The Nature and Functions of Dreaming

by Ernest Hartmann

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199362844
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

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

Table of Contents

1. Introduction. Overview of the Contemporary Theory of Dreaming
2. The tidal wave dream
3. Emotion guides the dream. The central image of the dream pictures and measures the emotion.
4. A dream is a creation, not a replay. A dream always makes new connections, guided by emotion.
5. The focused-waking-thought-to-dreaming continuum. Dreaming is one end of a continuum.
6. Dreaming Connects! The dreaming end of the continuum is hyper-connective.
7. Connection as combination. Connection as condensation. Connection as metaphor. The dream is picture-metaphor.
8. Connections in the mind and brain. The biology of dreaming. Networks in the cerebral cortex.
9. Form and content: The development of dreaming and the content of dreams.
10. Personality and dreaming. Thick and thin boundaries.
11. The functions of dreaming.
12. The functions of the continuum.
13. Implications for understanding and making use of dreams — alone, in a group, or in therapy.

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher