New Directions in Dream Interpretation

by Gayle Delaney (Editor)

This book presents in detail seven contemporary approaches to dream interpretation as they are actually practiced by highly skilled and experienced psychiatrists and psychologists who have worked with dreams for at least a decade. The reader can sample radically different approaches from various schools of interpetation and gain the tools for making meaningful comparisons. The contributors describe their theoretical roots and how they have departed from them when confronted with the real world of real dreamers. Each chapter teaches the reader in practical terms what to do when trying to understand a dream of one's own, or one's friend, colleague, or client. Readers are taken behind the curtain of theory into the consultation room where the work of interpretation takes place.

This book provides a variety of contemporary, non-dogmatic, practical ways to work with dreams. Each contributor emphasizes not theory, but interpretive method and practical application of dream interpretation. Contributors to this volume include John E. Beebe, Eric Craig, Gayle Delaney, Loma K. Flowers, Ramon Greenberg, Milton Kramer, Joe Natterson, Chester Arthur Pearlman, Montague Ullman, and Stephen J. Walsh.

Genres: Psychology

308 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 1993

Reviews

[Myridian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the idea of dream interpretation, but to me it feels a little too much like using tarot in a therapeutic context. Additionally, the basically psychodynamic bent of this book had me squirming in discomfort for much of it. One impression I had was that the majority of the authors seemed to overinterpret dreams as having to do with therapy, particularly with transference. To me that just seems like hubris. Do you really think that all pts are dreaming about you? I particularly liked that the lack of dreaming was interpreted as resistance to tx. I know that when I am stressed or am not getting enough sleep I don't dream. Could it be that when pts are getting better and are sleeping better they suddenly remember their dreams. Lo and behold, treatment success. The chapter that appealed to me the most was the one dealing with a "phemonenological" approach to dream interpretation. It seemed like the least filled with random complexity. Maybe there is something to be learned from our dreams, and I will continue to think about my own dreams, but I'm not going to use this in psychotherapy any time soon.