The structure of dream sequences.

The present study examines the relationships between dreams reported by a subject in the course of two nights in a sleep laboratory. The method used is derived from Lévi-Strauss's structural analysis of myth. The dreams are shown to constitute a set of systematic transformations of a single structure. The structure itself is formed by a set of oppositions, which in part represent a dilemma or conflict facing the dreamer. In the course of the night's dreams a series of transformations of the problem are generated and scanned. These transformations are governed by regular quasi-logical procedures.