ABSTRACT
Drug dreams have specific psychological functions with regard to the vicissitudes of personal drug craving and the development of a patient's ability to cope with it. Several authors have emphasised the clinical and therapeutic usefulness of drug dreams by suggesting that drug dreams can provide information about patient's drug craving and his/her compliance with the treatment, allowing the clinician to establish appropriate therapeutic strategies. Drug dreams, through their appearance and varying frequency, are a valuable "thermometer" capable of signalling changes in drug craving intensity, including in its unconscious aspects. Converging clinical and experimental data suggest that drug dreams may provide information on the intensity of a patient's drug craving, as well as its attenuation and sudden recrudescence. The majority of drug dreams are understandable without any need for interpretation and only occasionally they may show certain symbolic aspects. R. A. Johnson suggested that drinking dreams deserve further research to find out how they might be used to facilitate treatment.
