The Psychology of Dreams

Our dreams fascinate us as individuals and as a society. What do surveys report people dream about? How about the dreams of the blind? The mentally ill? What does research show about the possibility of dream telepathy? How did the ancient people view dreams? This wide-ranging book also discusses such topics as REM studies, the effects of experimental stimulation on dream content, research on dreams and creativity, symbolism, and nightmares. The book explores a number of techniques used to analyze dreams, illustrating these approaches with dream examples and case studies.

Paul R. Robbins is a psychologist who has held a number of positions as a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry of the George Washington University Medical School, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Public Health Service. He has served as a consultant to the Drug Addiction Ward of the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Washington, DC, and had a private practice of psychotherapy for over twenty years. He has published numerous research papers in psychological and psychiatric journals, written many books on psychological topics for general readers and is the author of several novels. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Paul R. Robbins

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 184
Bibliographic Info: photos, tables, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005 [1988]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2441-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1055-9
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      ix

I. The Nature of Dreams      1

1. A Look at Dreams in the Ancient World and Primitive Cultures      3

2. Some Modern Theories of Dreaming      14

3. The Scientific Study of Dreaming      22

4. The Manifest Content of Dreams      33

5. The Stimulus and the Dream      42

6. Dream Recall      52

7. Dreams and Mental Illness      60

8. Symbolism      67

9. Dreams and Creativity      73

10. Nightmares      80

11. Telepathic and Paranormal Dreams      90

II. The Analysis of Dreams      99

12. The Many Faces of Dreams      101

13. Drawing, Visualizing, and Dramatizing Dreams      105

14. Dream Association      121

15. The Dream Incident Technique      128

16. Using Dreams in Your Life      142

Notes      147

Bibliography      161

Index      169

• “Highly recommended”—Journal of the Society for Psychical Research
• “A good introduction”—SciTech Book News