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Article
January 1970

Dream Time (REM) and Psychotherapy: Correlates of REM Time With a Patients Behavior in Psychotherapy

Author Affiliations

Philadelphia
From the Department of Psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College (Dr. Freedman), and the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychiatry (Dr. Luborsky and Mrs. Harvey).

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1970;22(1):33-39. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1970.01740250035005
Abstract

Freud, in The Interpretation of Dreams,1 hypothesized that the function of the dream was to protect sleep by the management of unfulfilled wishes that were stirred up during the previous day. The dream mechanism also attempted to cope with the anxiety provoked by the forbidden wishes so that the sleep of the dreamer would not be disturbed. It follows from these hypotheses that there might be a connection between the quantity of dreaming and the prior psychological state of the dreamer. Relying upon the patient's morning recollection of the quantity of his dreaming is known to be an unreliable approach. The work of Aserinsky and Kleitman2,3 on rapid eye movements (REM) during sleep has provided a more precise method of determining the time spent in dreaming. The present study began as an attempt to discover whether there is a correlation between the waking psychological

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