posted September 28, 2006 02:51 PM            

Dream world a strange, scary place for liberals
Meanwhile, conservatives dream of mundane events and monogamous sex, writes Chris Lackner.
Published: Wednesday, September 27, 2006

If you've recently dreamed about sex with a stranger, flying or the dead coming back to life, chances are you're probably a liberal instead of a conservative.

A dream researcher from John F. Kennedy University in California has discovered fundamental differences between the dream worlds of people on the ideological left and the ideological right.

Among his findings, Kelly Bulkeley discovered that liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams -- including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters. Conservatives' dreams were, on average, far more mundane and focused on realistic people, situations and settings.

"Conservatives seem to have more of a focus on the here and now and the material world whereas liberals, in contrast, seem to have a much wider sphere of imaginative activity," he said.

"They don't just dream about what is, but what could be or what they wish could be," Mr. Bulkeley said.

His research is being published in an upcoming issue of Dreams, a journal published by the American Psychological Association.

Out of the 134 liberals who participated in the study, 91 per cent said they recently dreamed about sex; only 76 per cent of 100 conservative subjects admitted the same.

But Mr. Bulkeley said the two political stripes showed very different tastes in dream partners.

Liberals were far more likely to have sexual dreams about strangers and a variety of partners, while liberal women showed a greater tendency towards same-sex fantasies than their conservative counterparts (24 versus four per cent).

"Especially for liberal women, there was a far greater variety in sexual partners and incidents of homosexuality," Mr. Bulkeley said. "Liberals tended to show a greater willingness to experiment with different things."

Conservatives, by comparison, were far more likely to report having sexual dreams about their spouse or current partner.

While left-wingers might be more adventurous in the subconscious bedroom, they're also more likely to wake up in a cold sweat.

Liberals showed slightly higher levels of nightmares than conservatives -- a statistic at odds with a similar dream study Mr. Bulkeley conducted in the late 1990s.

He said the ideology of the United States' governing party may affect the dream patterns of Republicans and Democrats.

While conservatives deplored former president Bill Clinton's reign in the 1990s, liberals are currently both furious and fearful of the Bush administration, he said.

"With the change from the Clinton to the Bush administrations, there are waking world reasons for liberals to be more concerned and stressed, and conservatives to be less concerned," Mr. Bulkeley said.

"Dreams are like political cartoons of the mind -- mental op-ed columns. Sometimes dreams reflect internal commentaries on the state of things."

The study includes some of the dreams recounted by liberals, such as the following nightmare: "I was at a presidential rally where George W. Bush was speaking. There was so much red, white and blue. Bush speaks: 'There are those who say that we are giving up our civil liberties. But I say, we should be proud to sacrifice our freedoms for America!' The crowd went wild, clapping, cheering and waving flags. I awoke in a cold sweat."

Not surprisingly, Republicans had much more benign dreams about their commander-in-chief: "I was friends with George W. Bush and we were working together on his ranch. I was happy to be there."

Mr. Bulkeley said that the most surprising result in his study is that conservatives showed a higher tendency for lucid dreaming -- being aware they were asleep. Conservatives largely reported using their "dream awareness" to wake themselves up from uncomfortable situations and nightmares, he said.

Overall, conservative males appear to sleep the most soundly and remember the fewest dreams, while liberal women are the most restless sleepers and fantastical dreamers.

posted September 29, 2006 12:38 PM              

What a great title for a thread.....what a great title for a book or a cd...

And after reading the content of the said thread.....ooohhhh......

gimme gimme gimme some of that liberalism....

It sounds like great fun....

Keep me hanging on the edge baby....

haha!

posted September 29, 2006 03:50 PM            

Now acoustic, it's your turn. Show us your credentials.

Bush Derangement Syndrome is raging in leftist circles.

Who can forget leftists flocking to Florida after their election loss in 2004 for psychological intervention for PEST, Post-Election Selection Trauma.

