Mary-T. B. Dombeck has been a psychotherapist for ten years and is on the faculty at the University of Rochester School of Nursing.

"There are no books like this; there are no research models for this type of work. The author is at the same time inventing a model of research and applying it. The questions she asks and her perspective on them are important and needed. This is a significant contribution to the public's understanding of the importance of dreaming."— Jeremy Taylor, Association for the Study of Dreams; author of Dream Work"The discussion on personhood is fascinating, and, together with the implications for how the role applies to therapeutic relationships, constitutes what I found particularly interesting and exciting." — Benjamin Kilborne, Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California"I like the core idea of the work, that of applying an anthropological method of analysis to the study of dream interpretation in the contemporary U.S.. This is a very original notion, and it has important implications both for the study of dreams and for the practice of psychotherapy."In my view, people in the U.S. who are involved in dream study and research generally lack self-reflection on the wider contexts of their work. The author of this book has recognized this, and has made what I feel is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of those contexts. There is a growing number of high quality sociological and anthropological studies of dreams, and I think that this work both draws on that body of research and also makes a genuinely new contribution to the field." — Kelly Bulkley, The University of Chicago

• List of TablesList of FiguresPrefaceI. Introduction: Background and Foreground Research in the Physiology of Dreaming and Dream PsychologyClinical Observation and Research in DreamsAnthropological Research in Dreams and Dream TellingField Work: Issues of TimeThe Settings: Issues of SpaceAnalytic Concepts and Research QuestionsII. The Psychotherapist: "Simply as a Person" IntroductionAnalytic Concepts of Person and SelfThe Psychotherapist: Professional Setting and Home BaseAnalysis: The Enduring, Experiencing PersonThe Dreaming Self and the Working PersonSummary and ConclusionIII. The Contexts of Dream Telling IntroductionDreams Are "Personal": Emic Perspectives"My Personal Life": Emic and Etic PerspectivesTypology of Dream Telling ContextsWhen Contexts ConvergeConclusionIV. Dream Interpretation: Freudian Mythology and the American Mystique of Dreams IntroductionThe Exploration Process and MethodLocal Ideas about Dream InterpretationFreudian Influence on Local Dream Interpretation: Three DreamsThe Contexts of Dream InterpretationThe Popularization of Freud and the American Mystique of DreamsV. Psychotherapy, Dream Telling, and Hierarchy IntroductionWho Is a Real Doctor?"Reading the Mind" and the Importance of BiologyThe Dream Interpretation HierarchyWoman's Work and Women's ProfessionsTending the Body and Listening to the PersonThe Dream-Hearing RangeConclusionVI. Showing the Person and Knowing the Person IntroductionNot Showing the PersonShowing that One Knows OneselfThe Incongruities between Person and SelfThe Disjunction of Mind and BodyAppendix A: How Contexts Are DescribedAppendix B: The Maaning of CrazyAppendix C: Psychological MindednessAppendix D: Higher Functioning-Lower FunctioningAppendix E: Who Is a Real Doctor? (What Psychiatrists Said)Appendix F: Hierarchical IssuesAppendix G: Which of the Psychotherapy Professionals Are More Likely to Ask about and Listen to Dreams?NotesBibliographyIndexes