ABSTRACT
The most detailed of all case histories in which sleep-talking served as a technical adjunct appears in a paper devoted to the clinical psychological problem of pain. Information derived from sleep-talking has been mentioned by a few clinicians as offering therapeutic potential. Whether therapeutic potential of sleep-talking will be realized for other types of cases probably depends on invention of suitable reliable techniques to provoke or facilitate sleep-talking without undue introduction of obfuscating artifacts. Perhaps the earliest such mention is that of J. Esquirol, who believed that the underlying basis of a “delirium” is often revealed in words spoken by patients out of dreams rather than in their wakeful productions. The sound of the patient’s voice actuates a relay switch that results in a permanent tape recording of whatever is said at “threshold” intensity. Patients are able to relate their dreams aloud on awakening during the night and have them recorded immediately for subsequent analysis during the day.
