"This book is a 'royal road' to knowledge and technique for all those interested in developing and refining their therapeutic skills in working with dreams. Dr. Conigliaro's masterful treatise brings the unconscious alive by giving instructive and vivid examples of his particular technique. His psychodynamic, phenomenological, and existential approach brings dream work into the 21st century without diminishing its classical origins. Must reading for the mental health professional." -- Albert J. Brok, Ph.D.

Many contemporary neuroscientists are skeptical about the belief that dreaming accomplishes anything in the context of human adaptation and this skepticism is widely accepted in the popular press. This book provides answers to that skepticism from experimental and clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, and anthropologists. Ranging across the human and life sciences, the authors provide provocative insights into the enduring question of dreaming from the point of view of the brain, the individual, and culture. The Functions of Dreaming contains both new theory and research on the functions of dreaming as well as revisions of older theories dating back to the founder of modern dream psychology, Sigmund Freud. Also explored are the many roles dreaming plays in adaptation to daily living, in human development, and in the context of different cultures: search, integration, identity formation, memory consolidation, the creation of new knowledge, and social communication.

This unique book, incorporating both theory and practice, provides an invaluable guide to the assessment of dreams in transactional analysis (TA). Grounded in the latest neuroscientific research, it offers both neophyte and experienced TA practitioners a pathway to incorporate a client’s dreams within individual and group therapy, exploring key issues including trauma, dissociation and nightmares, dreams of change and transformation, dreams of healing, and transference and countertransference in dreams. It will support therapists through the very first steps toward the analysis of more complex interpersonal dynamics and dream analysis in a group setting. Also discussing the direction of future research in the area, as well as an overview of an experiment on dream analysis during the recent pandemic, this will be key reading for anyone working in the field.

This book looks at dreams from a twenty-first century perspective. It takes its inspiration from Freud's insights, but pursues psychoanalytic interest into both neuroscience and the modern psychoanalytic consulting room. The book looks at laboratory research on dreaming alongside the modern clinical use of dreams and links together clinical and empirical research, integrating classical ideas with the plurality of psychoanalytic theoretical constructs available to modern researchers. Psychoanalysts writing about dreams have traditionally represented the cutting edge of clinical and theoretical development, and this book is no exception. Many of the contributions, as well as the epistemological position taken by the writers, represent a kind of radical openness to new ways of thinking about the clinical situation and about theory. In line with the ambition of the editors, this volume represents an integration of theories and disciplines, and a scientific context for modern psychoanalysis. The link between clinical research and extraclinical research via the royal road of dreaming is a theme that runs through all the contributions.

This state-of-the-art book provides help for therapists encountering a dream told in their group. It covers the major theoretical perspectives for their understanding, as well as representing different psychological schools and their approaches to the technical issues of group dream therapy.

Dreams have captivated human imagination throughout the time. However, in the year 1900, dreams also gained an important place in psychotherapy when Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams were the royal road to the unconscious. The following book presents an overview of the history of dreams and discusses the shift from the use of latent content to that of the manifest content during dream analysis. Additionally, various methods of dream interpretation, the functions of dreams, differing schools of thought on the utility of dreams, typical dreams, and the biological challenge to dream theory are discussed. From antiquity, the universal phenomena of dreaming has captivated human imagination, confused human logic, and controlled human endeavors. Dreams have been regarded as very important, as messages from the gods, predictive of the future, expiatory of guilt, and the voice of conscience. Shamans, seers, and saints have used dreams to discern the source of sickness or to set the course of nations. Poets, philosophers, and playwrights have sought to plumb the depths of dreams in order to lure audience or readers into the world of fantasy, to play the strings of the emotions, and to recall the unthinkable. Cognitive, information processing, and neuroscientists find in dreams brain activity that can help understand REM, memory consolidation, and the "unconscious" state.