More Kerry Supporters Flock to Florida Therapists
American Health Association reacts with free ‘post-election selection trauma’ counseling

(Sean Salai, Boca Raton News, November 11, 2004)

More shocked John Kerry supporters on Wednesday sought psychological help with “post-election selection trauma” in South Florida, prompting the American Health Association to officially release symptoms of the disorder and open its doors for free counseling.

“When someone commits suicide in New York and Kerry’s loss is even slightly connected, it’s serious,” Rob Gordon, executive director of the AHA, told the Boca Raton News. “There’s a lot of older Democrats here and they outnumber Republicans and you don’t want an epidemic of suicides with the elderly. So our counseling center is now open free to those with post-election selection depression, PEST, who need to exorcise their demons.”

According to Gordon, the Boca-based AHA has formally defined the symptoms of PEST and will offer the free sessions through the end of the year. He said approximately 30 people had contacted AHA for psychological counseling since Kerry conceded the presidential race to President Bush on Nov. 3.

Gordon said symptoms of the trauma are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder and include loss of appetite, sleeplessness, nightmares and pervasive moodiness.

The AHA’s actions come after the Boca Raton News reported Tuesday that Palm Beach County psychotherapist Douglas Schooler has already treated 15 Kerry supporters using intense hypnotherapy. Schooler, contacted Wednesday, said four more people had already set up appointments for the onetime therapy session since the article was picked up internationally and cited on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show.

“The problem is out there and it’s not going to go away anytime soon,” Schooler said. “Conservatives are calling me to say these people are weak-kneed kooks, but they’re not acknowledging that this is a normal psychological response to a severe and disillusioning situation. Any suggestion that this is not a serious problem arises from a political agenda. The Republicans don’t want this talked about.”***Note*** Wrong!

Nancy M. Tabet, a mental health counselor with a small practice in Delray Beach, said she had helped about five clients deal with the post-election trauma in their therapy sessions.

“It’s interesting to me that people in Palm Beach County, because they vote for Kerry and thoroughly expected him to win, are in somewhat of a disbelief stage,” Tabet said. “We talk it out in our sessions and I help them realize there are people who share their viewpoint and who are there for them throughout this ordeal.”

Asked when the Kerry-related trauma would end, Tabet said, “I think the jury’s still out on that one. I think it depends on the swing of the politics.”

Elizabeth Foxman, a cognitive therapist in Delray, took issue with the AHA’s decision to label the Kerry-related stress as a new sort of trauma.

“I don’t disagree with their diagnosis, but I wouldn’t use the word trauma,” Foxman said. “That’s a loaded term. I would say there’s more sadness and anxiety than trauma. My own patients have been stressed, but only one or two have mentioned the election as a topic in therapy.”

Gordon, the AHA psychotherapist, said his agency was referring his 30 callers – most of them men – to other support groups prior to Wednesday. He said the post-election trauma will require three to four support group sessions at his agency’s counseling center, but added that he thinks the problem will fade as the troubled Kerry supporters adjust to reality.

“The support group structure means you have to bring these people together for several sessions,” Gordon said. “But every day is a new day. John Ashcroft’s resignation is going to help because Democrats certainly felt the cause of their stress was bigger than President Bush. If Condoleeza Rice and a few others resign, that will help cure their animosity as well.”

Gordon said he had received a flood of phone calls from Republicans since Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host who lives in South Florida, read his name on the air Tuesday.

