Dreaming as Delirium

In this book J. Allan Hobson sets out a compellingand controversialtheory of consciousness. Our brain-mind as he calls it is not a fixed identity but a dynamic balancing act between the chemical systems that regulate waking and dreaming.With a new foreword by the author.In this book J. Allan Hobson sets out a compellingand controversialtheory of consciousness. Our brain-mind as he calls it is not a fixed identity but a dynamic balancing act between the chemical systems that regulate waking and dreaming. Drawing on his work both as a sleep researcher and as a psychiatrist Hobson looks in particular at the strikingly similar chemical characteristics of the states of dreaming and psychosis. His underlying theme is that the form of our thoughts emotions dreams and memories derive from specific nerve cells and electrochemical impulses described by neuroscientists. Among the questions Hobson explores are: What are dreams? Do they have any hidden meaning or are they simply emotionally salient images whose peculiar narrative structure refects the unique neurophysiology of sleep? And what is the relationship between the delirium of our dream life and psychosis?Originally published by Little Brown under the title The Chemistry of Conscious States.