Dream Interpretation as a Psychotherapeutic Technique - 9781846190179

Writing for the interested layman as well as the professional, Coolidge (psychology, U. of Colorado at Colorado Springs) provides a physiological foundation for the scientific study of sleep and dreams, gives the historical, cultural and religious background of dream interpretation, and describes modern theories. He starts with the biological and evolutionary reasons for sleep and dreams, then describes the various ways humans have interpreted each others' dreams for the past 5,000 years or so. He provides a triune sleep model which includes the recuperative value of sleep as well as adaptive values (priming and creativity) and mnemonitive values (memory consolidation and enhancement), then describes the thought of Freud, Jung, and Perls, comments on troubled sleep and dreams and the prophetic and recurring natures of dreams, and closes with a synthesis of dream interpretation techniques. Published by Radcliffe Publishing, UK; US distribution is by BookMasters. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)