“It’s a shame that so many Republicans are calling and saying, ‘Why can’t these people handle reality?’ Some can’t. And what is with these right-wing radio warlords who think they need to bask in the misery of others? Rush Limbaugh, of all people, should be compassionate because he lives right here in Palm Beach County. I’m ashamed that he’s picked up this Boca News story to rub it in Democrats’ faces.”

posted September 29, 2006 04:15 PM            

Damn.. I thought this was my superpower! I must admit though, at time I do dream about every day things. I dream of how I will write one of my grants or what I need to do the next day

posted September 29, 2006 05:13 PM            

**Edited to add**

If you'd like more info on him, he has his own site. He seems pretty open, meaning as a scientist results are always privy for those to review or else the study is false. I am always leary about people that will not divulge their scientific methodology- but I am sure you could request it in an e-mail.
http://www.kellybulkeley.com/

He states in his research section:

"Dreaming is a tremendously complex and multifaceted phenomenon. For this reason, there is no one discipline or theory that can give us all the answers about the nature and meaning of dreams. Researchers from many different fields have contributed to our knowledge, and I believe the best approach to dream research is to integrate multiple sources of information—the more sources you have, the stronger your conclusions will be. I find dreaming so fascinating because it is both a deeply-rooted feature of our evolved brain-mind system and a powerfully creative expression of our highest spiritual yearnings. The capacity for dreaming is a universal feature of the human species, yet the infinitely varied content of our dreams highlights the unique qualities of each individual.
The primary disciplines used in my research are religious studies, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, history, brain-mind science, and cultural studies. "

Sometimes conclusions are just conclusions AG. If 100 Liberals out of 105 dreamed about sex and 15 Republicans out of 105 dreamed of sex- well, the conclusion would be one has sex on the brain more than other.

posted September 29, 2006 06:29 PM            

Liberals who are not solidly connected with reality when they're awake seem to have the same kind of dreams.. which are also not solidly connected with reality.

Conservatives dream about the same kinds of reality connected activity they do in real life.

Get him

Not willing to take the word of a Ph.D., acoustic now asks for backup. The backup will come with the peer review...or not.

posted September 29, 2006 06:34 PM            

Another thing that's been found is that creative people dream remember more of their dreams. ( http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/dreamcreate.htm ) Creativity and imagination are the cornerstones of knowledge, so perhaps it is true that we liberals dream more.

posted September 30, 2006 02:55 AM            

However, were I to have commented on such a thing it would have been more appropriate than a 'dream' doctor making irresponsible statements about a political party's mental health.

posted September 30, 2006 07:53 AM            

quote:

---

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert Einstein

---

The conservatives findings sound so drab and bleak.

------------------
"WHATEVER the soul longs for, WILL be attained by the spirit"

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

posted September 30, 2006 02:42 PM            

A psychologist at the University of JFK? I researched this unviversity and it's a complete joke. It's equivocable to any degree that one can get for a few bucks online. Moreover, the author doesn't even have a degree in psychology, he has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1992. He has absolutely no qualifications for performing a psychological study, and it shows in his work. Like many conservatives, he's an expert on belief and not on facts.

Take it from someone with a psychology degree from an accredited university, this study has virtually no merit. Dreams are very difficult to study, as memory of them is often clouded and faulty.

As for this:

"Out of the 134 liberals who participated in the study, 91 per cent said they recently dreamed about sex; only 76 per cent of 100 conservative subjects admitted the same."

Again, this is a "reported" number of incidents of sex, not the actual number. Given that republicans are more likely to be sexually conservative christrians, it would make sense that they would be less likely to report sexual encounters in dreams. For some reason, this "psychologist" has ignored this fact.

If there was any credibility to this article, the author surely nullifies it with the last statement. There's absolutely no scientific evidence that dreams can be connected or lead to any diagnosis of mental health. This is completley freudian and archaic, I'm surprised the author didn't perform phrenology experiments on liberals and say they're more likely to have the "temporal lobe of a burgular."

posted September 30, 2006 02:48 PM            

LOL

------------------
"WHATEVER the soul longs for, WILL be attained by the spirit"

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

posted September 30, 2006 03:25 PM              

Many great people who brought about new technology and awareness and change for the good in the world were in fact deemed to be "insane" for not following and buying into what the rest of the society of their time deemed to be the sane way of thinking. Many people in Hitler's Germany supported him. That was the norm at the time to do so. Would you deem those who did not follow Hitler and ascribe to his way of governing and the things he did to be insane for not thinking as his followers did? Do you feel that those who questioned Hitler's leadership at the time to be unpatriotic and wrong for not following what many believed to be sane? I don't think so yet you are applying that here to liberals.

posted September 30, 2006 05:16 PM              

quote:

---

As for this:

"Out of the 134 liberals who participated in the study, 91 per cent said they recently dreamed about sex; only 76 per cent of 100 conservative subjects admitted the same."

