About the International Institute for Dream Research

Mark Hagen of the International Institute for Dream Research has been collecting people's dreams for more than 28 years. Throughout this course of study, Mr. Hagen noticed patterns, similarities and confluences in the subject and meaning of these dreams, despite differences in the race, class, sex or country of origin of the dreamers.

For example, one of the earliest and most pervasive themes he discovered was political abuse of human rights. People who dreamed about such abuse were not only from undemocratic, repressive societies; it was a common theme across the board. Mr. Hagen further realized that the political dynamics of repression, oppression and suppression are revealed through the study of dreams.

Mr. Hagen believes that through dream interpretation, people will come to understand both the role that dreams play in individual and collective lives, as well as the influences - national, societal, cultural, etc. - that affect the subject of their dreams. Thus, this website and its Dreambank were born.

The Enterprise of the International Institute for Dream Research

The IIDR views dreams through a variety of lenses, involving issues such as morals, aesthetics, epistemology and logic, and metaphysics. Its approach includes placing dreams in the context of art and the social sciences, and uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand the logic of the dream, including sociology, anthropology, biology, psychology, pathology (the study of disease) and philology (the study of language).

The Institute takes this multi-layered approach because of the variety of influences that can affect behaviour and mental processes (and thus, dreams), such as memory, cultural values, language and the nature of motivation. By studying these influences as they appear in dreams, the IIDR hopes to illuminate the common strands of humanity, from ancient Greece up to the present day.

This website, like life and dreaming, is a work in progress.

For those that want to read the complete article about dream research follow this link

All material Copyright 2006 International Institute for Dream Research. All rights reserved.