Themes of continuity: Commentary on “The continuity and discontinuity between waking and dreaming: A Dialogue between Michael Schredl and Allan Hobson concerning the adequacy and completeness of these notions”

Summary. Hobson and Schredl’s (2011) discussion on continuity and discontinuity between waking life and dreaming
raised important issues about the nature of continuity. We will address several of the points from the debate, drawing
on some preliminary data that has been collected investigating the nature of continuity between dreaming and waking.
The present commentary will address the following: factors that affect continuity; themes of continuity; the protoconsciousness
theory; ‘disguised’ continuity; discontinuity; and continuity of emotions. The findings presented will propose
that emotionality and metaphor are key aspects to continuity; that the continuity hypothesis and protoconsciousness
theory are complementary if one takes into account how dreams both reflect waking-life concerns and help the dreamer
to progress with them; and that it may be useful to try to identify and talk about types and gradations of continuity and
discontinuity, rather than simply continuity and discontinuity as two opposing concepts.