Patricia L. Garfield was an American academic specializing in the study of dreams, specifically the cognitive processes underpinning them.^[1] She was the author of 10 books covering a broad range of dream topics. These topics include: nightmares, children’s dreams, healing through dreams and dream-related art. Her best-known work is “Creative Dreaming.”^[2] Originally published in 1974 it was revised and reprinted again in 1995. She holds a Ph.D in psychology from Temple University.^[1]

Garfield was one of the six co-founders of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), originally called the Association for the Study of Dreams (ASD).^[2] The IASD is a non-profit, international, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the “pure and applied investigation of dreams and dreaming.” Garfield was the President of the ASD from 1998 to 1999.^[2] She died on November 22, 2021, at the age of 87.^[3]

Works

• Delfine the Dream Girl. Lulu.com. 2011. ISBN 9781257014118.
• Mourning Dove: Dream Poems, Numina Books, 2007.
• Dream Catcher : A Young Person's Journal for Exploring Dreams. Tundra Books. 2003. ISBN 9780887766619.
• The Dream Book: A Young Person's Guide to Understanding Dreams. Tundra Books. 2002. ISBN 9780615644127. – Non-fiction winner of the 2002 Parents' Guide Media Award, nominated for the Young Hoosier's Book Award 2004-2005
• The Universal Dream Key. Harper Collins. 2009. ISBN 9780061857379.
• The Dream Messenger : How Dreams of the Departed Bring Healing Gifts. Simon & Schuster. 1997. ISBN 9780684813592.
• Barrett, Deirdre, ed. (1996). "Dreams in bereavement". Trauma and dreams. Harvard University Press. pp. 186–211.
• Creative Dreaming: Plan And Control Your Dreams to Develop Creativity, Overcome Fears, Solve Problems, and Create a Better Self, Simon & Schuster, first printed in 1974, reprinted with 19 domestic printings and nine foreign editions in 1976. Revised and reprinted in 1995. – Psychology Today book club alternate selection
• The Healing Power of Dreams, Simon & Schuster, 1991, with two foreign editions.
• Women's Bodies, Women's Dreams, Ballantine Books, 1988.
• Garfield, P. (June 1987). "Nightmares in the sexually abused female teenager". Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa. 12 (2): 93–97. PMID 3303090 – via PsycNET.
• Your Child's Dreams, Ballantine Books, 1984, three foreign editions.
• Pathway to Ecstasy: The Way of the Dream Mandala, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979, one foreign edition, Prentice Hall, 1989, trade edition.
• Garfield, Patricia L. (1973). "Keeping a longitudinal dream record". Psychotherapy. 10 (3): 223–228. doi:10.1037/h0087580.