The Herald Dream focuses on a systematic approach to dream interpretation and the unique importance of the initial dream. The first dream reported in psychoanalytic therapy poignantly encapsulates the major issues that the patient brings to the treatment. These dreams "herald" the trajectory of the treatment and can be interpreted in the service of psychodynamic diagnosis and prognosis. The book achieves its aims by melding aspects of Jungian dream analysis, with neo-Freudian analytic thought, current neurobiological concepts, and Buddhist psychology, to yield a rich and powerful understanding of how dreams symbolize the multifaceted aspects of the psyche. Multiple examples of initial dreams are discussed in detail with suggestions for how they can inform the analytic stance and serve as objects for analysis over the course of a treatment. The role of dream analysis in group supervision of psychotherapists is also discussed.This book will be of interest to Jungian practitioners, students, and general readers.

This important new book details a strategic and systemic model for short-term therapy with adolescent sufferers of anorexia nervosa, a psychopathology that seduces patients into starvation as doctors and family look on with increasing desperation. Supported by the successful treatment of hundreds of cases over the past 30 years, the book is the culmination of a long-term intervention programme developed at the Strategic Therapy Centre of Arezzo, Italy. It begins by outlining the range of different eating disorders, before identifying the specific characteristics that adolescents with anorexia present. The variations of the pathology are then discussed. Not all patients present with the same symptoms; some sufferers over-exercise while others binge eat or self-harm. Substance abuse is also common, either with diuretics or chemicals; others self-induce vomiting. The therapeutic strategy will, of course, differ for each patient. Accessibly written throughout, the book concludes with two cases studies - complete with full transcripts - which illustrate the therapeutic process that allowed the patient to change their patterns of thinking, and the accompanying behaviours. An insightful and invaluable work on this vital topic, the book will be essential reading for any professional working with adolescents presenting with anorexia, as well as the families of sufferers.

Recent clinical trials show that psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin can be given safely in controlled conditions, and can cause lasting psychological benefits with one or two administrations. Supervised psychedelic sessions can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and addiction, and improve well-being in healthy volunteers, for months or even years. But these benefits seem to be mediated by "mystical" experiences of cosmic consciousness, which prompts a philosophical concern: do psychedelics cause psychological benefits by inducing false or implausible beliefs about the metaphysical nature of reality? This book is the first scholarly monograph in English devoted to the philosophical analysis of psychedelic drugs. Its central focus is the apparent conflict between the growing use of psychedelics in psychiatry and the philosophical worldview of naturalism. Within the book, Letheby integrates empirical evidence and philosophical considerations in the service of a simple conclusion: this "Comforting Delusion Objection" to psychedelic therapy fails. While exotic metaphysical ideas do sometimes come up, they are not, on closer inspection, the central driver of change in psychedelic therapy. Psychedelics lead to lasting benefits by altering the sense of self, and changing how people relate to their own minds and lives-not by changing their beliefs about the ultimate nature of reality. The upshot is that a traditional conception of psychedelics as agents of insight and spirituality can be reconciled with naturalism (the philosophical position that the natural world is all there is). Controlled psychedelic use can lead to genuine forms of knowledge gain and spiritual growth-even if no Cosmic Consciousness or transcendent divine Reality exists. Philosophy of Psychedelics is an indispensable guide to the literature for researchers already engaged in the field of psychedelic psychiatry, and for researchers-especially philosophers-who want to become acquainted with this increasingly topical field.

Two premier hypnotherapists collaborate on a new edition of this award-winning text, a collection of techniques and information about hypnosis that no serious student or practitioner should be without. A thorough and practical handbook of various hypnotherapeutic measures, it contains illustrative examples and logically argued selection methods to help practitioners choose the ideal method for a needed purpose. Section by section, it breaks out the various methods and phenomena of hypnosis into easily digested chunks, so the reader can pick and choose at leisure. An excellent practical guide and reference that is sure to be used regularly. The authors have a wide and longstanding experience on the subject and thus can stay on clinically approvable methods.

