Routledge Library Editions: Sleep and Dreams – serie

Originally published in 1979, this is a dream book with an outstanding difference: it takes the interpretation of dreams out of the realm of the professionals and gives it to the ultimate expert – the dreamer. Working with Dreams stresses the uniqueness of every dream and dreamer. With anecdotes and examples from their own dream groups, the authors show how to deal with the intimacy and honesty of a dream; how to explore its meanings without distorting them; how to let a dream tell us about ourselves and add to our understanding. Dr Ullman and Mrs Zimmerman start with the question of what is in a dream – what is real and what is symbolic? – and then go on to explain what happens during sleep and the way a dream develops. They cover remembering and recording dreams and dealing with the imagery of dreams. They illustrate the many predicaments that dreams depict, the self-deceptions we practice in relation to our dreams, and then show how dream groups – whether a family or a group of strangers – can work together to uncover the meaning of dreams. And they enrich their book by discussing everything from the history of dreams to the possibilities of dreams across space and time. The result is a storehouse of information about the world of dreams.

Originally published in Great Britain in 1972 and distilled from the collective wisdom of the great interpreters of dreams – Freud, Jung, Adler, Stekel and Gutheil, among others – this comprehensive key to the baffling language of dream symbolism is a thought-provoking and invaluable guide to the uncharted country of the mind. Tom Chetwynd has isolated for the first time the rich meanings of over 500 archetypal symbols from the indiscriminate mass of dream material, and rated the likelihoods of the various possible interpretation in each case. Here are the essential clues to understanding the ingeniously disguised, life-enriching, often urgent messages to be found in dreams.

Originally published in Great Britain in 1972 and distilled from the collective wisdom of the great interpreters of dreams – Freud, Jung, Adler, Stekel and Gutheil, among others – this comprehensive key to the baffling language of dream symbolism is a thought-provoking and invaluable guide to the uncharted country of the mind. Tom Chetwynd has isolated for the first time the rich meanings of over 500 archetypal symbols from the indiscriminate mass of dream material, and rated the likelihoods of the various possible interpretation in each case. Here are the essential clues to understanding the ingeniously disguised, life-enriching, often urgent messages to be found in dreams.

Do your dreams seem to have as much in common with real life as a funhouse mirror? Don’t be misled. Dreams contain extraordinarily reliable commentaries on the conflicts and events of everyday life. Properly interpreted, they not only illuminate your anxieties but actually show you how to alter the course of your life – and very much for the better. Dreams are so essential to our health and well-being that almost all of us create them in clusters four or five times every night. In this title, originally published in 1989, Dr Robert Langs, a psychoanalyst and dream researcher, goes far beyond standard interpretation in showing how your dreams tap the wisdom of the deep unconscious part of your mind. Through his unique and groundbreaking technique of trigger decoding, you will learn what your dreams are saying about your life, about the events you must deal with, about the problems you are trying to resolve.Dreams can be a kind of emotional camouflage, difficult and often uncomfortable to interpret. Trigger decoding not only exposes our emotional wounds, it also provides the balm for healing those wounds. In the proper decoding of dreams, there is revealed an intelligence, power, and beauty of mind that is unheard of in direct and conscious experience. Decoding Your Dreams opens a revolutionary new door to self-understanding and self-improvement.

Do your dreams seem to have as much in common with real life as a funhouse mirror? Don’t be misled. Dreams contain extraordinarily reliable commentaries on the conflicts and events of everyday life. Properly interpreted, they not only illuminate your anxieties but actually show you how to alter the course of your life – and very much for the better. Dreams are so essential to our health and well-being that almost all of us create them in clusters four or five times every night. In this title, originally published in 1989, Dr Robert Langs, a psychoanalyst and dream researcher, goes far beyond standard interpretation in showing how your dreams tap the wisdom of the deep unconscious part of your mind. Through his unique and groundbreaking technique of trigger decoding, you will learn what your dreams are saying about your life, about the events you must deal with, about the problems you are trying to resolve.Dreams can be a kind of emotional camouflage, difficult and often uncomfortable to interpret. Trigger decoding not only exposes our emotional wounds, it also provides the balm for healing those wounds. In the proper decoding of dreams, there is revealed an intelligence, power, and beauty of mind that is unheard of in direct and conscious experience. Decoding Your Dreams opens a revolutionary new door to self-understanding and self-improvement.

Originally published in 1979, this is a dream book with an outstanding difference: it takes the interpretation of dreams out of the realm of the professionals and gives it to the ultimate expert – the dreamer. Working with Dreams stresses the uniqueness of every dream and dreamer. With anecdotes and examples from their own dream groups, the authors show how to deal with the intimacy and honesty of a dream; how to explore its meanings without distorting them; how to let a dream tell us about ourselves and add to our understanding. Dr Ullman and Mrs Zimmerman start with the question of what is in a dream – what is real and what is symbolic? – and then go on to explain what happens during sleep and the way a dream develops. They cover remembering and recording dreams and dealing with the imagery of dreams. They illustrate the many predicaments that dreams depict, the self-deceptions we practice in relation to our dreams, and then show how dream groups – whether a family or a group of strangers – can work together to uncover the meaning of dreams. And they enrich their book by discussing everything from the history of dreams to the possibilities of dreams across space and time. The result is a storehouse of information about the world of dreams.

