicting psychological disorders through dream imagery can be an inexpensive, beneficial and safe way of diagnosing patients.

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  3. I find it quite fascinating that the scale can be helpful in predicting specific disorder. As much as much as I feel that it is a great tool to use in the clinical setting I feel that the reality of it being applied to diagnosis in day to day is not likely and the reason being is that our health care is getting the patient in the office and out as soon as possible, and adding a scale of interpreting dreams is additional time, and funding. I can't see it happening in a practical sense. Now in a private clinical practice absolutely.

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  4. The dream intensity profile scale is more sensitive to the emotions of dreams that it allows more specific clinical markers in dream imagery to be present in hysteria, and conversion disorders. I think that the research must progress in a way that it can be sensitive to clinical markers that can delineate highly similar disorders, such as anxiety and depressive disorders. Many individuals diagnosed with either disorder suffer from very similar symptoms, therefore it would be helpful to clinicians to diagnose people correctly. The dream intensity scale however, is very applicable clinically to diagnose specific disorders correlated with neuroticism and boundary thinness. Research could also progress by producing a self-report scale of the dream intensity profile scale, so patients could present the scale to doctor's for them to quickly score and provide better treatment options based on the clinical markers.

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    1. There have been some major advancements regarding dream interpretation as treatment for specific conditions. The research conducted by Calvin Yu (2012) is a different type of research, which focuses on the diagnosis of disorders instead treatment. Dream analysis has been narrow down to a science, to help aid in a correct diagnosis. This research has great relevance to today’s health care system. Diagnosis of certain conditions, especially mental health disorders can be difficult to make. This Dream Intensity Profile can help to ensure people are being diagnosed with the appropriate condition and therefore getting the right course of treatment.

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    2. Dream intensity can be very applicable for future use. Even individuals without psychiatric disorders, can relate and identify past dreams with strong emotions that led to discovery in waking day life. Connecting emotions to specific disorders according to Calvin Yu’s (2008) Dream Intensity Profile can definitely offer another avenue for diagnostic purposes. It may in general reveal underlying feelings that should be dealt with clinically or professionally for the dreamer.

      It will be necessary to differentiate between different disorders as per the results on the Dream Intensity Scale (ex. at what intensity would be related to X disorder). I believe there must be research done to test the reliability and validity of using the Dream Intensity Scale to predict specific disorders. For example, if an individual had an extremely fearful dream about snakes is it attributed to a psychiatric disorder after one dream? Will dream situations be analyzed individually for each dreamer? What methods would be used to predict disorders in children, adults, and geriatric population? How often must an individual have an intense dream before it is predicted that it is due to a disorder? There are many questions that need to be addressed before the Dream Intensity Scale can be used in predicting psychiatric disorders.

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    3. This finding is very interesting and could help as a secondary test to confirm a diagnosis along with the use of the psychiatric tests used today. Providing "strong evidence" that the use of this scale could predict specific disorders does not make it 100% correct. Therefore, if it is used in conjunction with other psychiatric tests, if can be used to provide more evidence of a diagnosis. To help with the validity of this test, more research has to be done, and more experiments should be done with different genders, ages and cultures. Also, like one student mentioned above, incorporating this into our health care system would cause some financial difficulties, therefore having a simplified "form" or assessment sheet would be beneficial for the implementation process, if this scale were to be implemented into psychiatric evaluations.

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    4. Kathleen, I see your concern about the questionable validity of Yu's Dream Intensity Profile in the prediction of specific disorders. I think it would beneficial to incorporate the assessment into clinical settings for research. I don't think it would be that costly, but as usual with any big change, it would require time and advocacy for the relevance of the assessment. Before that it would require more clinical trials. Kind of a never-ending cycle of bureaucracy.
      In order to move forward with Yu's assessment in research involving the predictive ability of specific disorders, research may explore a means of developing a version of the profile for a broader spectrum of disorders. Like Aaron says above, anxiety and depression are commonly manifested in dream imagery and also quite prevalent. Predicting these disorders earlier would prevent negative repercussions for the client and everyone affected by their experience.

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    5. I found Aaron's suggestion that a self-report scale be developed very intelligent. No one can better regurgitate dream imagery/emotion than the person who experienced it.

      This is also a practical approach as it would reduce the amount of time the clinician would need to dedicate to each patient (making it a more probable option for selection).