Some experiences of the natural world bring a sense of unity, knowledge, self-transcendence, eternity, light, and love. This is the first detailed study of these intriguing phenomena. Paul Marshall explores the circumstances, characteristics, and after-effects of this important but relatively neglected type of mystical experience, and critiques explanations that range from the spiritual and metaphysical to the psychoanalytic, contextual, and neuropsychological. The theorists discussed include R. M. Bucke, Edward Carpenter, W. R. Inge, Evelyn Underhill, Rudolf Otto, Sigmund Freud, Aldous Huxley, R. C. Zaehner, W. T. Stace, Steven Katz, and Robert Forman, as well as contemporary neuroscientists. The book makes a significant contribution to current debates about the nature of mystical experience.

Avery explores the psychology of altered states among the early Sufis. It examines sama - listening to ritual recitation, music and certain other aural phenomena - and its effect in inducing unusual states of consciousness and behaviours. The focus is on the earliest personalities of the Islamic mystical tradition, as mediated by texts from the tenth to the twelfth centuries C.E. These unusual states are interpreted in the light of current research in Western psychology, and also in terms of their integration into historical Islamic culture. A Psychology of Early Sufi Sama provides new insights into the work of five Sufi authors, and a fresh approach to the relation between historical accounts of altered states and current psychological thinking.

It is commonly known that some individuals are more easily hypnotized than others. What is less clear is why, and what can be learnt from these individual differences for hypnosis as a whole. The Highly Hypnotizable Person is the first book to present an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of what research and evidence there is for the existence and features of highly hypnotisable people.
The Highly Hypnotizable Person draws on research findings from cognitive, developmental and clinical psychology and from neuropsychology and neurophysiology. Leading authorities on hypnosis provide a comprehensive account of what is known and understood about this phenomenon and treatment procedure, and in particular, the nature and implications of high susceptibility.

Alasdair MacIntyre argues that Freud's conception of the unconscious is complicated by his tendency to use the term in two different ways. MacIntyre shows how Freud uses the term "unconscious" both as a straightforward description of psychological phenomena, and as an evaluative notion to explain the links between childhood events and adult behavior. This clarification helps to shed light on the many misunderstandings of psychoanalysis, and to separate out what is and what is not of lasting value in Freud's account of the unconscious.
This new edition includes a substantial new preface by the author, in which he discusses repression, determinism, transference, and "practical rationality," and offers a rare comparison of Aristotle and Lacan on the concept of desire. MacIntyre takes the opportunity to reflect both on the reviews and criticisms of the first edition and also on his own philosophical stance.

In the 23 years since this book was first published, numerous books on the same lines have appeared. Techniques vary minimally, and very few discoveries or developments have been made in the field of using hypnosis in therapy. Such research as has appeared largely confirms what has been known for a very long time, such as its efficacy as an adjunct to chemical analgesia and anaesthesia for intrusive and painful surgical procedures. However, during that period a tremendous and astonishing amount of research has appeared in the fields of neurology, especially brain function, endocrinology and immunology and their interaction, or, more accurately, their total integration with psychological processes. While hypnotic techniques are much as they have been for so long, the underlying and mediating roles of these physical mechanisms in hypnosis are now substantially revealed. Understanding how hypnotic suggestions produce physical effects, and how these physical processes affect what is to be done in hypnosis will illuminate and guide what is attempted in hypnotherapy. The more the therapist bears these mechanisms in mind, the more effective and focused his work will be. This new edition therefore includes a summary account of the most cogent discoveries of the last two decades, and references to some of the most important knowledge acquired in this period in psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology.

What is a dream?
Dreams are universal, but their perceived significance and conceptual framework change over time. This book provides new perspectives on the history of dreams and dream interpretation in western culture and thought.
Dreams and History contains important new scholarship on Freud's Interpretation of Dreams (1900) and subsequent psychoanalytical approaches from distinguished historians, psychoanalysts, historians of science and anthropologists. This collection celebrates and evaluates Freud's landmark intellectual production, whilst placing it in historical context. A modern view of psychoanalysis, it also discusses the controversial idea of the role of the external world on the shaping of unconscious mental contents.
In highly accessible language it proceeds through a series of richly illustrated case studies, providing new source materials and debates about the causes, meanings and consequences of dreams, past and present: from Victorian anthropological exploration of ancient Greek dream sources to peasant interpretation of dream-life in communist Russia; from concepts of the dream in sixteenth-century England to visual images in nineteenth-century symbolist painting in France.
Dreams and History will fascinate those interested not only in psychoanalysis and history, but also arts, culture, humanities and literature.

