The Nature and Functions of Dreaming - Softcover

Hartmann, Ernest

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019936284X ISBN 13: 9780199362844

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2014

Synopsis

The Nature and Functions of Dreaming presents a comprehensive theory of dreaming based on many years of psychological and biological research by Ernest Hartmann and others. Critical to this theory is the concept of a Central Image; in this volume, Hartmann describes his repeated finding that dreams of being swept away by a tidal wave are common among people who have recently experienced a trauma of some kind - a fire, an attack, or a rape. Dreams with these Central Images are not dreams of the traumatic experience itself, but rather the Central Image reveals the emotional response to the experience. Dreams with a potent Central Image, like the tidal wave, vary in intensity along with the severity of the trauma; this pattern was shown quite powerfully in a systematic study of dreams occuring before and after the September 11 attacks in New York.

Hartmann's theory comprises three fundamental elements: dreaming is simply one form of mental functioning, occurring along a continuum from focused waking thought to reverie, daydreaming, and fantasy. Second, dreaming is hyperconnective, linking material more fluidly and making connections that aren't made as readily in waking thought. Finally, the connections that are made are not random, but rather are guided by the dreamer's emotions or emotional concerns - and the more powerful the emotion, the more intense the Central Image.

About this title

About the Author

Ernest Hartmann is Past President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and was the first Editor-in-Chief of ASD's journal, Dreaming. He is also Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and he maintains a private practice. He is author of nine books and approximately 325 journal articles.

Review

"Ernest Hartmann has produced one of the most authoritative and well researched works on the function of dreaming ever written, yet presents it in a manner that is as engaging as a novel, unraveling the mystery of dreams with new insight at the turn of every page. Treating us to a wealth of new insights about dreaming, Hartmann shows how dreaming is not simply a bizarre and unique sleep state, but rather a form of mental functioning that is part of a consciousness continuum which extends into the waking state. This work reveals how dreams not only help establish our emotional being and our basic sense of self, but by making new connections expressed in picture-metaphor, they reveal new perspectives that can that help us make important decisions and discoveries."
--Robert J Hoss, Director of the DreamScience Foundation

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 019936284X
• ISBN 13: 9780199362844
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176