The Twenty-four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives

by Rosalind D. Cartwright

Overview

Leading sleep researcher Rosalind Cartwright brings together decades of work on sleep, dreaming and sleep disorders to propose a new theory of how the mind works continuously. Drawing on her own research and that of others, Cartwright describes how conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings move forward--from waking, into sleep and dreaming, to the next waking day. One main purpose of sleep is to regulate disturbing emotions .Not everyone does this successfully every night. Her research on dreams of those suffering depression show these fail to regulate mood overnight, and when sleepwalkers behave aggressively they have not had enough time dreaming. With many case examples, the author illustrates how conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings are being linked to older memories throughout sleep and dreams, and how this process effects changes in thinking and feeling the next day--even reshaping our identities. The Twenty-four Hour Mind offers a unique integration of psychology and sleep research that will be of interest to anyone captivated by the mysteries of the mind--and what sleep and dreams teach us about ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199888993
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/24/2010
Series:	The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Rosalind D. Cartwright is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology and in the Neuroscience Division of the Graduate College, Rush University. In 2004 she was named Distinguished Scientist of the Year by the Sleep Research Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Role of the Night Mind in our Emotional Economy Chapter 1. Where Do We Go When We Go to Sleep? Chapter 2. The Mind Asleep: How Dreams Develop Chapter 3. Short Sleep and Its Consequences: Insomnia and Major Depression Chapter 4. Sleepwalking into Danger: Murders Without Motives Chapter 5. More NREM Parasomnias: Self-injury, Sleep Eating, Sleep Sex, Exploring, Protecting Chapter 6. Sleep Experts in Court: Evidence of the State of Mind Chapter 7.. Warnings from the Land of Nod: Nightmares and REM Behavior Disorder Chapter 8. The Revival of the Unconscious Chapter 9. Dream Work: Regulating Emotion and Updating the Self Chapter10.The Twenty-four Hour Psychology: From Nonsense to Science

Editorial Reviews

"Professor Rosalind Cartwright is a true pioneer of sleep research. She was there in the field's formative years and her particular interest in the function and meaning of dreams is reflected in a record of high-quality scientific publications spanning more than four decades. In The Twenty-four Hour Mind, Cartwright describes both her research as well as that of many other sleep scientists in an exciting, eminently readable and thought provoking narrative. She examines numerous important and intriguing topics, including insomnia, depression, sleep walking, forensic sleep medicine and the role of dreams in human consciousness. In her Introduction, Cartwright writes, 'Come Along. I promise it will be an interesting ride.' The Twenty-four Hour Mind is a promise well kept!"—Michael V. Vitiello, University of Washington, Seattle, and Past President, Sleep Research Society

"An engaging account of the history of sleep research. [Cartwright] skillfully weaves in her 50 years' worth of work in the field, delving into her own theories about the purpose of dreams and highlighting the importance of sleep to maintain our physical and mental well-being."—Scientific American Mind

"This is an easy-to-read, interesting, and informative book about the neurophysiology, purposes, and meanings of sleep and dreaming...Often surprising, and richly informative." —JAMA

"Rosalind Cartwright, a well-respected sleep researcher and therapist, presents a strong argument for viewing sleep and its resulting dreams in a new light that is reflected in the title of her book, The Twenty-Four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives... The combination of sleep research and clinical analysis that Cartwright brings to The Twenty-Four Hour Mind should be of interest to a broad audience. It is well written and should be generally appreciated because most of us have a self-interest in a better understanding of the mysteries of sleep." —PsycCRITIQUES

"A respected pioneer in the field, Professor Cartwright is the leading authority on the role of sleep and dreaming in our emotional lives. Her unique and personal experience as a researcher, clinician, teacher, and sleep expert in court cases involving murder and other acts of non-lethal aggression makes this book a captivating read...I highly recommend it as the go-to source for reviewing important dream and sleep studies, fascinating clinical cases, and what we have learned about the sleeping mind-body connection along the way." —Doody's

"This very absorbing and beautifully written book describes cogently some of the psychophysical aspects of sleep and how our present understanding of them has been reached, and in doing so underscores just how much remains outside our comprehension. It also reviews the illustrious career of one of the pioneers in sleep research, compelling in its own right. Readers interested in either will not be disappointed. " —Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

"The work is focused and concise, emphasizing the author's own contributions and career experiences to a greater degree than the large corpus of research pertinent to the question of sleep/dream function. It is therefore an excellent primer for the sleep neophyte, an informed guidebook for the practicing clinician, and a solid review of Cartwright's theoretical position on the function of sleep and dreaming. Readers should be better able to appreciate the '24-hr mind' theory as an increasingly valid perspective in the ever-growing field of nocturnal neuroscience." — SLEEP

"Cartwright offers an absorbing history of sleep research, at once revealing how far we've come in understanding this vital third of our lives and how much still remains outside our grasp." — Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

From the Publisher