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Rating: 
Summary: A Thorough and Inspired Study of all Dream-Theories
Review: As co-founder of the C.G. Jung Institute, Copenhagen, and as author of several psychological books, Ole Vedfelt has played an important role in establishing Jungian psychology in Denmark. He has received a great deal of recognition in both professional circles and in general cultural debate for, among other things, his original work on male psychology seen from a Jungian perspective and his extensive study on Consciousness."The Dimensions of Dreams", which is the first of his books to be published in English, represents a key factor in his efforts to bridge the gap between Jungian psychology and other schools of psychotherapy. On more than 400 pages Vedfelt gives the reader a thorough and inspired study of all the important dream-theories. Being a Jungian Analyst, the Jungian theory is obviously closest to Vedfelt's heart, but I would not call the book a "Jungian Study" - rather a critical eclectic study of the different theoretical schools with the main focus directed towards the Jungian field. Although the Jungian chapter is the longest, the other theoretical schools are reviewed extensively and the advantages and disadvantages of each of them are thoroughly scrutinized. Vedfelt has systematically analysed the different dream theories - the analysis comprises both the philosophical assumptions as well as their empirical basis - and he illustrates the theories by a great number of dream-examples and their interpretation. The book begins with a Freudian chapter where Vedfelt explains, illustrates and discusses concepts such as free-association method, dream censorship, dream sources, the Freudian technique of dream interpretation etc. The original Freud is followed by the neo-Freudians with the focus slightly changing from the unconscious towards the ego and its defence-mechanisms. By reviewing concepts such as dreams and transference / countertransference, developmental theories etc., Vedfelt presents work by psychoanalysts including Masud Khan, Heinz Kohut, Erik H. Erikson and many others. The Jungian chapter that follows is - as mentioned above- with its almost 100 pages the longest. In this Vedfelt goes through our well-known analytical basis such as the nature of dreams, the living symbol, archetypes in dreams, individuation, alchemy etc. Dreams mentioned and interpreted mainly by Jung himself illustrate the concepts. Vedfelt refers to Andrew Samuels' Jung and the Post-Jungians and uses Samuels' division of Jung's successors into the Classical, the Developmental and the Archetypal school. The Classical section of the chapter has a long inspiring review of Sheila Moon's published dreams to illustrate how dreams express the personal myth, followed by other concepts such as dreams of call, dream and death and problem solving and creativity in dreams. The Developmental section presents material from Erich Neumann and Hans Dieckmann and - very briefly - from Michael Fordham. In the last of the three sections, the Archetypal, Vedfelt in a few words sums up James Hillmann's interesting viewpoint that dreams should be seen primarily as a world in themselves, with their own objectives. The second chapter ends with a very interesting comparison between Freud's and Jung's dream theories. The comparison contains thought-provoking statements about the nature, function and interpretation of dreams seen from the two frames of reference. In the following chapter "Dreams and Waking Lifestyle" the concrete and quantified analysis of dream-content as described mainly by Calvin Hall is discussed. In the preface Vedfelt writes about what can be achieved from this: "Through Hall we obtain important guidelines as to what dreams typically mean to all of us - women, men, children - and to the meaning of dreams that span the course of a life." Vedfelt's focus in the next chapter "Existential and Phenomenological Dream Interpretation" is mainly on the Swiss Psychoanalyst Medard Boss whose very gentle method of questioning is obviously successful with very fragile clients. Whereas Medard Boss sees dreams as "unlived possibilities", the founder of the fifth main current within modern dream research, Fritz Perls, sees them as a "condensed reflection of human existence". In the chapter "Experiental Dreamwork" Vedfelt presents Fritz Perls and Gestalt therapy followed by Psychodrama. The gestalt therapy method is vividly demonstrated by means of a practical example. The method being against interpretations, analysis and explanations but stressing the importance of learning through discovering, through expression of feelings, and through working with resistances. Perls has, with a transscription of Freud, said "that the dream is the royal road to integration." After presenting the five mainstream schools of dream-theory, Vedfelt turns towards biological laboratory