ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a theory of the meaning of one type of dream. It reviews the author's research on the biological aspects of dreams. The chapter also reviews the traumatic war neuroses and shows that these patients exhibit similar traumatic dreams which also indicate severe underlying disease, but of psychological rather than biological type. The warning theory draws heavily on the monumental contribution of psychoanalysis to dream psychology, particularly with the concept of the ego that is portrayed, including the later evolution of the movement into ego psychology. The warning theory is important only insofar it reflects and synthesizes some of the first experimental data that dream content itself has meaning. A current theory for the meaning of one type of dream is proposed: traumatic dreams indicate the presence of serious underlying disorder, whether psychological or somatic, and warn of its organismic threat.
