Dreams in Myth, Medicine, and Movies

by Sharon Packer MD

Overview

Cinema—invented just before psychoanalysis formally developed—primed the public and scholars to rethink ideas about dreams. The author describes how surrealist artists purposely applied Freudian dream theories to their art to make the public aware of modern ideas about dreams. Most of our current cultural consciousness about the psychological value of dreams is traced to classical and contemporary cinema. This work examines how residuals of past approaches to dreams make conceptions of dreams in psychoanalysis and science more complex than ever today.

Scholars and students in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, cinema, medicine, and religion may find this volume useful. The book also examines academic psychiatry's increased emphasis in dream study on neuropsychiatry and psychopharmocology, as well as managed care's decreased compensation for dream therapy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275972431
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2002
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)
Lexile:	1390L (what's this?)

About the Author

SHARON PACKER, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and Woodstock. She is Adjunct Professor in the Media Studies and Cultural Studies Department at the New School for Social Research.

Table of Contents

Preface
Before We Begin
Dreams and Definitions
Myth and Meaning
Film and Photography
Cinema and Cyberspace
Sleep and Social Control
Sleep and Sci-Fi
Deities and Demons
Shamans and Sorcerers
Reason and Romance
Symbolism and Surrealism
Psyche and Soul
Body and Brain
Foretelling the Future
Bibliography