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  5. It seems logical that a dream's intensity is related to connectivity to the dreamers' waking day experiences. And it is typically so that our body knows that it is sick before we are conscious of our disorders (whether it be a headache or an upset stomach, which could be a sign of more severe problems). Being able to discover that we are sick by analysing our dreams would be very helpful because most often it is better to treat things earlier than later. Also, dreams are often our way of rehearsing certain situations. If we are faced with a sickness that we do not know much about, an intense dream regarding being sick may be our unconscious mind's way of practicing future actions in events to come involving the sickness.
    Research should definitely be continued on this topic. It might be useful for researchers to study if there are links between certain regions of the body affected in dreams in comparison the the actual affected body part in waking life. It would also be very interesting if they did research on dream intensity and its connection to psychological disorders.
    In terms of clinical applicability, research should be done in a top-down fashion. That is, researchers should study if individuals who already know their disorder have dreams that predict their disorder.

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    1. As mentioned earlier, the relation between the intensity of the dream and the connections the dreamer has in waking life is the relationship the dream has to the individuals in terms of emotions caused by every day waking life events. These emotions experienced during a dream can play a crucial role in understanding that life events can be navigated by these emotions and imagery experienced. Very lucid and intense dreams could further this interpretation because they are more memorable and poignant due to this intensity and may be easier to interpret to help direct choices waking day decisions in life. As suggested the clinical implications of this research could be the investigation of individuals with clinical disorders such as depression, anxiety, PTSD and many more. In terms of the progress of this research, it could be possible to find some of the triggers of anxiety by recording and investigating which imagery is specifically intense in dreams and if it produces any physiological response and what that response was. The intensity of the dream can be an indication that this certain emotion of image produces symptoms. Furthermore, by examining and interpreting which parts of the dream and which emotions produce what type of outcome researchers may be able to make connections and draw conclusions as to which type of clinical disorder may be afflicting the patient. By diagnosing this disorder, researchers may be able to identify the triggers of certain disorders such as depression, anxiety and PTSD in order to reduce the symptoms by this dream analysis investigation.

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    2. Calvin Yu’s research should be continued for evaluating dream intensity and connecting specific disorders. Throughout the course we have learned that dreams are interpretations of our own lives therefore Yu’s research with disorders can only be helpful for clinical work such as psychologists to help individuals that may be dealing with specific disorders. It makes sense that symptoms or habits would be present in individuals dreams when dreams are a reflection of our waking day life. If research could determine symptoms and signs of disorders through intensity and emotions of dreams, it would be beneficial to individuals rather than using physical or invasive tests. With research as an evaluating scale, progress could be tracked because Yu’s research could be standardized and researched by a variety of clinicians.

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  6. I think that this interesting but question exactly how many people within the greater population would actually benefit from such a discovery. The majority of people within Western culture do not pay specific attention to their dreams and thus would be highly unlikely to be diagnosed with any disorder due to not being involved in such methods.

    For people who are involved the gains are likely to be significant once this method is run through clinical trials and proven a valid from of assessment.

    I would be curious to know what level a person would need to be experiencing a disorder prior to being able to be diagnosed with this method.

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    1. Hi Tracy,
      It would be difficult practice dream interpretation method if people do not think it is important. However, we have learned that researches have proven the dream interpretation is beneficial for certain disorders, such as depression. I wonder how these researches affect people's attitude towards their dreams. Since I have learned about "continuous theory", I am more aware of my dreams these days and relating back to my waking life. Just like me, if people were more aware of their dreams I am sure that more and more people would be willing to be involved in this method.

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  7. Samantha EllertonJune 9, 2013 at 9:50 AM

    I think this finding is extremely beneficial as it can help those with specific disorders become diagnosed and start whatever treatments are available to help them with the diagnosed disorder. In regards to the point above in that the majority of people in Western cultures do not pay much attention to their dreams, this is debatable however those who do pay attention can then receive the assistance needed and if it does work accurately can spread this news to hopefully help others with other disorders that can be diagnosed with this method.

    I think if the awareness of this method and diagnostic ability is continuously made aware then it can reach more people and the benefits can thus be explored. I personally find it very interesting that the measurement of the intensity of our dreams has the ability to detect certain disorders and I strongly believe that others would feel the same.

