Women's Bodies, Women's Dreams
In this persuasive if controversial work, Garfield, a clinical psychologist, illuminates an intriguing world of women's dreams. She examines the psychological, spiritual and especially the physiological roots, which she claims have received insufficient study; how women's dreams differ from men's; and how they change over the course of a woman's life. Influenced by hormonal and other biological changes, the dreams of a woman in her fertile years often reflect the stages of her menstrual cycle, according to the author. During ovulation, for instance, a woman may dream of rounded or fragile objects that represent the ovum being released. Roles and events foster dreams, and there are chapters on the dreams that accompany falling in love, weddings, parenting, careers, divorce and old age. Garfield generously illustrates her discussions with the dreams of her study group (50 women ranging in age from their 20s to their 90s) and with examples from her own dream diary. These dreams and the interpretations and insights Garfield assists their dreamers in reaching comprise the most interesting material in the book. Garfield maintains that dreams not only reflect and elucidate a woman's concerns, but also help a woman work through her problems. Readers inspired to record and work on their own dreams will be disappointed by the lack of practical advice in this volume and will have to turn to Garfield's Creative Dreaming. Readers may also be frustrated by the author's flowery tone and the contradictory studies that she cites.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.