Why we dream: the definitive answer tells the remarkable
story of how the distinguished Irish psychologist Joe Griffin
discovered how and why dreaming evolved in mammals
and thereby helped us unravel what our dreams actually mean.
Humankind has puzzled over and been inspired by dreams since earliest
times. Yet dreaming remained a mystery to science until this `expectation
fulfilment theory’ of dreams was announced, tested and found useful.
Thanks to Griffin’s work we now know what dreams are doing for us: they
keep us sane, or, in certain circumstances, can drive us mad (psychotic). And
this knowledge opens up wonderful new possibilities for humanity: greater
creativity; improved mental health and deeper understanding of who we are.
Griffin always believed that nature does not produce complex phenomenon
by chance and that therefore dreams must be performing a significant survival
role for mammals. After piecing together the most recent scientific findings he
devised a simple experiment (which readers of the book can easily do for
themselves) that revealed a strikingly simple and satisfying explanation for
why we dream and why the content of our dreams is often so strange.
He and co-author Ivan Tyrrell convincingly show that dreaming is vital for
mental health and that the brain state we associate with dreaming (the
REM state) also has crucial importance when we are awake. Indeed, this
understanding of the REM state explains not only how our brains construct
a model of reality in our minds, but also explains hypnosis, how creative
behaviour works, and why we develop mental illnesses such as depression
and psychosis.
Full of real life stories, dream examples and case histories, Why we dream
gives readers the key to understanding their own remembered dreams,
explains why daydreaming is crucial to human development, and why stories
and metaphors have universal appeal. It takes the reader’s understanding
to a new level.
- ISBN10 1899398430
- ISBN13 9781899398430
- Publish Date 28 August 2014 (first published 6 June 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 23 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Human Givens Publishing Ltd
- Format eBook (EPUB)
- Pages 200
- Language English