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  8. I definitely believe that the intensity of the dream imagery and emotions are associated with the dreamer's waking life. I am sure most of us had at least one unforgettable dream that made you wonder in your waking life. If I dream about my family or my friends, I often call them to make sure they are okay. 'I wonder if they are trying to say something in my dream that I need to talk to them'. According to Lancee and Schrijnemaekers (2013) suggested that negative dream imagery and strong emotional dreams are correlated with increase level of distress in waking life, especially nightmares. Researches show that among people with psychologic disorders have more frequent nightmares which affect their waking life (Lancee & Schijnemaekers, 2013). I think the finding a way of predict specific disorders from the dream interpretation would be very beneficial. As we learned from the "dreams and dreaming" course, some mental disorders (post traumatic stress disorder, depression) can be treated with dream interpretation. I think it will be beneficial if the "dream Intensity scale" and dream method are used together clinically.

    Lancee, J. & Schrijnemaekers, N. (2013). The association between nightmares and daily distress. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 11, 14-19.

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  9. This is a very significant finding, as it reveals the capacity for dreams to not only reflect waking day behaviours, but to predict disorders. In terms of clinical applicability, I feel that research should progress forward to further examine the relation of dream intensity to specific disorders, and solidify this profile's place in a clinical setting. It is fascinating to me that something as seemingly insignificant as dream intensity can in truth reveal far more about an individual, including any disorders they may have. I feel that it has the potential to reveal disorders that may have otherwise gone undetected, and treatment for those who require it. What an extremely important finding in terms of the capacity of dream research to improve the waking lives of individuals!

    ~ Ellen Coombs

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    1. Although this finding is significant to research it does not come as a surprise to anyone who studies the relationship between dreams and waking life. There are many different ways to diagnose people with certain disorders and Yu’s (2010) findings offers another branch to support any diagnosis’s or may even be a starting point for diagnosing disorders. I believe that it should be used as a supporting test until enough data is collected to determine its reliability. People are unique in a majority of aspects of their lives and this new research may prove more beneficial to some and not others. Also patients with certain disorders may find this technique more or less intrusive and may be more or less accepting of this technique. More importantly though many aspects of this technique can be used for private and personal use; which may help an individual work through their disorder independently and provide a more open dialogue in a therapeutic environment.

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    2. Maureen PartridgeJune 9, 2013 at 3:32 PM

      I agree with the above comments regarding the reliability and validity of the Dream Intensity Profile. I am curious if the medical profession is on board with using this scale in conjunction with their testing and diagnosis of the specific disorders the scale predicts. I am also interested in what "specific disorders" the Dream Intensity Profile is predicting. If this scale is in fact valid and reliable, what a valuable tool!
      I think future research in this area could progress to linking the dream intensity and specific disorder prediction to an accurate medical diagnosis. Including a larger team of psychological and medical professionals. In clinical practice it could be used to help the dreamer interpret their dreams, work to find discovery and then work on whatever disorder may be affecting their waking life. (Depression, anxiety, physical symptoms that may be causing fatigue, illness etc). If the dreamer who is experiencing these intense dreams is not willing to work on their dreams in order to associate them with a illness or disorder, than the effectiveness of the research is not useful. Again, getting this information out to the non-scientific community as a means of managing their health is an important step.

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  10. Yu's Dream Profile should continue to be tested and researched to ensure that it is accurate enough to be relied on by clinicians. I don't believe that clinicians should rely purely on the Dream Profile, but instead should use the information they gain from their patient's dream imagery in addition to the information the gain from psychoanalysis and various other clinical techniques. If the Dream Profile can be determined accurate and reliable, it will drastically improve the diagnosis of disorders. Dream imagery could give the clinician information that the patient is either too scared to talk about or doesn't even know it about themselves. Research should continue through clinical trials and long term case studies to determine the reliability and accuracy of this technique.

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    1. I think that the measuring of dream intensity and its use in helping to recognize disorders could be very useful. There may be certain levels of dream intensity that may indicate certain disorders which could continue to be discussed in research. The research could possibly explore the specific intensity for specific disorders. Even though this may be a fascinating and important finding, I would question the reliability of the intensity measurement scale. I do not believe that every person who experiences intense dreams has a disorder or people that do have a disorder may not always experience intense dreams. I think the research should continue to explore the reliability of the scale.
      However, in clinical practice I believe this intensity rating could be very useful, as vivid and intense dreams tend to have a stronger impact on a individuals waking life. As discussed earlier intense dreams can sometimes cause individuals to change their minds about decisions made, make a choice, or what to think about a situation or person. This would be vital information for the dream therapist to know in order to assist the individual.

