Oneirology: The Scientific Study of Dreams

Dreaming is nothing but a world of visuals in which a person's mind goes through and sees the new realm’s own stories. But how come numerous people put much significance upon it if dreaming is just a trivial field of study? If it is just a simple make-believe dimension that we can only enter when we are asleep? One of the evidences that dreaming has been given great importance by the experts who specialized in this school of thought is the oneirology.

From the greek word “oneiros” which means "dream" and  “-logia” which means "the study of", oneirology is the scientific study of dreams. Just as the content of dreams can not be taken at its shallow or literal meaning, the actual process of dreaming can’t be taken for granted either. This is the reason why there are researchers who specialize and devote themselves in the study of oneirology. This systematic study of dreams seeks correlations between dreaming and current knowledge about how the brain works as well as understanding of how the brain functions during dreaming which may eventually lead to some scientific explanations of how it contributes to memory formation and mental disorders.

It should be noted how oneirology differs from the other fields of study of dreams. Oneirology aims to quantitatively study the process of dreams while on the other hand, dream analysis is greatly focused on analyzing the meaning behind them. In the similar manner, oneiromancy refers to using dreams for divinatory purposes while psychoanalysis, which was developed by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, is centered in dream theories and interpretations and explains how dreams become the manifestations of one’s deepest desires and anxieties, often relating to repressed childhood memories or obsessions.

According to the article "Oneirology: Understanding the How, the Why and the What" from dreamdoze.com, oneirology was first coined by Marquis d’Hervey de Saint Denys in 1653, but sooner, it was the subsequent researchers like Nathaniel Kleitman and William Dement, who made big discoveries in dream research. Dement and Kleitman discovered the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep with the aid of the electroencephalograph (EEG). The EEG showed a correlation of activities between the REM stage of sleep and the waking state. The activity going on in the brain during REM resembles that of the activity that can be found while a person is awake. In line with this discovery, the increase in the brain activity and eye movement gave the impression that the sleeper was dreaming, or at least that he was in a position to be able to dream.

The EEG shows that with REM sleep, the brain activity reflects to be most like that of wakefulness. Some studies also revealed that various species of mammals and birds experience REM during sleep, and follow the same series of sleeping states as humans.

Oneirology is centered in analyzing brain waves during dreaming, and also encompasses the study of the effects of drugs and neurotransmitters on sleeping or dreaming. As what can be inferred from the above excerpt of "Oneirology: Understanding the How, the Why and the What" article, oneirology is generally the study of dreams as a function of brain activity. The knowledge that can be obtained in this area could have implications in the treatment of certain types of mental illnesses and disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder which include re-experiencing original traumas by means of flashbacks or nightmares, and thus result to difficulty in falling or staying asleep; and Schizophrenia which involves abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality primarily focused on delusions and hallucinations.

Oneirology is really a vast reservoir of knowledge about the dreaming process and a very useful tool in curing some mental sicknesses. Although critics lose their confidence about this field of study, still, the apparent usefulness of oneirology is a sufficient basis to emphasize its significant contribution in this mysterious part of living.