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Such stuff as dreams are made on: John Bowlby and the interpretation of dreams.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

van der Horst, Frank CP  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2262-0019
van der Veer, René 
Duschinsky, Robbie 

Abstract

In this paper, newly uncovered archival material from the Bowlby archives is presented on Bowlby's own dreams and dream interpretation. Although he was critical of orthodox psychoanalysis, Bowlby appears to have been seriously involved in Freudian dream interpretation in the 1930s and 1940s. Here, we present in annotated form his own interpretations of several of his dreams from that time and a series of lectures on dreams. In Attachment and Loss, classic dream interpretation is absent and Bowlby used the content of dreams as a reflection of the influence of real-life experiences on the representations of attachment relations, with a clear focus on grief, loss, and mourning. Bowlby's shift from psychoanalysis to a more behavioral approach and the introduction of the concept of "defensive exclusion" to supplant Freud's concept of "repression" may have led him to think about how grief and mourning may affect the content of our dreams.

Description

Keywords

Dream interpretation, attachment, defensive exclusion, grief and mourning, psychoanalysis, Dreams, Grief, Humans, Object Attachment, Psychoanalytic Interpretation

Journal Title

Attach Hum Dev

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1461-6734
1469-2988

Volume Title

22

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (103343/Z/13/A)
Wellcome Grant WT103343MA