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    2. I think that having a proper way to measure dream intensity is very important. Since it has been proven that the intensity of one's dream can tell us so much, we need a reliable way to measure it.
      I agree with Miranda in the fact that the Dream Profile would be very helpful. It could be used in addition to other techniques that are already common to find more information, and check the reliability of what has been found through other processes.

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  11. One of the important indicators of dreams is the "intensity" of the imagery and emotions. This function is important because it triggers waking day connections for the dreamer, it provides important information to researchers about the dream, and is a function that can be explored for clinical purposes. Calvin Yu (2010) published the Dream Intensity Profile which is a scale useful for evaluating components of dream intensity as clinical markers. This research provided strong evidence that the scale of dream intensity can predict specific disorders. Comment on this finding and how research should progress in terms of clinic applicablity.

    This is an excellent finding. There are a lot of factors that go into diagnosing a disorder and as a result, patients like a personal friend of mine, often have to wait a considerable amount of time for a concrete diagnosis. If Calvin Yu has found a tested clinical tool that can assist in diagnosing a disorder, by all means it should be brought to the awareness of clinicians all over the world. As far as its predictive power goes, this is very good too because it can give a clinician and their patients a warning of what is to come. This way, they can already be on the lookout for symptoms of a disorder that hasn't surfaced yet. It also provides them with the chance to begin performing treatments that could potentially prevent a disorder from surfacing, or at least lessen its effects when it does surface.

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    1. I believe that the intensity of the dream imagery and the intensity of the emotions present in dreams are strong indicators of a person's waking life. I can see why some have found that dreams can predict specific disorders. If a person is feeling depressed and on the edge of having a depressive disorder their dreams may have a lot of dark and negative imagery that clinicians can pick up on. If a clinician uses dream imagery/ interpretation for a patient then they might realize by studying the intensity of the imagery and emotions that the person has depression. Also, this could maybe be used to determine if someone is a sociopath or have a psychotic disorder because their dreams might hold specific clues and emotions. By looking at the intensity of the dream clinicians may be able to predict and help prevent these disorders from getting out of hand. For a sociopath they may look for imagery that is negative but also where they are dominating in a dream or something similar. For a person with a psychosis they may look for weird, disorganized dreams with negative and bizarre imagery.

      However, like others have said, it is hard to say how well looking at the intensity of dreams could help predict disorders. Some people may not remember their dreams or may have normal dreams with positive imagery. It may be hard for the clinician to determine if they have a disorder if the patient doesnt think there is anything wrong and doesnt give the clinician a full detailed background of themselves. This method of looking at dreams should be studied further with different groups of people of different ages. More research should be conducted to look at the dreams of people with disorders and even people with a high chance of getting a specific disorder. Then clinicians can look at their dreams and determine if certain disorders with have certain imagery. Like in our textbook "Our Dreaming Mind", people with depression, like I mentioned, with have dreams of darkness and with negative imagery. By looking at specific emotions and imagery more research can be done on the intensity scale and maybe there can be a definite way to determine specific disorders in the future.

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  12. The intensity of dream imagery and emotion achieved from dreams is likely to be reported subjectively. This may result in unreliable reports of intensity because an individual may only remember certain aspects of their dream imagery, and only report on these images/emotions. For example, an individual may only remember negative images from their dream, making it seem as though the dream only elicited intense negativity. However, the dream may also have had other images that the individual may not have remember such as happy ones. This is especially important if Calvin Yu (2010) scale uses dream intensity as clinical markers for specific disorders. In the example I used previously, the individual who only remembers negative images from their dream could be thought to have depression. In terms of how this research should progress, the clinicians need to ensure that the individuals are taught how to recall dreams so that most dream imagery is accounted for, otherwise the scale will not be as reliable.

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    1. I definitely agree that Yu's Dream Intensity Profile is a useful tool to help predict specific disorders. It can guide clinicians with diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. It is very logical to me that something that is triggering an intense effect in a dream could have a big impact on someone's daily life. I do not think that the Dream Intensity Profile should currently be used as the sole method of diagnosis for disorders. However, when it is combined with other approaches, I believe it can be very effective in determining diagnoses. More research needs to be conducted to further solidify the reliability and validity of this technique.

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    2. Wow I really find this fascinating! I wonder what types of disorders they would be able to predict. This would be a great tool to implement preventative measures for the predicted disorders. It would be very helpful for family physicians and other health care providers who work with the patient to use in addition to other types of testing prepare a more specific approach to their healthcare.

