Adaptive Nightmares with Prof Wojciech Owczarski

Learn how dreams help us process trauma with our guest Gdansk Professor Wojciech Owczarski​ who studies the dreams of Auschwitz survivors, modern Ukrainian refugees, and nursing home residents. He finds that dreams help us cope with trauma, adapt to new life situations, and feel optimistic for a better future. Nightmares help us deal with unresolved waking life issues and to integrate past traumas.

A short clip from our conversation can be found here:

After the break we take two calls. One from Kathy from Corona CA who is wondering about how best to introduce new members into her long-running group. The second call is from Ryan from Maryland who asks whether the prisoners at Auschwitz ever had revenge dreams.

BIO. Wojciech Owczarski, PhD, is a professor of humanities and teaches literature and cultural studies at the University of Gdansk, Poland. He is the author of seven monographs on dreams and on literature. The most recent one is devoted to the dreams of the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp and is called Dreaming in Auschwitz. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9040-3

This show, episode number 339, was recorded during a live broadcast on November 29, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.

Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Erik Nelson for answering the phones.

SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.

The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites.

A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means.

The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at onair@ksqd.org. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/.

Closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts within 24 hours of posting.

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