Sigmund Freud may have been the first to popularize the study of dreams, but several scholars since Freud have advanced our understanding of dreams in revolutionary ways. Among them is Mark Blechner, an interpersonal/relational psychoanalyst who first published his theories on dreams in his 2001 book The Dream Frontier. With his new book, The Mindbrain and Dreams: An Exploration of Dreaming, Thinking, and Artistic Creation (Routledge, 2018), Blechner draws upon his clinical experience over the past 17 years to update and extend his already cutting-edge original ideas on dreams. In our interview, he explains why dreams, with their imagery and metaphors, may do a better job of expressing our deepest feelings and experiences compared to verbal communication, and why the mind and the brain should be thought of as one. He answers questions about how non-therapists can use their own dreams to understand themselves more meaningfully and how therapist can make use of dreams in clinical work in new and exciting ways. This interview will interest those who want to more fully engage with their dreamlife but don’t yet know how.

Mark J. Blechner is a training and supervising psychoanalyst at William Alanson White Institute and has taught at Columbia University, Yale University, and New York University. His prior books include Sex Changes: Transformations in Society and Psychoanalysis (2009), The Dream Frontier (2001), and Hope and Mortality: Psychodynamic Approaches to AIDS and HIV (1997). He is former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the founder and former director of the HIV Clinical Service at the White Institute. Dr. Blechner is in practice in New York City as a psychoanalyst, psychotherapist, supervisor, and leader of private dream groups.

Eugenio Duarte, Ph.D. is a psychoanalyst practicing in Miami and university psychologist at Florida International University. He treats individuals and couples with specialties in gender and sexuality, eating and body image problems, and relationship issues. He is a graduate of the psychoanalytic training program at William Alanson White Institute and former chair of their LGBTQ Study Group. He is also a contributing author to the book Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Defining Terms and Building Bridges (2018, Routledge).

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