Allan Hobson

Life
James Allan Hobson, M.D. (June 3, 1933 – 20--) is a Harvard psychiatrist and dream researcher who grew up in Hartford Connecticut.) In 1955 he obtained his A.B. degree from Wesleyan University. Four years later he earned his MD degree at Harvard Medical School in 1959.  For the following two years he interned at Bellevue Hospital, New York.  Then in 1960 he was a resident in Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston for a year.  Dr. Hobson then traveled to France where he was a Special Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health for the Department of Physiology at the University of Lyon.  Upon returning to the United States, he went back to the Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston until 1966. The next year he had a son named Ian.  Ian was brain-damaged, but would eventually be able to live on his own when he was older. In 2001 he had twin children. He worked in numerous hospitals and research laboratories over the years and is currently the Director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center.

Dream theories
Dr. Hobson’s research specialty is quantifying mental events and correlating them with quantified brain events, with special reference to waking, sleeping and dreaming. He believes that dreams are created when random energy signals reach the brain’s cortex during REM sleep. The cortex attempts to make sense of the random inputs it is receiving, which causes our crazy dreams. Dr. Hobson clearly dismisses the idea that there are deep, nonphysiological, or hidden meanings in dreams. He calls such notions "the mystique of fortune cookie dream interpretation." For years he has proven his theories through lab testing with mice and human subjects.

Books
Dr. Hobson has published six books that relate to his mental health and dream research. The following is a complete list:

1. Abnormal States of Brain and Mind- Published Date: 02/01/1989

2. Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness- Published Date: 10/01/2002

3. Dreaming As Delirium: How the Brain Goes Out of Its Mind- Published Date: 01/01/2000

4. Dreaming Brain- Published Date: 09/01/1989

5. Out of Its Mind: Psychiatry in Crisis, a Call for Reform- Published Date: 05/01/2002

6. Sleep and Dreams- Published Date: 04/01/1992

Employment
Dr. Hobson has worked in professional hospital environments as well as Academic appointments. The following is a complete list:)

Research Associate, Department of Physiology, 1964-67 and Assistant in Psychiatry, 1965-66, both at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Boston

Senior Psychiatrist, Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC), Boston, 1965-67 Instructor in Psychiatry, 1966-67 (HMS)

Associate in Psychiatry, 1967-69 (HMS)

Director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, 1967 to present (HMS)

Principal Psychiatrist, 1967 (MMHC)

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, 1969-74 (HMS)

Lecturer in Psychiatry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 1972-74

Director, Group Psychotherapy Training Program, 1972 (MMHC)

Associate Professor of Psychiatry, 1974 (HMS)

Professor of Psychiatry, 1978 to present (HMS)

Director of Behavioral Science Teaching Program, 1980-86 (HMS)

Organizations
In addition to his many paid appointments, Dr. Hobson is actively involved with four groups relating to his neurological sleep research. The following is a complete list:

Society Memberships

Society for Neuroscience

Society for Sleep Research

AAAS

Honors and awards
For his outstanding work, Dr. Hobs has received four awards. The following is a complete list:)

Admission to the Boylston Medical Society

The Benjamin Rush Gold Medal for Best Scientific Exhibit

Honorary member of the American Psychiatric Association since 1978.

Recipient of the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award of the Sleep Research Society