research and dreams and the body. The chapters which follow deal with rather esoteric subjects in connection with dreams such as parapsychology, birth experience and consciousness-expanding techniques. And the last viewpoints to be presented are: Dream and Psychosis, Dream and Society, Dream and Groups and Dream and Picture Therapy. Throughout the book, Vedfelt discusses and compares the different theories with each other. It is Vedfelt's aim - and one of the great advantages of this book - that the different points of view do not exclude each other. On the contrary, they can illuminate different aspects of the dream. This leads to Vedfelt's theory that dreams function in a multidimensional way and that a multidimensional approach to dream-interpretation can become "a creative unfolding of the dream's implicit dynamism and meaning". I find Vedfelt's book very impressive and inspiring. In spite of it's high academic and theoretical content, the book is entertaining and a pleasure to read. Vedfelt has provided a powerful and important contribution to the study of the world of dreams. Misser Berg, Jungian Analyst, Denmark
Rating:
Summary: Traditional approaches blend with more modern insights
Review: Dimensions of Dreams is the first of the author's books to appear in English - Vedfelt is co-founder of the Jung Institute and the author of numerous books on psychology, and here explores psychology from Freud and Jung to Perls and others. Traditional approaches blend with more modern insights in a title which provides a range of views about sleep research, REM discoveries, and psychology and parapsychology.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting Dimensions in One Large Organic Whole
Review: I have been fascinated by the Dimensions of Dreams by Ole Vedfelt and would like to express my opinion about the book with a translation of a review from the leading German newspaper "DIE WELT", when the book was published in Germany: Exciting Dimensions in One Large Organic Whole With his fundamental work on the interpreta-tion of dreams Ole Vedfelt argues against the conflicts between the different schools of psychoana-ly-sis. By ADELBERT REIF Many dreams are told to the analyti-cal therapist every day. But also outsi-de the circles of pati-ents and their ana-lysts, great importance is ascribed to dreams. This strong inter-est in dream events is no modern pheno-me-non, but as old as the story of man-kind. Howe-ver, a sy-stematic, scientific dream research was not established until 1900, the year when Sig-mund Freud's epoch-making work "The Inter-pretation of Dreams" was published. Since then, an enormous amount of "dream literature" has been published all over the world, and there is no psychoa-nalytic school which has not developed its own dream theory and dream analy-sis. After Freud it was first and foremost Carl Gustav Jung and his school, the Swiss Dasein-analyst Med-ard Boss, as well as the Ame-rican Calvin Hall, di-rector of his own insti-tute for dream rese-arch in California, whose work is consi-dered to be seminal for the fast progress of dream research in the latest 50 years, and its high scientific level today. Unfortunately the personal and theoreti-cal-prac-tical rivalry among the represen-tatives of the different schools often goes so far that each of them are convinced that they can give the only correct and comprehen-si-ve explanation of dreams. As so often before in science, an inter-dis-ciplinary exchange among the dif-ferent theoretical and thera-peutic schools is missing. This is reflected in the litera-ture as well as in the practical work. In order to remedy this omission, at least on the infor-mative level, but with the additional goal of persuading the indivi-dual analytical schools to recon-sider the attitu-des thay have taken till now, the Danish psycho-therapist Ole Vedfelt, with his com-prehensive book "The Dimen-sions of Dre-ams" has created the basic work on the nature, func-tion, and inter-pretation of dreams, which scrutini-zes all important aspects of modern dream research. Although himself a Jungian analyst in his own prac-tice in Copenhagen, Vedfelt has no reser-vations to other psychoa-na-lytic schools. On the contrary, he is open to all possibili-ties that can help us to under-stand dreams better. His work rests on the insight that totally "different met-hods of interpre-tation can be used on the same dream in a mea-ning-ful and fruit-ful combina-tion, so that a multidimen-sional inter-pretation seems rele-vant", as Vedfelt writes in his fore-word. His enor-mously broad-spectred thera-peutic back-ground and his 25 years of experi-ence with dreams - Vedfelt worked with ap-proxi-mately 15000 dreams from 150 to 200 persons - turn out to be an outstan-ding basis for his concept of multi-dimensional dream inter-pretations. This is also true of Vedfelt's prevailing inter-est in the question of "how the wor-king met-hods of the different