      The Dream Intensity Profile would also be helpful for that person to change their lifestyle appropriately. I do agree with Sheena that more research needs to be conducted to gain reliability and validity. I believe that the prospect for the potential of this research is enormous. It could have great impact on disease and disorders worldwide. How interesting that our subconsious mind can provide us with such insight not only to our daily lives and relationships but to gain an even greater insight as to what is physically going on in our bodies.

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    3. I find it not surprising that Yu's Dream Intensity profile would be able to find indicators of specific disorders. As discussed in lecture, dreams are often the window into people's lives. They show a lot of things more vividly than we can obtain through waking life discussions as they are mostly unconscious thoughts. When I think about my own daily thoughts I find it very easy to repress certain emotions, actions or processes whereas I seem to process my dreams at a completely natural state. My brain functions without me conciously providing input or control as to what i am thinking or dreaming. I think this is the main reason that Yu's theory worked as it allows the disorder to be detected while the individual is not trying to repress it or follow social norms to change it. I think that More research could be useful in helping to detect disorders at an earlier age as many disorders tend to have better treatments when they are caught earlier on in life.

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  13. Like mentioned above, I also do not find it very surprising that Yu's Dream intensity profile is able to find indicators of specific disorders. Since dreams come from the unconscious mind they are able to express ones most inner thoughts and feelings, and express things about the person that they themselves are not even aware of in their waking life. Sometimes a persons dream imagery can be very vivid and if the dreamer pays close enough attention to their dream imagery they will be able to gain a better understanding of themselves through their unconscious mind. If people are able to pay close enough attention to their dream imagery and the intensity of their dreams then I think this will be very beneficial to the dreamer because, like mentioned above, a dreamers imagery comes from their unconscious mind, which we are unable to access during our waking life. I think that Yu's dream intensity scale would be very beneficial to a dreamer because it is capable of detecting a disorder before it is evident in their waking life. Since a persons dream comes from their unconscious, their most inner thoughts and feelings, it makes sense that Yu's dream intensity scale can detect disorders before they are evident in their waking life. I think that this would be very beneficial for clinical research because it would able them to help treat a disorder before it even becomes evident and affects someone in their waking life. It will also able clinicians to detect a disorder before the onset of it and before it affects someone a lot in their waking life.

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    1. I agree that the most important and groundbreaking aspect to Yu's Dream Intensity Profile is the increased classification rate (by almost 9%) of neuroticism, psychological boundaries, and dissociation, etc. Exploring subsequent studies that utilized the DIP offered further use for its clinic applicability, such as the effect of a sleeper's body position on his or her dreams as well as the scale's link to the Big Five personality profile.

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  14. I agree too that it's not surprising that intensity can detect certain disorders. Intensity often relates to significances of a person's life. Though, less intense dreams can be remembered, individual's are more likely to remember dreams which bring greater emotions. This is similar to waking event as well. Since dreams are an individual's unconscious thoughts, ideas or events which have greater intensities are going to most likely indicate greater importance. Thus, what our unconscious deems significant, probably is what can indicate specific disorders.
    I agree with Natasha, this scale can be very beneficial to detecting disorders before they may manifest into the dreamer's waking life. This would have the obvious benefits for it would help prevent individuals from experiencing harmful side effects which are associated with certain disorders. This could have great social benefits for individuals whom might experience a psychotic or depression episode later in life, which could result in their life being upside down or being alienated from co-workers, friends and/or family. If they can prevent the episode from occurring or delay the onset of a disorder, would be very beneficial to the individual's health.

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    1. This topic is very interesting as it relates to me on a personal level. I have an anxiety disorder and for at least 3 years now, I have been taking anti-depressants/anti-anxiety pills and if/when I miss a pill for a whole day, I start getting panic attacks obviously. My dreams also get REALLY intense and feel more real than ever. It is the weirdest feeling because this is when I have the most intense dreams and when I experience my body fully engaged in my dreams. I have always wondered if this is due to withdrawal or the panic attacks or both. In my opinion, this definitely supports the idea that dream intensity can give us a lot of information about a person's personality or if there are any disorders present. If I didn't already know I had an anxiety attack problem, I would for sure believe I had something mentally going on due to the intense dreams.

      It is also not surprising that Yu's intensity scale could predict disorders because there are theories that say dreams can predict or signal physical illness/issues. If dreams can sense problems within our bodies, dreams can most definitely sense problems within our brain.

