The neuropsychoanalysis of dreams: a meta-review focusing on neuroanatomy

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

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