Why We Dream (International Congress on Neurology and Brain Disorders)
Channel: Prof. Sam Vaknin
Date: 2019-03-13

Video Presentation to the International Congress on Neurology and Brain Disorders, Sep 16- 18 , 2019 in London, UK

It would seem that we are all constantly engaged in maintenance, in preserving that which exists and inventing new strategies for coping. We are all in constant psychotherapy, administered by ourselves, day and night. Dreaming is just the awareness of this on-going process and its symbolic content. We are more susceptible, vulnerable, and open to dialogue while we sleep. The dissonance between how we regard ourselves, and what we really are and between our model of the world and reality – this dissonance is so enormous that it calls for a (continuous) routine of evaluation, mending and re-invention. Otherwise, the whole edifice might crumble. The delicate balance between us, the dreamers, and the world might be shattered, leaving us defenceless and dysfunctional.