      Being able to predict disorders through studying dream intensity would decrease the amount of disorders that go undiagnosed or get too serious before they are noticed. As I said earlier, if I didn't already know I had an issue with anxiety attacks, my intense dreams would have signaled me to get help or answers.

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    2. Your personal experience related to this topic is very interesting. I agree that intense dreams are highly related to the persons mood as well as many other things.
      I personally have experienced very intense dreams. These dreams are mostly experienced when I have had a more than usual stressful day or something big had happened. I find this interesting and makes me strongly agree that mood and personality are directly associated with your dreaming life.
      I also agree with the above statement about how important the dream intensity scale could be when used to diagnose different types of disorders. This could be a big step in understanding an individual on a different, more personal level.

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  15. Emily Reavie (0487529)June 9, 2013 at 8:02 PM

    Calvin Yu published Dream Intensity Profile which has been shown useful in predictions of certain disorders. This is very helpful and should be continued. This is important because more and more people are being diagnosed with disorders so being able to predict these will give people readiness for what they are about to endure. On that same note, disorders can be minimized with early awareness. It is very interesting that dream imagery can provide insight to emotions, disorders, waking life, etc. Patients and other people should be aware of this. As someone has mentioned above, I agree that this would be especially helpful for suicidal patients or people with depression. Gaining insight through dream interpretation and providing it to the patient could ultimately save them. Knowing this information, clinicians could help alter their emotions into more positive forms. Clinicians will be able to tell if their treatment for the patient is working through their dream imagery. Therefore, detecting the disorder through the Dream Intensity Profile and then treating the disorder is necessary. After this, dream imagery could be used again to see if any further detections of the disorder can be made. If there are none, we know that the treatment is working. If there are detections, we know that we must alter the therapy. Overall, this is a great design that can go far in changing people’s lives for the better.

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  16. The Dream Intensity Profile is an important finding as many individuals within the world today go undiagnosed when they could be benefiting from treatment. For many, the earlier treatment is received the better. Some disorders can severely affect an individual’s ability to succeed in their lives.

    Not only does this rating scale predict specific disorders, but it could likely indicate to a clinician what level a particular disorder is at within the individual. This knowledge could help clinicians to make more specific diagnoses. It could aid in their attempts to determine what form of treatment to use on a particular patient as different treatments are often required at different stages throughout a disorder’s development.

    Future research could focus on further developing Calvin Yu’s rating system. Determining reliability/validity is key to the successful implementation of this dream interpretation within clinics. Researchers could also ask whether, if the intensity of the dream imagery/emotions is indicative of specific disorders, treatments to alter the intensity of the dream imagery/emotion would aid in treatment of the disorder. It would also be interesting to note whether there are any other factors that could reflect underlying disorders (i.e. specific dream images, dream length, dream frequency). For example, are individuals who flit from scene to scene in their dreams more likely to be diagnosed with A.D.H.D? Are individuals who find it difficult to move on from one dream to the next more likely to be O.C.D?

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    1. Yus’s research providing a dream intensity profile allowing us to predict certain disorders is very beneficial. Since many parts of an individual’s life is reflected in their dreams, determining or being able to diagnose an individual with a disorder is a breakthrough in terms of clinical practice. This method should not be the only source used to diagnose a disorder; it should be used along with other assessment methods.
      Further research should be continued towards validating and making this intensity profile reliable as well. Understanding correlations and trying to create better methods and scales to allow more accuracy towards diagnosing an individual should be the main focus of research. The dream intensity profile can be a huge breakthrough in clinical practice if it could be proven to be reliable and valid and if the correlations are high.

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  17. First off I think that the Dream Intensity Profile is an extremely useful tool in the study of dreams. Knowing the intensity of dreams based on emotion and imagery would prove tremendously beneficial when determining how important a particular dream was for an individual. I believe that in light of this finding research should progress by determining a measure of what the scale must reach in order for it to be significant. For instance, is it a 10-point scale of intensity and when it reaches 8+ it's then considered a ‘high intensity’ dream. I would be personally interested to know how intensity of emotion and imagery is measured in this scale, and also how they manage to link particular imagery and emotion imagery to specific disorders. I agree with many of the comments above that state the importance of using Yu’s scale in combination with the other measured we use to diagnose mental disorders. However this finding will undoubtedly bring even more insight into the dreams and emotions of individuals suffering from mental illness.