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Contents:
Contents. Preface. Part I: The Outer Me/Inner Me Dichotomy. The Birth of an Idea. The Outer Me. The Inner Me. Part II: Other Conscious/Unconscious Distinctions. Psychodynamic Distinctions. Cognitive Distinctions. Part III: The Human Objectives. Survival. Reproduction. Relating. Part IV: The Receptive and Responsive Me. Sensory Input. Emotion. Memory. Part V: The Active Me. Motor Action. Communication and Language. Mental Activity. Part VI: The Complex Me. Deception and Self-Deception. Delusions and Hallucinations. Dreams. Part VII: The Social Me. The Arts. Humour. Religion. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.

This book aims to present a study on the actuality and empirical value of Freuds dream theory, even if through the analysis of a specific part of it - the hypotheses about childrens dreams. It provides a systematic description of Freuds observations on child dreaming and presents the results obtained from four empirical studies on childrens dreams

Social Dreaming is the name given to a method of working with dreams that are shared and associated within a gathering of people, coming together for this purpose. In the first chapter, he outlines some ideas on this phenomenon. Here follows a wide-ranging collection of essays on the experiences of various practitioners, either personal or what the

Contents:
Introduction. Dream-in-the-World. The Dream Sequence. Religious Experience and the Psyche. Religious Experience and the Body. A Quantum Stance. A New Story of Our Place in the Cosmos. Part I: Theoretical Approaches to Mystical Experience. The Body as Locus for Religious Experience: Mairi and Hadewijch. A Capacity for Religious Experience: Quantum Mind and the Psycho-Spiritual Senses. Quantum Mind. Dreams as Portals to the Quantum Mind. Psycho-Spiritual Senses. Fully Human Consciousness: Paradox and the Capacity to Participate. Jung's Religious Terminology: Self (and Spirit), Soul (and Psyche). Self and Individuation. Soul and Spirit. Self-Directive Dreams. Part II: The Dreamer and Her Dreams. Dreams with Commentary. 1 - Red Circus Tent. 2 - Flaming Angel. 3 - Snowy Mountains, Two Children. 4 - Ordeal by Spiders. 5 - Two-ness Beneath the Ocean. 6 - Artichoke Dream. 7 - Lightning Strike. 8 - Silver Fish Kiss. Waking Vision. 9 - Burning Stone. 10 - Three Angels. 11 - One the Beach, Naked Woman, Fiery Skin. 12 - Four Colors. 13 - Buddha With a Globe. 14 - Statue of a Woman. 15 - Swami B. is Dancing. 16 - Rose Dream. 17 - Bird With Jeweled Wings. 18 - White Elephant on a White Sea. 19 - Self-Birth. 20 - The Lunar Tree. 21 - The Solar Tree. 22 - Hands Holding the Earth. 23 - Cowlick and Re-entry. Part III: "Falling Through:" Experience of Soul. Psychological Commentary. Self-Directive Dreams and Initiation. Personification, Personalisation and "Indwelling". Winnicott's Personalisation and Indwelling. Beyond Personalisation to Personhood. Reflections on Psyche and Soul. Limitations of Winnicott's View of Religion As "Necessary Illusion". Part IV: Hadewijch's Paradox. Hadewijch and the Beguines. Literary Contributions. Beguine Spirituality. Mysticism and the Body. Hadewijch and the Feminine. Soul and Self-Transformation . Part V: Summary and Conclusions. Individuation and the Religious Instinct. Centrality of the Soul in Religious Experience. Anima Mundi. Loss and Recovery of a World View. Bibliography.

