The Neuropsychoanalysis of Dreams: A Meta-Review focusing on Neuroanatomy

For a long time, dreams were regarded as random mysterious constructs and psychoanalyticaldream theories were often criticized due to lack of evidence. However, with the development ofadvanced neuroscientific techniques, increasing evidence has been found that dreams haveunderlying physiological correlates. Furthermore, dreams and their therapeutic applicationprovide meaningful insights into the psychological experience of patients. This meta-reviewcompares brain activation of human dreams by contrasting the Activation-Synthesis Model witha psychoanalytic perspective on dreams. Therefore, 22 review articles were examined, based ona systematic research strategy following PRISMA guidelines, and underwent a Risk of Biasassessment. The results emphasize neuroscientific evidence for the psychoanalytic model ofdreams. Especially an increased activation of the limbic system and prefrontal cortex was foundindicating the emotional and memory-related content during the process of dreaming. Despite thestrong tendency towards the psychoanalytical dream model, a few findings also providesuggestions for a revised Activation-Synthesis Model which could be examined in future research.This paper aims to encourage expanding research in neuropsychoanalysis to integrate dreamsmore in psychotherapeutic interventions.