"This fascinating and highly original book presents a longitudinal systematic study of the earliest form of human dreaming in a child, from ages four through ten. Claudio Colace draws upon his extensive children's dreams research, his expertise in brain science, and an intimate knowledge of a single subject, his son Marco, to demonstrate the validity of an ontogenetic approach to the understanding of dream processes. The availability of 'first-hand' information about the daytime experiences of the author's son in relation to dream contents, as well as the longitudinal approach of the study, prove to be useful for a qualitative in-depth analysis of the nature and function of infantile dreams, and of the changes that occur in the dreaming process as the child grows, from the early forms to more complex ones. Affirming the significance of Freud's explorations of infantile dreaming, this book attests to the nature of dreaming as a meaningful psychic act, rather than the result of random processes. Expanding beyond a purely psychotherapeutic context, the book analyzes the development of dreams systematically and in relation to Freud's theories on the human mind, making it an important read for clinicians, scholars, and researchers interested in dream functions, child development, and psychodynamic theory"--
This fascinating and highly original book presents a longitudinal systematic study of the earliest form of human dreaming in a child, from ages four through ten.
Acknowledgements |
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ix | |
Introduction |
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1 | (6) |
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PART I Methodological aspects of the study |
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7 | (16) |
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1 The credibility of children's dream reports |
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9 | (6) |
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2 The methodology of this study |
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15 | (8) |
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PART II The debut of dreaming activity: infantile dreams (ages 4 to 5) |
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23 | (50) |
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3 The predominance of clear wish-fulfilment dreams |
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25 | (13) |
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4 The nature of wishes appearing in dream reports |
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38 | (6) |
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5 Daytime sources and triggering conditions of clear wish-fulfilment dreams |
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44 | (9) |
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6 How do dreams act? The modi operandi of clear wish-fulfilment dreams |
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53 | (9) |
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7 Less common forms of dreaming in infancy |
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62 | (11) |
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PART III The decline of infantile forms of dreaming (ages 6 to 7) |
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73 | (54) |
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8 Changes in dream repertoire and developments in wish-fulfilment dreaming |
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75 | (18) |
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9 Development of dream bizarreness and dream-work operations |
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93 | (15) |
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108 | (9) |
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11 Ego and superego development and changes in dreaming |
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117 | (10) |
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PART IV Dreaming in middle childhood (ages 8 to 10) |
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127 | (42) |
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12 Changes in dream repertoire and developments in wish-fulfilment dreams at ages 8--10 |
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129 | (19) |
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13 Dream distortion and new dream-work operations |
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148 | (14) |
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162 | (7) |
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PART V The meaning and function of infantile dreams |
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169 | (64) |
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15 The function of dreams: the affective-reestablishment (AR) hypothesis |
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171 | (22) |
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16 Infantile forms of dreaming in adults |
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193 | (15) |
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17 A new ontogenetic psychological-psychoanalytic model of dreaming |
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208 | (25) |
Conclusion |
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233 | (2) |
Appendix A General contents of dreams |
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235 | (2) |
Index |
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237 | |
Claudio Colace, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychologist and psychotherapist at the Operational Unit of Psychology of the ASL Viterbo (National Health Service Office, Italy), where he works at the Outpatient Psychology Department and at the Center for Drug Addictions of Civita Castellana (Viterbo). He obtained an M.D. in Psychology at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", a post-graduate Master in Neurophysiology of Consciousness State, Psychopathology and Psychotherapy at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and a Ph.D. in Psychology at the Department of Psychology of the University of Bologna, Italy. He is the author of scientific contributions published in The American Journal on Addictions, Neuropsychoanalysis, Alcohol and Drug Review, Sleep and Hypnosis, Sleep and Sleep Research. He is the author of Childrens Dreams: From Freuds Observations to Modern Dream Research (London, 2010, Karnac Books); Drug Dreams: Clinical and Research Implications of Dreams about Drugs in Drug-addicted Patients (London, 2014, Karnac Books); and of some Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences entries: "Dream", "Latent Dream Content" and "Manifest Dream Contents" (eds. V. Zeigler-Hill and T. Shackelford, Springer International Publisher, 2018).