This book presents a simple, effective and illuminating way of understanding and working with dreams in clinical practice. It describes the mechanisms through which the mind/brain processes our experience and forms symbols, which embody a rich network of associations. It demonstrates how the dream and this network of associations can apply on a num

Written originally as a practical handbook on dream analysis, this book has established itself as a work of lasting value not only to psychoanalysts engaged in therapy, for whom it is primarily intended, but also to students and general readers interested in psychological research.In his introduction to this edition of Dream Analysis, Masud Khan co

This book explains social dreaming by situating it in the context of thinking, culture, and knowledge and distinguishes how it differs from conventional, therapeutic dreaming, making the case for how it can be used in systems, like business organizations, educational institutions, and hospitals.

Visions and apparitions of Jesus have been reported since the earliest days of Christianity, and it is widely known that such events are still being experienced. Surprisingly, however, this book is the first recent critical study of this fascinating phenomenon. Wiebe focuses on modern visions of Jesus, as described to him by thirty contemporary visionaries - most of them ordinary people without prior or subsequent experiences of this kind. He recounts each of the visions in vivid detail, reviews recent biblical scholarship on the subject, and examines current literature on the psychology and neurology of visual hallucinations. He ultimately concludes that contemporary visions of Jesus represent genuine religious experiences of a mystical character and he calls for further discussion of their philosophical and theological implications.

Our dreams fascinate us as individuals and as a society. What do surveys report people dream about? How about the dreams of the blind? The mentally ill? What does research show about the possibility of dream telepathy? How did the ancient people view dreams? This wide-ranging book also discusses such topics as REM studies, the effects of experimental stimulation on dream content, research on dreams and creativity, symbolism, and nightmares. The book explores a number of techniques used to analyze dreams, illustrating these approaches with dream examples and case studies.

A systematic effort to rethink Freud's theory of the unconscious, aiming to separate out the different forms of unconsciousness. The logico-mathematical treatment of the subject is made easy because every concept used is simple and simply explained from first principles. Each renewed explanation of the facts brings the emergence of new knowledge from old material of truly great importance to the clinician and the theorist alike. A highly original book that ought to be read by everyone interested in psychiatry or in Freudian psychology.

This book contains some modern contributions to the understanding and interpretation of dreams developed by contemporary psychoanalysts in the British Society, exploring the connections between dreaming and thinking.

This book examines some of the oldest preserved texts on dreams, such as Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, Sigmund Freud's favourite ancient dream theorist, and dream books by Aristotle, the grandfather of modern dream theory.

What is a dream?
Dreams are universal, but their perceived significance and conceptual framework change over time. This book provides new perspectives on the history of dreams and dream interpretation in western culture and thought.
Dreams and History contains important new scholarship on Freud's Interpretation of Dreams (1900) and subsequent psychoanalytical approaches from distinguished historians, psychoanalysts, historians of science and anthropologists. This collection celebrates and evaluates Freud's landmark intellectual production, whilst placing it in historical context. A modern view of psychoanalysis, it also discusses the controversial idea of the role of the external world on the shaping of unconscious mental contents.
In highly accessible language it proceeds through a series of richly illustrated case studies, providing new source materials and debates about the causes, meanings and consequences of dreams, past and present: from Victorian anthropological exploration of ancient Greek dream sources to peasant interpretation of dream-life in communist Russia; from concepts of the dream in sixteenth-century England to visual images in nineteenth-century symbolist painting in France.
Dreams and History will fascinate those interested not only in psychoanalysis and history, but also arts, culture, humanities and literature.

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Consciousness is familiar to us first hand, yet difficult to understand. This book concerns six basic concepts of consciousness exercised in ordinary English. The first is the interpersonal meaning and requires at least two people involved in relation to one another. The second is a personal meaning, having to do with one's own perspective on the kind of person one is and the life one is leading. The third meaning has reference simply to one being occurrently aware of something or as though of something. The fourth narrows the preceding sense to one having direct occurrent awareness of happenings in one's own experiential stream. The fifth is the unitive meaning of consciousness and has reference to those portions of one's stream that one self-appropriates to make up one's conscious being. The last is the general-state meaning and picks out the general operating mode in which we most often function.