schools can com-ple-ment and support each other". His goal is "to bring forth a creative synthesis of the materi-al pre-sented and to in-vestigate whet-her the many points of view can be arranged in a pattern that gives a more complete picture of the potenti-als of dre-ams than we have hit-her-to seen". With almost encyclo-pa-edic care Ole Vedfelt descri-bes the dif-ferent dream theori-es, dream analy-ses and dream work of all impor-tant schools and trends, keeping the historical achieve-ments of dre-am research within its own conceptional system. He thus succeeds in descri-bing their theories and methods with unusual clarity, but Vedfelt's rese-arch focus also includes the relations between dream and body, dream and parap-sychological phenome-na, dream and me-ditation, dream and birth experi-en-ce, dream and consciousness ex-pan-ding techniques, dream and psychosis, as well as studies of group phenome-na and sociologi-cal aspects of dreams. ..... In the last part of the book Ole Vedfelt finally turns to the "multidimen-sional dream inter-preta-tion", to his major con-cern. Taking as a starting point "that dreams and the symbols supply us with information that cognitively/in-tellectualy as well emo-tional-ly-/energetically is very con-densed, and that certain skills inher-ent in the state of cons-ciousness in which the dream pro-cess takes place, make this conden-sation possible", Ved-felt argues for a synthe-sis of all the standpoints presented. Even in former times, the author argues, the great dream theorists were often forced in their prac-tical examples to "go beyond the limits of their own theories, as it appe-ars from their own w-orks". And this is even more the case when it comes to the practical therapeutic situa-tion,-where the flexibility concerning theory and method may be even greater. It should therefore not be too difficult for the different analytical schools to give their consent to a "creative synthe-sis". For: Firstly the var-ious methods of interpreta-tion can be regarded as dif-ferent fishing tackles which make different catches possible. Se-condly it is much more sure that you get better re-sults if you take the position that the different methods of inter-pretation of work represent different per-spec-tives through which we can perceive a multi-dimensio-nal experiental universe. It is important for the author that dream is on a level with the state of develop-ment of mo-dern science, i.e. gives up the traditional frag-mentary world picture and turns to a "holistic view of the world as one large living organism of which dif-ferent levels are interacting - from inor-ganic matter or bi-ological structures to the human psyche and society, to the biosphere and the total cos-mos". For modern dream research, which so far has been inclined to put too much stress on differen-ces and resist syn-theses, there-fore, a corollary is a responsi-bility to adopt an "integra-ting view and method" in order to put an end to the "fragmenta-tion of life". Ole Vedfelt's book "The Dimensions of Dre-ams" with its wealth of dream ma-terial and excellent examples from the theory and practice of the different scho-ols must be considered to be the best general introduc-tion to this fascina-ting subject today.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting Dimensions in One Large Organic Whole
Review: I have been fascinated by the Dimensions of Dreams by Ole Vedfelt and would like to express my opinion about the book with a translation of a review from the leading German newspaper "DIE WELT", when the book was published in Germany: Exciting Dimensions in One Large Organic Whole With his fundamental work on the interpreta-tion of dreams Ole Vedfelt argues against the conflicts between the different schools of psychoana-ly-sis. By ADELBERT REIF Many dreams are told to the analyti-cal therapist every day. But also outsi-de the circles of pati-ents and their ana-lysts, great importance is ascribed to dreams. This strong inter-est in dream events is no modern pheno-me-non, but as old as the story of man-kind. Howe-ver, a sy-stematic, scientific dream research was not established until 1900, the year when Sig-mund Freud's epoch-making work "The Inter-pretation of Dreams" was published. Since then, an enormous amount of "dream literature" has been published all over the world, and there is no psychoa-nalytic school which has not developed its own dream theory and dream analy-sis. After Freud it was first and foremost Carl Gustav Jung and his school, the Swiss Dasein-analyst Med-ard Boss, as well as the Ame-rican Calvin Hall, di-rector of his own insti-tute for dream rese-arch in California, whose work is consi-dered to be seminal for the fast progress of dream research in the latest 50 years, and its high scientific level today. Unfortunately the personal and theoreti-cal-prac-tical rivalry among the represen-tatives of the different schools often goes so far that