Dream Interrogation technique
Introduction
I wanted to design a dynamic technique that would aid dream recall and make myself think deeply about my dreams. I decided the best way to do this would be to find a way to create probing questions that would make me think in great depth about a dream and its component parts and their characteristics. The aim of the questions is to dig out every memory of a dream so that I become familiar with every part of the dream, and - if I choose to - can continue the process up to the point where I have an exhaustive, extremely detailed memory of the dream. As a result of this, the memory of that dream is established more firmly in my mind than if I'd just written the dream in my dream journal and casually reviewed it at later dates.
An Example Dream
I'll use this example of a dream throughout the post to help explain the technique:
I was sat in the vet's waiting room when my mum walked in with a small tyrannosaurus rex on a lead.
Dream Interrogation
The probing questions are quite simple and are formed using random adjectives. (I'll describe how I generate the adjectives later.) My own preference is to create a large list of adjectives (100s!) and pick them at random.
First probing question
My first probing question is a How? question and is about the dream in general. Suppose my random adjective is bright. The probing question would read:
How bright was the dream?
To which I could answer: It was generally bright, daytime, and I could see everything clearly in the vet's waiting room.
Second probing question
The second probing question is a What? question. Here I go deeper and focus on the details of the dream. It uses the same adjective as the first probing question - bright, in this example - but this time the question reads:
What was the brightest part of the dream?
To which I could answer: The brightest part was the view outside from the window.
A Deeper Level
I can underline a word in my answers and then ask probing questions about that feature of the dream. Thus:
The brightest part was the view outside from the window.
indicates I want to focus on - and ask some questions - about the window. For the deeper level questions I usually only ask How? questions. An example about the window using the adjective wet would read:
How wet was the window?
To which I could answer: The window was dry because it was a nice day with no rain.
Again, I can repeat the deeper level questions about the window for as long as I like. I also have the option to go even deeper - say, if a probing question like, "How informative was the window?" had made me recall a poster in a window, I could decide to make that poster the focus of some probing questions.
Difficulty with using certain adjectives
Sometimes an adjective can be difficult to apply or may seem irrelevant. For example, if I was focussing on the t-rex and the adjective is happy, then it might seem that the resulting probing question, "How happy was the t-rex?" can't be answered. In situations like this, I create three further adjectives based on a scale suggested by the initial chosen adjective (happy). Then I consider where my focus (the t-rex) falls on the scale suggested by the four adjectives. The extra three adjectives are an opposite, an extreme of that opposite, and the final extra one is an extreme of the initial adjective (happy). Thus:
Initial adjective = happy
Opposite of happy = sad
Extreme of the opposite = extremely sad
Extreme of initial adjective = absolutely ecstatic
Which could give the scale:
Extremely sad > sad > happy > absolutely ecstatic
So when my probing question says, "How happy was the t-rex?" and my response is along the lines of, "How on earth can a t-rex be happy and how can I tell?" I can exaggerate the probing question a bit using the extremes - extremely sad and absolutely ecstatic, in this case.
Q: Was the t-rex absolutely ecstatic, dancing round the room with glee?
A: No!
Q: Was the t-rex extremely sad, moping around the room crying?
A: No!
So, somewhere between these two extremes is the position of the t-rex on the scale. An eventual answer to the probing question could be:
The t-rex seemed content, and wasn't in any distress.
Creating A List Of Adjectives
There are lots of methods for creating random adjective lists:
1) Look around the room, pick an object and name three adjectives that apply to it.
Example: My wallpaper = white, bobbly, vertical.
Example: My curtains = green, dusty, open.
2) Pick up a book, magazine or newspaper, choose a page and pick off the adjectives in the body of words.
3) Use the publication from 2, but pick out nouns and name three adjectives applicable to each noun.
4) Use a random-word generator ( Random Word Generator (Plus) ) to generate nouns and name three adjectives for each noun.
An example of Dream Interrogation in action
Again, using the dream example above:
I was sat in the vet's waiting room when my mum walked in with a small tyrannosaurus rex on a lead.
Random adjective 1 = adventurous
First probing question = How adventurous was the dream?
Answer: Not very! All I did was sit down and observed my mum coming in with the t-rex.
Second probing question = What was the most adventurous part of the dream?
Answer: My mum going into a vet's with a t-rex!
Random adjective 2 = serious
First probing question = How serious was the dream?
Answer: Fairly serious. There wasn't any laughter or joking, or any smiling.
Second probing question = What was the most serious part of the dream?
Answer: The look on my mum's face was serious as though she was worried about her "pet".
A Deeper Level
I underline "mum" because I'd like to focus on my mum:
The look on my mum's face was serious as though she was worried about her "pet".
Random adjective = strong
Deeper level question = How strong was your mum?
Answer: My mum didn't need to use any unusual amount of strength because the t-rex was walking on the lead like it was well trained.
Deeper Level 2
I underline "walking" because I'd like to focus on the t-rex's walking:
My mum didn't need to use any unusual amount of strength because the t-rex was walking on the lead as well as well-trained dog does.
Random adjective = fatigued
Deeper level question: How fatigued was the t-rex's walking?
Answer: Not at all. The t-rex was walking strongly and its legs were springy and full of energy.
Summary
1) Generate random adjectives.
2) First probing question = How?, uses a random adjective, and is about the dream
3) Second probing question = What?, is about a part of the dream, and utilises the same adjective as the first probing question.
4) Deeper level questions ask How?, use a random adjective and are about a word underlined in the previous answer to a question.