Originally published in 1959, with some corrections in 1962, the author examines the common view at the time that dreams are mental activities or mental occurrences taking place during sleep. He starts off by offering a proof that the sentence ‘I am asleep’ is a senseless form of words and cannot express a judgment. After commenting on various features of the concept of sleep, the author expands his argument to prove that the notion of making any judgment at all while asleep is without sense. He takes the further step of showing that this same conclusion holds for all other mental acts and mental occurrences, with the exception of dreams.

Originally published in 1959, with some corrections in 1962, the author examines the common view at the time that dreams are mental activities or mental occurrences taking place during sleep. He starts off by offering a proof that the sentence ‘I am asleep’ is a senseless form of words and cannot express a judgment. After commenting on various features of the concept of sleep, the author expands his argument to prove that the notion of making any judgment at all while asleep is without sense. He takes the further step of showing that this same conclusion holds for all other mental acts and mental occurrences, with the exception of dreams.

Originally published in 1986, the emphasis in this book is on dreaming rather than sleeping. This reflected the recent emergence of interest in dreaming among professionals, in the general public, and across disciplines at the time. Each chapter offers a review of its area with pertinent references. Selected references are annotated. The annotated references represent the cutting edge of the area under review or are classical, historically important pieces or studies that represent a key turning point. Therefore, the number of annotations varies from chapter to chapter. This book gives the reader a basic grounding in what we know about the sleep state and then details sleep mentation or dreaming. Although this book is not totally comprehensive, it will give the reader a good look at the basic sleep phenomena and a more detailed look at contemporary work on dreaming.

Most of us believe that we sleep in order to rest our tired bodies and minds. Originally published in 1977, this centuries-old common-sense view is challenged by Ray Meddis, who describes and argues for a controversial new theory of the nature and function of sleep. The theory seeks to replace the old view with the idea that sleep may no longer serve any important function in modern man. Whereas the sleep instinct helps animals to survive by driving them to hide away for as long as possible each day, this is no longer a valuable asset in civilised surroundings. Nevertheless, as the author explains, we still feel driven by a primeval urge beyond conscious control to crawl away every evening to the security of our beds to wait out the dangerous hours of darkness which were such a threat to our ancestors. Contrary to contemporary wisdom, he also argues that dreaming is a primitive and particularly valueless kind of sleep – a crude a dangerous heritage from our reptilian ancestors which is kept to a bare minimum in most adult warm-blooded creatures.Ray Meddis writes in a non-technical style and succeeds admirably in making the science of sleep and intensive research studies on sleep accessible and even exciting for the general reader as well as for the scientist. He shows that not everyone is bound by a felt need for sleep; in fact, some human beings discussed at length in the book thrive on less than two hours sleep a night without any ill effects. The implications of the research described are little short of sensational; in particular, Dr Meddis believes that it is well within the bounds of possibility that future research will show us how changes can be brought about in normal people to free them from the bondage of their sleep instincts. This new perspective also leads directly into a radical reappraisal of the nature of insomnia and new possibilities for treatment.

Most of us believe that we sleep in order to rest our tired bodies and minds. Originally published in 1977, this centuries-old common-sense view is challenged by Ray Meddis, who describes and argues for a controversial new theory of the nature and function of sleep. The theory seeks to replace the old view with the idea that sleep may no longer serve any important function in modern man. Whereas the sleep instinct helps animals to survive by driving them to hide away for as long as possible each day, this is no longer a valuable asset in civilised surroundings. Nevertheless, as the author explains, we still feel driven by a primeval urge beyond conscious control to crawl away every evening to the security of our beds to wait out the dangerous hours of darkness which were such a threat to our ancestors. Contrary to contemporary wisdom, he also argues that dreaming is a primitive and particularly valueless kind of sleep – a crude a dangerous heritage from our reptilian ancestors which is kept to a bare minimum in most adult warm-blooded creatures.Ray Meddis writes in a non-technical style and succeeds admirably in making the science of sleep and intensive research studies on sleep accessible and even exciting for the general reader as well as for the scientist. He shows that not everyone is bound by a felt need for sleep; in fact, some human beings discussed at length in the book thrive on less than two hours sleep a night without any ill effects. The implications of the research described are little short of sensational; in particular, Dr Meddis believes that it is well within the bounds of possibility that future research will show us how changes can be brought about in normal people to free them from the bondage of their sleep instincts. This new perspective also leads directly into a radical reappraisal of the nature of insomnia and new possibilities for treatment.

