" the Other, evidence for not being alone "

The Continuity Hypothesis of dreaming states that waking life is continuous with dreams (e.g. Schredl and Hoffman, 2003), but the ways in which it has been defined lack coherence and agreement (e.g. , and many of the factors postulated to influence the continuity of waking life into dreams (e.g. Schredl, 2002a) have rarely been studied. The present thesis addressed these issues by researching the meaning of 'continuity', the ways in which waking life is continued into dreams, the factors that influence continuity, and the implications the findings have on the potential function(s) of continuity. Because of the disparate perspectives on continuity, the thesis approached the empirical investigation of it from a broad, inclusive perspective, and utilised a diverse range of methodologies. Two theoretical chapters (a literature review and a methodological review) and five empirical chapters are presented, as well as one final chapter to bring the findings My most profound thanks go to Dr. Caroline L. Horton who has been a supervisor, a colleague, and a friend throughout this journey, with whom I have shared many excited dream research conversations, and whose encouragement and support has driven my enthusiasm and delight in this research throughout; and to Dr. Fiona Fylan whose ideas, guidance, and support have been invaluable contributions. I am also grateful to Leeds Metropolitan University and its staff, particularly the psychology department, for the financial support and the supportive research environment.

The value of weaving between dreaming and waking realities creatively is important, but under-recognized by mainstream society. The experienced links between dreams and creativity in the work of professional creative artists needs additional research. I interviewed three professional creative artists about how they link their dreams to their creative work and/or experience creativity in their dreams. The data were analyzed using Giorgi’s method of descriptive phenomenological psychological inquiry. The participants have had dreams that have given them: inspiration, ideas, visions, messages, and advice for their creative work. They all have felt a connection between dreams and a mystical source energy, and have energetically expressed its messages in their creative work, which has also brought new meaning to their dreams in the context of their lives. Equal value was held, and reverent respect given to dream experiences, whether related or unrelated to the professional creative work of the three participants.

Three authors described a specific experience in which a dream informed their artistic work. Interview data were analyzed using Amedeo Giorgi’s phenomenological psychological method. The major finding was the emergence of a central focus on a process of healing from loss and grief in relationship. This result was formed into a Psychological Structure and 25 constituents were delineated: (1) feelings of loss, grief, and powerlessness due to a painful situation in waking life involving a loved one that led to a negative impact on one’s health, (2) a dream with a central figure associated with the troubled relationship in waking life, (3) unsettled feelings that the painful situation is still unresolved in waking life, (4) potential to resolve the situation and ambivalence about readiness to resolve it, (5) key figures in the dream teaching about the unresolved situation, (6) images and emotions from the dream remaining upon wakening, (7) professional awareness leading to the idea to create a piece of art, (8) universality in the dream’s theme and recognizing the worthiness to create art from it, (9) documenting the dream accurately, (10) receiving approval from a trusted ally, (11) self-healing purposes first and foremost, (12) finding the genre most comfortable with which to work, (13) application of intentionally crafted, well-defined formulas, (14) deciding how explicit to be, (15) feeling motivation to complete the art for public viewing, (16) releasing painful emotions and feeling relief with the art’s completion, (17) feeling empowerment, pride and accomplishment, (18) feeling commitment to protect, nurture, and promote the finished art, (19) support from professional community leading to sharing opportunities, (20) audience members moved as one had hoped resulting in feelings of validation, (21) the previously unresolved situation starts resolving, (22) one hopes others will feel relief and heal beautifully by exposure to this art, (23) one feels energized bringing a difficult subject into greater public awareness, (24) meaningful connections are made, (25) one feels personally transformed, and realizes the experience from dream to art to audience has healed prior wounding from waking life. This structure was unique when compared to previous studies with artists in other fields.