Freud, Van Eeden and Lucid Dreaming

Abstract

There has not been a complete discussion of the biography of Fredrik van Eeden, who is credited with coining the phrase "lucid dream" and publishing the first serious research into these dreams. Writers on lucid dreaming have not addressed some very basic questions about the development of the concept of lucid dreaming in the context of the development of psychoanalysis. Most descriptions of that historical period in the history of lucid dreaming have been limited to what was presented in a 1913 paper by Fredrik van Eeden. The existing literature does not provide many details about who van Eeden was or why he appears to have written so little on this topic.

This paper presents two new historical perspectives. It offers 1.) a biographical sketch of van Eeden and his relationship to Freud and the psychoanalytic movement, and 2.) a previously unpublished letter from Freud to van Eeden, outlining what would appear to be Freud's opinion about and attitude toward lucid dreaming.