Originally published in 1935, William Archer’s interest in dreams had persisted for over quarter of a century, for ten years of which he kept a careful record of his own dreams. These records alone form a valuable collection of material, of which Archer made good use in the writing of the book on dreams on which he was engaged at the time of his death; large parts of these dream-records are reproduced in this book. He left this book partly finished, partly in draft, and partly in the form of notes. In putting together this material the editor, Theodore Besterman, tries to carry out Archer’s intentions as closely as possible, and believed that he represented the book as he would have wished it to appear. It was unquestionably an important contribution to a difficult subject at the time, the result of many years’ study and reflection.

Originally published in 1935, William Archer’s interest in dreams had persisted for over quarter of a century, for ten years of which he kept a careful record of his own dreams. These records alone form a valuable collection of material, of which Archer made good use in the writing of the book on dreams on which he was engaged at the time of his death; large parts of these dream-records are reproduced in this book. He left this book partly finished, partly in draft, and partly in the form of notes. In putting together this material the editor, Theodore Besterman, tries to carry out Archer’s intentions as closely as possible, and believed that he represented the book as he would have wished it to appear. It was unquestionably an important contribution to a difficult subject at the time, the result of many years’ study and reflection.

Originally published in 1986, the emphasis in this book is on dreaming rather than sleeping. This reflected the recent emergence of interest in dreaming among professionals, in the general public, and across disciplines at the time. Each chapter offers a review of its area with pertinent references. Selected references are annotated. The annotated references represent the cutting edge of the area under review or are classical, historically important pieces or studies that represent a key turning point. Therefore, the number of annotations varies from chapter to chapter. This book gives the reader a basic grounding in what we know about the sleep state and then details sleep mentation or dreaming. Although this book is not totally comprehensive, it will give the reader a good look at the basic sleep phenomena and a more detailed look at contemporary work on dreaming.

Sleeping patterns change with age, whether we are growing up, or growing old. While most people are prepared for the rapidly altering sleep patterns of growing children, the evidence suggests that many are unprepared for additional sleep changes in later life, either in themselves or in others. In this book, originally published in 1987, two research disciplines – social gerontology and sleep research – are brought together with the aim of providing a straightforward account of how sleep is changed and disrupted by the biological and social impact of ageing. Attention then focuses on the personal and clinical response to these changes. The use of sleeping drugs among elderly people is critically examined, and effective alternatives, including self-help practices and psychological therapies, are described. The influence of ageing on the recall and content of dreams is also considered. In the final chapter, the author comments on current styles of responding to sleep problems in old age and discusses the need and the scope for change. This book deals with topics of universal interest and provides valuable information for those professionally as well as personally concerned with sleep quality in later life, including health professionals (nurses, doctors, psychologists etc.) working with elderly people, gerontologists, and sleep researchers.

Sleeping patterns change with age, whether we are growing up, or growing old. While most people are prepared for the rapidly altering sleep patterns of growing children, the evidence suggests that many are unprepared for additional sleep changes in later life, either in themselves or in others. In this book, originally published in 1987, two research disciplines – social gerontology and sleep research – are brought together with the aim of providing a straightforward account of how sleep is changed and disrupted by the biological and social impact of ageing. Attention then focuses on the personal and clinical response to these changes. The use of sleeping drugs among elderly people is critically examined, and effective alternatives, including self-help practices and psychological therapies, are described. The influence of ageing on the recall and content of dreams is also considered. In the final chapter, the author comments on current styles of responding to sleep problems in old age and discusses the need and the scope for change. This book deals with topics of universal interest and provides valuable information for those professionally as well as personally concerned with sleep quality in later life, including health professionals (nurses, doctors, psychologists etc.) working with elderly people, gerontologists, and sleep researchers.

Originally published in 1950, this title includes instances of dreams in published records from both British and American societies of psychical research, covering six decades. This work had been previously inaccessible to the ordinary reader. Other stories have come from friends and acquaintances of the author and in his introduction he states that: ‘the chief purpose of this collection is to present examples of apparently significant dreams, those that "come true", there will be no effort in these pages to debate possible explanations based on known laws, either of chance or of psychology. Readers are able to exercise their own ingenuity to this end. The material is offered here simply as evidence of a striking phenomenon in human consciousness, which, instead of being brushed aside as superstition, calls for serious study. It may have a profound bearing on the riddle of human personality.’

Originally published in 1950, this title includes instances of dreams in published records from both British and American societies of psychical research, covering six decades. This work had been previously inaccessible to the ordinary reader. Other stories have come from friends and acquaintances of the author and in his introduction he states that: ‘the chief purpose of this collection is to present examples of apparently significant dreams, those that "come true", there will be no effort in these pages to debate possible explanations based on known laws, either of chance or of psychology. Readers are able to exercise their own ingenuity to this end. The material is offered here simply as evidence of a striking phenomenon in human consciousness, which, instead of being brushed aside as superstition, calls for serious study. It may have a profound bearing on the riddle of human personality.’