Local dream expert and UC Santa Cruz psychology instructor Veronica Tonay is featured in the upcoming new miniseries Dream Decoders, a show that helps participants and viewers understand the hidden meaning of their dreams.
The series premieres on the Discovery Health Channel discoveryhealth.com on Wednesday, August 17, at 10 p.m. (E.T./P.T.) and will air in its entirety on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. (E.T./P.T.) beginning November 1.
Tonay is a clinical psychologist and the author of Every Dream Interpreted and The Creative Dreamer. Understanding the meaning of dreams can contribute to greater emotional and psychological health, said Tonay. "Dreams are a portal to insights that can be very important in our lives," she said.
Filmed before a live audience, the show features common and universal dreams, including elements such as being chased and falling. During each episode, the "decoders" evaluate the dreams of three or four people, who describe their dreams and nightmares verbally and through brief video re-creations. Tonay and the other experts interview the dreamers and analyze clues before offering their individual analysis to the participants, who in turn share their thoughts about the decoders' feedback. Each episode also features brief exchanges between the decoders and members of the studio audience.
Joining Tonay on Dream Decoders are Alan Siegel, a psychotherapist and dream researcher; Marcia Emery, a psychologist and expert on intuition; and Edward Bynum, a clinical psychologist and director of the Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic at University of Massachusetts Health Services.
Currently in more than 58 million homes, Discovery Health Channel is the only 24-hour network devoted to health.
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Editor's Note: Veronica Tonay may be reached at (831) 234-4849 or via e-mail at vktonay@ucsc.edu.
