ignored in preference to the defined structure of the
scale. That is, on the basis of experience, we assume that
most dreams are, when originally experienced in the
dream state, narratives, with a flow of events. There
must certainly be exceptions. But for the purposes of this
work, we assume that if the dream recall includes only a
vivid image, then some of the dream must have been
forgotten. It's important that you not feel that you are
undervaluing your dream when you give it a recall rating
of I or F. You are not. All you are doing is applying the
definitions of a particular system of rating dream recall.
      Question: Could you clarify the distinction between
the partial and majority categories, because the
distinction given seems vague and subject to a variety of
interpretations.
      Answer: The line between P and M is really not a line,
but a large gray area, and the distinction is subject to
individual judgment, which can be looked upon as either
a merit or fault of the system, depending upon your
viewpoint. Most of the time that the P category is used it
will be for a dream recall which just barely qualifies as
partial-very incomplete recall but with some flow. On
the other hand, most of the time that the M category is
used, it will be for dream recall which does not quite
qualify as whole, because of the presence of some
obvious gap in memory. There will be those occasions,
however, in which both a substantial amount of the
dream is recalled and a substantial amount is felt to be
forgotten. Here one may be forced to ponder the
distinction between P and M. There can be no strict rule.
The spirit of the categories can be expressed as, "Use P
when you feel that you've forgotten most of the dream,
and use M when you feel that you have remembered
most of the dream. When in doubt, use P."
      Question: What if you have dream recall that fits the
description of one category but fails to meet the criteria
for a lower category — for example, a dream with
transitions (good for a rating of P) but which provides no
knowledge of the theme of the dream (insufficient for a
rating of F)—which category do you use?

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