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The social roots of the dream

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Summary

Historically, current dream theory arose in close connection with the problem of therapy. Its development has been weighted in the direction of sharpening its therapeutic efficacy. Increasing knowledge of the sleep-waking cycle suggests the need for changes in one direction—namely, clarification of the biological adaptive role of the dream. The developing interest of anthropologists and the usefulness of the dream in studies of culture and personality suggest the need to orient further investigation along the line of a greater concern with the potential of the dream as a tool with which to extend our knowledge of the molding influences of the social and cultural milieu of the individual. Current anthropological investigations relating to the manifest dream content are reviewed and their implications for psychoanalytic theory and practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Comprehensive Course in Psychoanalysis, New York, USA

    Montague Ullman M.D. (member of the faculty)

  2. New York University College of Medicine, New York, USA

    Montague Ullman M.D. (member of the faculty)

Authors
  1. Montague Ullman M.D.
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Additional information

charter fellow, The Academy of Psychoanalysis; fellow, American Psychiatric Association; Diplomate of the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry. This paper was read at the mid-winter meeting of The Academy of Psychoanalysis, December 6, 1959, New York.

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Ullman, M. The social roots of the dream. Am J Psychoanal 20, 180–196 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01873809

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01873809

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