Sante De Sanctis’ contribution to the study of dreams between ‘800 and ‘900 century: the originality of the integrated method

Abstract

The article reviews and analyzes Sante De Sanctis’ - an illustrious psychologist, psychiatrist and founder of the discipline of psychology in Italy- research on dream. The analysis of his study of dreams demonstrates how De Sanctis was the only Italian scholar to have broadened the experimental paradigm of Wundtian psychology using an original pluralistic method integrated with a theoretical perspective based on the study of the psychophysical reality of individuals in their totality. De Sanctis’ scientific work on dreams, documented in important national and international articles and monographs published in the 18 th and 19 th century, appears to exemplify his modern conceptualization of clinical-differential psychological research.