The Psychology of Dreaming
ISD 5012
Winter 2007
Kelly Bulkeley, instructor
This course is designed to give students a solid grounding in both classic and contemporary approaches to the psychology of dreaming. The class will focus on three primary goals: first, developing a detailed understanding of the life and work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the major pioneers in modern Western dream research; second, learning about ideas from the psychology of religion that can help in the study of dreams; and third, experimenting with alternative methods of exploring and working with the energies, images, and emotions of human dream life. By the end of the course students will be able to create their own syntheses of the different psychological approaches to dreaming, with special attention to the spiritual, artistic, and cultural dimensions of dreaming that are often left out of Western psychological theory. Students will also be able to facilitate a simple dreamsharing process that can be applied in various settings. Topics to be discussed include nightmares, wish-fulfillment, mourning, compensation, the prospective function, individuation, the continuity hypothesis, healing, creativity, religion, history, symbol and metaphor, self-awareness in dreaming, mysticism, and spiritual vision.
Class Meetings and Readings
January 8
Introduction to the Study of Dreams and Psychology
January 14
Freud, Psychoanalysis, and the “Discovery” of Dreaming
Readings: Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Prefaces and Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 (pp. 281-305), and 7. An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming, Chapter 2.
January 22
Jung, Archetypes, and “Big Dreams”
Readings: Jung, Dreams, Parts II and III. An Introduction to the
Psychology of Dreaming, Chapter 3.
January 28
Broad Patterns, Deep Meanings, and Therapeutic Insights
Readings: Selections from G. William Domhoff, Dreambank website (www.dreambank.net); KB, Dreams of Healing;
Clara Hill, Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy.
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