What can Understanding Your Dreams do for you? Dr. Frayn investigates a host of questions: • How can I get a more restful and enjoyable sleep? • Can dreaming solve my problems? • Can I influence the frequency and outcome of my dreams? • Do dreams predict the future or just comment on the past? • How can I understand the secret language of my dreams? Understanding Your Dreams: A Guide to Self-Awareness explores sleep and dreaming from scientifi c and therapeutic viewpoints as well as from a self-help perspective. The author is an experienced psychoanalyst and dream researcher who clarifi es the roles that sleep patterns, dream frequency and images, and personality play in portraying an individual’s “dream profile.” This book discusses dream interpretations and how to make use of a dream diary and therapy in insightful and therapeutic ways. The primary theme of this comprehensive book is that with increased self-awareness and a fuller understanding of the “news from within,” individual dreamers can improve personal self-control and be more successful in their work and love relationships. This erudite review of dream literature and the attempts to understand and interpret them . . . will have appeal for all students and professionals. The lay public interested in understanding their dreams will fi nd this work fascinating and helpful. —David Iseman, md, frcp(c), President, Canadian Psychoanalytic Society This comprehensive book reviews literature on dreaming from a physiological, historical, spiritual, and psychoanalytic perspective. It is both informative and readable for the novice and experienced. Dr. Frayn’s central thesis is that dream analysis is a worthy exercise that requires patience, focus, and determination. He values dream work and sees it as a key to unlocking the unconscious and gaining access to the mysteries of the mind. Dream analysis, according to Frayn, can guide our understanding of self and promote self-healing. He provides many rich clinical vignettes illustrating how to interpret and utilize dream analysis in and out of psychotherapy. This book is a major contribution to the literature on dream work, and is a must read. —Anna Lisa Reisman, MD Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Director of Psychotherapy, Department of Psychiatry, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois What a pleasure it is to be guided through this very comprehensive compilation of dream knowledge in such a lively and engaging manner. The book’s span is from biblical dream interpreters to current neurophysiological contributions. Psychoanalytic schools of dream interpretation are respectfully compared. The dream material is deeply personal, and often humorous . . . This is a book for all dreamers. It was such a good read, I couldn’t put it down to go to sleep! —Sarah Usher, PhD, psychoanalyst, Toronto Psychoanalytic Society This most illuminating, skilful, and comprehensive book on dreams and dreaming has importance for the practising therapist as well as for the lay reader . . . Dr. Frayn takes the reader on a journey through physiology, research, personality, emotional and sleep disorders—factors which can infl uence the texture, frequency of recall, intensity, colour, and affects of the dream. Dr. Frayn’s concluding thoughts on self-awareness highlight both the possibilities and limitations of self-analysis . . . This gem of a book should become essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about dreams. —Jackie Gerrard, Psychoanalytic psychotherapist, London (uk) Centre for Psychotherapy |