Abstract
Although they have been infrequently reported in the literature, spontaneous visual images in therapy sessions have a long history in psychoanalysis. In this paper, I present three clinical examples in which patients experienced such visual images. These images were spontaneous in that they felt like they emerged “out of the blue,” from another self-state. The person experienced the images while knowing they were images; for this reason, they might be called “waking lucid-dreams.” These waking dreams provided a channel for the expression and communication of emotional states otherwise excluded from our relationship, from the “me–you” patterns that had prevailed at the time of the images. These images, and their potential role in personal growth, have something to “say” not only about relatedness, meaning-making, and referential activity, but also about affect regulation and mentalization.
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