Trauma and Dreams

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Trauma and Dreams
Trauma and Dreams cover.jpg
Author Deirdre Barrett (Editor)
Cover artist Francisco Goya
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Harvard University Press
Publication date
1996 hardcover/2001 paperback
Pages282
ISBN 9780674006904

Trauma and Dreams is a 1996 book edited by Deirdre Barrett and published by Harvard University Press. Chapter authors are prominent psychologists and physicians including Oliver Sacks and Robert J. Lifton.

Barrett opens the Introduction with a quote from poet Elias Canetti, "All the things one has forgotten / scream for help in dreams." The book describes how trauma affects the content of dreams, differentiating between the typical effects of adult vs. childhood trauma and between one-time traumas vs. those that are experienced repeatedly. It discusses what dreaming can tell us about trauma and how dreamwork may be employed in psychotherapy to aid the recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). [1]

Reviews

"Beyond that important, but non-scientific import, the book also provides a few interesting surprises for the student of sleep and dreams. One is Ernest Hartmann's astute suggestion that the terrifying dreams of post-trauma victims are neither nightmares nor night terrors but a completely unique species of nocturnal horror: the intrusion of unadulterated waking visions into almost any stage of sleep. Another is Oliver Sack’s view of dreaming as a possible aid in the diagnosis of emerging degeneration in the brain." – J. Allan Hobson in Nature Medicine [4]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deirdre Barrett</span> American psychologist who studies dreams, hypnosis and imagery

Deirdre Barrett is an American author and psychologist known for her research on dreams, hypnosis and imagery, and has written on evolutionary psychology. Barrett is a teacher at Harvard Medical School, and a past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and of the American Psychological Association’s Div. 30, the Society for Psychological Hypnosis. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Dreaming: The Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams and a consulting editor for Imagination, Cognition, and Personality and The International Journal for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

The effects of domestic violence on children have a tremendous impact on the well-being and developmental growth of children witnessing it. Children who witness domestic violence in the home often believe that they are to blame, live in a constant state of fear, and are 15 times more likely to be victims of child abuse. Close observation during an interaction can alert providers to the need for further investigation and intervention, such as dysfunctions in the physical, behavioral, emotional, and social areas of life, and can aid in early intervention and assistance for child victims.

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<i>The Pregnant Man and Other Cases from a Hypnotherapists Couch</i>

The Pregnant Man and Other Cases from a Hypnotherapist's Couch is a book by Deirdre Barrett published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2010. Barrett is a psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. The book describes seven real patients, disguised for anonymity, who Barrett treated with hypnotherapy. They are presented in chronological order, beginning when the author was a trainee, so that much information about hypnosis is woven into the stories as Barrett herself is learning. The title character is a transgender man who develops false pregnancy after the death of his boyfriend. Other patients include an asthmatic with a heavy smoking habit, a wealthy aristocrat with a fear of flying, a writer who suddenly can't read, and two very different cases of multiple personality. The book concludes with a section on how interested readers can locate a reputable hypnotherapist.

David J. Morris is an American writer and former Marine infantry officer.

References

  1. "Trauma and Dreams Deirdre Barrett | Harvard University Press". hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
  2. "Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries – ACRL Choice". American Library Association. 1996. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
  3. Ben Shepard (12 December 1997). "Perchance we dream? (Review of Trauma and Dreams by Deirdre Barrett)". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
  4. J. Allan Hobson (February 1997). "Trauma and Dreams edited by Deirdre Barrett". Nature Medicine. nature.com. 3 (2): 243. doi: 10.1038/nm0297-243 . S2CID   43117630.