each of them are convinced that they can give the only correct and comprehen-si-ve explanation of dreams. As so often before in science, an inter-dis-ciplinary exchange among the dif-ferent theoretical and thera-peutic schools is missing. This is reflected in the litera-ture as well as in the practical work. In order to remedy this omission, at least on the infor-mative level, but with the additional goal of persuading the indivi-dual analytical schools to recon-sider the attitu-des thay have taken till now, the Danish psycho-therapist Ole Vedfelt, with his com-prehensive book "The Dimen-sions of Dre-ams" has created the basic work on the nature, func-tion, and inter-pretation of dreams, which scrutini-zes all important aspects of modern dream research. Although himself a Jungian analyst in his own prac-tice in Copenhagen, Vedfelt has no reser-vations to other psychoa-na-lytic schools. On the contrary, he is open to all possibili-ties that can help us to under-stand dreams better. His work rests on the insight that totally "different met-hods of interpre-tation can be used on the same dream in a mea-ning-ful and fruit-ful combina-tion, so that a multidimen-sional inter-pretation seems rele-vant", as Vedfelt writes in his fore-word. His enor-mously broad-spectred thera-peutic back-ground and his 25 years of experi-ence with dreams - Vedfelt worked with ap-proxi-mately 15000 dreams from 150 to 200 persons - turn out to be an outstan-ding basis for his concept of multi-dimensional dream inter-pretations. This is also true of Vedfelt's prevailing inter-est in the question of "how the wor-king met-hods of the different schools can com-ple-ment and support each other". His goal is "to bring forth a creative synthesis of the materi-al pre-sented and to in-vestigate whet-her the many points of view can be arranged in a pattern that gives a more complete picture of the potenti-als of dre-ams than we have hit-her-to seen". With almost encyclo-pa-edic care Ole Vedfelt descri-bes the dif-ferent dream theori-es, dream analy-ses and dream work of all impor-tant schools and trends, keeping the historical achieve-ments of dre-am research within its own conceptional system. He thus succeeds in descri-bing their theories and methods with unusual clarity, but Vedfelt's rese-arch focus also includes the relations between dream and body, dream and parap-sychological phenome-na, dream and me-ditation, dream and birth experi-en-ce, dream and consciousness ex-pan-ding techniques, dream and psychosis, as well as studies of group phenome-na and sociologi-cal aspects of dreams. ..... In the last part of the book Ole Vedfelt finally turns to the "multidimen-sional dream inter-preta-tion", to his major con-cern. Taking as a starting point "that dreams and the symbols supply us with information that cognitively/in-tellectualy as well emo-tional-ly-/energetically is very con-densed, and that certain skills inher-ent in the state of cons-ciousness in which the dream pro-cess takes place, make this conden-sation possible", Ved-felt argues for a synthe-sis of all the standpoints presented. Even in former times, the author argues, the great dream theorists were often forced in their prac-tical examples to "go beyond the limits of their own theories, as it appe-ars from their own w-orks". And this is even more the case when it comes to the practical therapeutic situa-tion,-where the flexibility concerning theory and method may be even greater. It should therefore not be too difficult for the different analytical schools to give their consent to a "creative synthe-sis". For: Firstly the var-ious methods of interpreta-tion can be regarded as dif-ferent fishing tackles which make different catches possible. Se-condly it is much more sure that you get better re-sults if you take the position that the different methods of inter-pretation of work represent different per-spec-tives through which we can perceive a multi-dimensio-nal experiental universe. It is important for the author that dream is on a level with the state of develop-ment of mo-dern science, i.e. gives up the traditional frag-mentary world picture and turns to a "holistic view of the world as one large living organism of which dif-ferent levels are interacting - from inor-ganic matter or bi-ological structures to the human psyche and society, to the biosphere and the total cos-mos". For modern dream research, which so far has been inclined to put too much stress on differen-ces and resist syn-theses, there-fore, a corollary is a responsi-bility to adopt an "integra-ting view and method" in order to put an end to the "fragmenta-tion of life". Ole Vedfelt's book "The Dimensions of Dre-ams" with its wealth of dream ma-terial and excellent examples from the theory and practice of the different scho-ols must be considered to be the best general introduc-tion to this fascina-ting subject today.
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