Dreams and Delusion
Manlio Caporali, MD, is a
neurologist and psychiatrist. He was Assistant Professor at La
Sapienza University, Rome, Dept of Neurology (1978-87), and since
1988 an Assistant Professor at Tor Vergata University, Rome, Dept
of Neurosciences-Psychiatry. He has published over 150 scientific
papers, two books, and now works in the fields of Group Analysis
and Dream Textual Analysis.
Marco Zanasi, MD, is a
medical doctor, neurologist, psychiatrist and Jungian analyst. He
is Research Professor at the Psychiatric Clinic of Tor Vergata
University, Rome. For many years he has been studying oneiric
activity in normal and pathological minds. He has organized
congresses on Analytical Psychology, Group Analysis and
Neurophysiology.
Abstract
This work
aims to determine the relation between dreams and delusions in
schizophrenic patients treated with psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
The authors hypothesize that specific images of the patients’
dream reports can predict the onset of a following delusion. They
postulate that the dream reports’ contents could reflect the
delusion themes too. To evaluate dreams data, authors used some
techniques developed from Textual Analysis and psychodynamic
approach. Preliminary findings seem to confirm our hypothesis
underlining the clinical importance of dreams as a way to predict
the course of psychotic process.