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  18. I agree with pretty much all of what Prabhjot was saying. The inherent difficulty with using any type of dream therapy with phycological disorders is that there needs to be an ability to verbalize and remember your dreams. This would be practicularly difficult for schizophrenics or patients that are selectively mute or whom have other vocalization difficulties. As well, remembering their dreams, especially for say, a patient with multiple personalities, may prove impossible(at least not during the time of the session). As well, all of these patients must have a concept of intensity themselves in order to help complete the assessment. I also agree that the judgement factor would be difficulty to equalize amoung clinicians. Overall it sound interesting, but I feel it needs more assessment to truly become helpful.

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  19. When thinking about dreams and there intensity it is clear that there is a distinction between a pleasant dream and a negative one. Whether the dream is very enjoyable or very unpleasant, when the intensity falls under one of these extremes it is obvious that when you wake it will be much easier to remember. In any case researchers are always looking for more effective ways to be able to diagnose their patients. Calvin Yu’s Dream Intensity profile makes a lot of sense in regard to connecting dreams to disorders. By using this profile and being able to find pattern in a person’s dream it could be quite beneficial for both the doctor and patient. In the end trends can occur and we may be able to help with these disorders by way of our dreams. Everyone knows the effect a terrible dream can have on a person the next day it carries over and leaves you questioning how it came about. With this all being said I feel that the dream intensity profile will never become the main predictor of diagnosing disorders but its implementation can definitely be effective.

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  20. I think the concept of Calvin Yu's Dream Intensity Profile is excellent for clinical and psychological advancement. By having the ablitty to portray the different internsity og imagery and emotions, we can decrease the amount of discrepenciy between indivudals dreams. However, I also think that by using a scale, we still cannot eliminate all biases. Peoples dreams are all very subjective to indivudals past and experiences. There is no way that we can completely make a scale that will be unifrom for everyone.

    The connection between dream intensity and certian disorders can be very useful for clinical practise. Since the research suggested strong evidence that the scale of dream intensity can predict specific disorders, we can now examine which disorders are linked to high and low dream intensity. Also, we can begin to examine different cultures to see if dream intensity varies amoung populations. It would also be very intresting to examine the difference amoung genders and age groups to see if this is relevant with disorders amoung the population at large.

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    1. I think Calvin Yu’s Dream Intensity Profile is a great starting point to understanding the intensity an individual’s dreams with regard to the emotions and feelings behind it. I agree with the above statement that this scale cannot be uniform to everyone, however, it gives a clinician or therapist a reference to how the individual may be feeling. I also liked that for future research the above statement suggested that we could examine differences among cultures, genders and age groups with the dream intensity scale. I did not think this scale should be used to give a diagnoses on a disorder but rather again just a reference.

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  21. Elizabeth SalisburyJune 11, 2013 at 3:58 PM

    Research related to Calvin Yu's Dream Intensity Profile which connects the scale of dream intensity to specific disorders is very interesting. Differing disorder are often difficult to diagnose and present themselves differently depending on the individual and any possible underlying issues or other disorders. This scale could be immensely useful for therapist, clinicians and dreamers who are attempting to manage and if possible overcome a disorder. 

    We know that dreams themselves can give specific and detailed information regarding a persons emotional, physical and spiritual functioning and well-being. Therefore it makes sense that dream intensity can give us further details regarding an individuals specific disorder. 

    With the evidence being so strong in this area, this scale should applied more frequently to individuals who may be suffering with a disorder. The field of dream interpretation is wide spread and has been increasing in popularity with dreamers and clinicians. Further scientific research and application of this and other methods will only assist with the progression of dream intensity application in the future. 

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  22. Shadiya GouldbourneJune 13, 2013 at 1:55 PM

    Immediately I think about the reliability of the scale, if its applicable in all situations. Also the impact of the dream intensity could depend on the individuals' threshold. I find the application of marking mental disorders based on dream intensity, interesting. I would suspect that a person with intense vivid nightmares of a past trauma, could be diagnosed with PTSD. Yu's Dream Intensity Profile seems very beneficial to research because frequent dream recurrance is not satisfactory enough without assessing dream intensity. In terms of clinical applicability. It would be interesting to develop a study measuring dream intensity between mentally unstable patients and mentally stable patients. Also, it would be fascinating to assess nightmares versus good dreams versus ambiguous dreams in terms of intensity.

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