Sexual Dreams: Why We Have Them, What They Mean

by Gayle Delaney

Book Overview

Do you ever wonder why you dream about sex with celebrities or former lovers? What does it mean to dream of sex while someone watches? Do you dream about sex with your husband's best friend? Erotic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449909018
• ISBN13: 9780449909010
• Release Date: February 1994
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and highly readable

Well-written and fairly conversational, this book covers the range of its topic well. It includes adequately satisfying discussion of sexual dreams, whether the sexual content be explicit or implicit, and whether the meaning be sexual or otherwise. The sections in which she discusses how the dynamics of a sexual relationship present a clarified image of the dynamics of the whole relationship, what dreams can tell you about your relationships, and how to recognize limiting patterns in your relationship behavior are very interesting and widely applicable. The sections on nightmares and abuse are much darker, but also interesting. She includes lots of dream interviews with her clients as examples, which are very illustrative and extremely interesting in a intellectually voyeuristic sort of way. In this book, Gayle Delaney presents a much shorter explanation of dream journals, dream recall, and her dream interviewing technique than some of her other books; it's very readable, succinctly worded, and easy to absorb. By comparison, her book "Breakthrough Dreaming" presented more information, but was so much longer and more indirectly worded I felt the essence of the technique was lost. "Sensual Dreaming", as a whole, has a lively pace and kept me turning pages. For quickly learning and grasping the dream interview technique, this book is the better choice; I initially learned it from her cassette series "Your Sleeping Genius", which was very effective. The final section, on the links between sexuality and creativity, is also excellent. If the book has one weakness, it's the relative scarcity of men's dreams and the (in my opinion) occasional bias toward very stereotypical gender behavior and roles in her descriptions of "typical" male and female dreams and meanings. However, I'm aware that she was limited by her source material (vastly more women than men explore dreams and their meaning, it seems) and did not let that detract from my enjoyment of the book. Definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in psychology, sexuality, and dream exploration.

An Excellent Specialized Dream Guide

Dr. Gayle Delaney has written a number of outstanding "general" books on the subject of dream interpretation, several of which I use as references in dream analysis. In "Sensual Dreaming" she takes on areas of dream analysis that are seldom talked about: Sexuality, eroticism and sensuality. This book is NOT a "dream dictionary" with lists of symbols and their ostensible meanings. Instead, Delaney explores the ways in which our sexual dreams must be interpreted in the context of each person's unique life experience. The book is divided into three sections, covering "Sexual Passions," "Intimate Passions" and "Creative Passions," and is "illustrated" throughout of examples of dreams along with interpretations. In addition, Delaney guides readers through the processes of remembering and recording dreams, dream incubation, the dream interview and various other techniques to help us enrich and understand the sexual content of our dreams. In addition to offering *interpretations* of our sensual dreams, Delaney also covers the therapeutic aspects of dreams, drawing on her experience as a psychotherapist and offering insights into how the images and symbols we see may offer keys to challenges we face during our waking life. An appendix also offers tips on how to choose a sex therapist, general therapist, or dream specialist. Final thoughts: Highly Recommended (9.5 out of a possible 10 bookmarks). This is an excellent specialized dream book; however it will probably be most useful to someone who's already somewhat familiar with the dream analysis process. --Peter

A great guide in understanding your dreams

I owned this book about 10 years ago and found it to be a tremendous tool in helping to understand my dreams. I lent it out and it was not returned, so I assume the 'lendee' also found it helpful as well! The interview process can seem somewhat time consuming but it's so worth it! I now think critically about my dreams, they are a tool I use to guide myself in making positive choices. This book is not a dry read! (Er, no pun intended!) The dreams are fascinating and brought to light many of my own erotic dreams that I'd forgotten. Sex is such a powerful element in our lives, and so often dream dictionaries and websites do not go into depth with these subconscious adventures.I highly recommend this book, and have to pretty much everyone with whom I've discussed dream analyzation over the years.