Again, this is a "reported" number of incidents of sex, not the actual number. Given that republicans are more likely to be sexually conservative christrians, it would make sense that they would be less likely to report sexual encounters in dreams. For some reason, this "psychologist" has ignored this fact.

---

Or less likely to report sexual encounters in real life...Why? Because some live a double life:

quote:

---

Why did Foley keep child-protection job?

One of the most troubling parts of the emerging scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who sent sexually suggestive emails to teenaged congressional pages, is this: he chaired the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

Foley carved out a role for himself as a congressional leader on the issue of exploited children, and is credited with authoring important sections of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 which President Bush signed into law this summer.

He worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children whose website has pictures of him presenting awards to law enforcement officers and children who survived and or helped bring child predators to justice.

It would be a fascinating psychological study to try and understand how Foley could be both sending such emails to high schoolers while at the same time fighting against child predators. He is like the firefighter who turns out to also be an arsonist.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/09/why_did_foley_k.html

---

posted October 02, 2006 01:34 PM            

JOHN F. KENNEDY UNIVERSITY

Accreditation and Recognition
John F. Kennedy University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Accreditation entitles the university to participate in federal student financial aid programs. The university is approved for veterans' training.

Students and graduates of the university are accepted by other colleges and universities upon transfer. In addition, many businesses, government agencies, industries and other employers recognize the value of advanced study at the university and approve reimbursement to their employees for all or a portion of their tuition costs.

Western Association of Schools & Colleges
Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges & Universities
985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100
Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: 510.748.9001
Fax: 510.748.9797
email: wascsr@wascsenior.org
Internet: www.wascweb.org

The Doctor of Psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).

The School of Management is accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).

The School of Law is accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California.

A few other minor universities accredited by the Western Association of Schools & Colleges. Perhaps you've heard of some of these Blue.

posted October 02, 2006 03:06 PM            

edited to add:

One conservative radio talk show host asserts that liberalism is a mental disorder. I disagree personally - I think it's merely that certain elements of the Democratic party tend to attract certain people with "issues". Just as certain fanatical elements of the Republican party tends to attract a similar element IMHO.

posted October 02, 2006 03:39 PM              

Have posted the Webster dictionary definitions of conservative and liberal before, but quite some time ago so will do it again:

conservative adj., 1. Preservative. 2. disposed to maintain existing views, conditions or institutions.3. Moderate, cautious

conservative n. a person who is conservative esp. in politics

liberal adj., 1. suitable for a freeman, generous: of or relating to, or based on the liberal arts 2. Generous, Bountiful. 3. not narrow in opinion or judgment: Tolerant; also: not orthodox 5. not conservative.

liberal n. a person who holds liberal views

Now I ask you. Would the world have advanced technologically, medically or in any way to where it is today if not for all of us insane liberals? If the world only consisted of conservatives we would still be living in the cave man days. We would never even have figured out how to cook our meat as fire would never have been discovered. And we would still think the world was flat.

posted October 02, 2006 03:45 PM            

Blue doesn't know what he is talking about and probably never made it past a year of college. Of course, the other Liberal wacknuts were quick to jump on his bandwagon, not really knowing that the University is not on accredited, but has a completely valid research department. Then again, many here have never seen a study in action, compiled data, ran statistics and then formulated a conclusion.

Most watch the Daily News in order to get their factual information.