Dreams In Psychotherapy Research Articles

A new approach to dreams in psychotherapy: Phenomenological dream-self model

A new approach to dreams in psychotherapy: Phenomenological dream-self model

Structural Dream Analysis: a narrative research method for investigating the meaning of dream series in analytical psychotherapies

Patient dreams in psychotherapy can be seen as narratives pointing to underlying conflicts as well as to potential solutions for overcoming mental health problems. Conceptualizations of the dream and its potential in the psychoanalytic tradition meanwhile are well supported by empirical dream research, which has moved dream interpretation from a Freudian perspective towards CG Jung’s theory of dreaming. Nevertheless there is a strong need for more research connecting the meaning conveyed by the dream with the psychopathology of the patient and with process in psychotherapy. Structural Dream Analysis (SDA) as a method to investigate the meaning conveyed in dream series from analytical psychotherapies is introduced. It combines earlier methods of narrative analysis with psychoanalytic ways of interpreting symbols into a coherent and manualised interpretive method; the application of the method is demonstrated with a case example.

Continuity between waking life and dreams of psychiatric patients: A review and discussion of the implications for dream research

Despite positive results from the use of dreams in psychotherapy and for personal growth, research regarding the relationship between waking life and dreams of patients with mental disorders is relatively scarce. The present paper reviews the existing literature on dreams of psychiatric patients in order to identify the continuities and discontinuities between the dreams and the waking life psychopathology of these patients. The findings demonstrate that several aspects of the waking life psychopathology of the patients show both continuity and discontinuity in dreams. An example of continuity is eating disordered patients dreaming more of food than healthy controls. An example of discontinuity is less traumatic or depressive content in dream reports of depressed than non-depressed. The results indicate that a more specific and comprehensive definition of continuity is needed, and that more attention must be granted to the phenomenon of discontinuity. Furthermore, assessments of specific symptoms should compliment the patients’ diagnoses for comparisons with dreams to be meaningful.

The Impact of Dreams of the Deceased on Bereavement

Many recently bereaved persons experience vivid and deeply meaningful dreams featuring the presence of the deceased that may reflect and impact the process of mourning. The present study surveyed 278 bereaved persons regarding their own perspective of the relationship between dreams and the mourning process. Fifty eight percent of respondents reported dreams of their deceased loved ones, with varying levels of frequency. Most participants reported that their dreams were either pleasant or both pleasant and disturbing, and few reported purely disturbing dreams. Prevalent dream themes included pleasant past memories or experiences, the deceased free of illness, memories of the deceased's illness or time of death, the deceased in the afterlife appearing comfortable and at peace, and the deceased communicating a message. These themes overlap significantly with previous models of bereavement dream content. Sixty percent of participants felt that their dreams impacted their bereavement process. Specific effects of the dreams on bereavement processes included increased acceptance of the loved one's death, comfort, spirituality, sadness, and quality of life, among others. These results support the theory that dreams of the deceased are highly prevalent among and often deeply meaningful for the bereaved. While many counselors are uncomfortable working with dreams in psychotherapy, the present study demonstrates their therapeutic relevance to the bereaved population and emphasizes the importance for grief counselors to increase their awareness, knowledge, and skills with regards to working with dreams.

Working with dreams in psychotherapy: What do psychoanalytic therapists report that they do?

Catholic University of AmericaForty-seven psychoanalytic therapists completed a questionnaire about dreamwork. Overall, results indicated that therapists had very positive attitudes towarddreams, worked with their own dreams, sought out dream training, and feltcompetent working with dreams. Therapists estimated that they worked withdreams with about half of their clients about half of the time in psychotherapy.They were most willing to work with dreams when clients had recurrent ortroubling dreams or nightmares, were psychologically minded, were seekinggrowth, were interested in dreams, and were willing to work with dreams.Keywords: dream work, attitudes toward dreams, dream training, dreams inpsychotherapyDreams have had a central function in psychoanalytic thinking and psychoanalyticpsychotherapy from the beginning. In the Preface to the First Edition of The Interpretationof Dreams , Freud (1900) wrote, “Anyone who has failed to explain the origin ofdream-images can scarcely hope to understand phobias, obsessions or delusions or tobring a therapeutic in uence to bear on them” (p. xxiii). Since these early days, whenFreud rst recognized the utility of dream interpretation in gaining understanding of theunconscious, psychoanalytic psychotherapists have considered dream work to be a keycomponent of psychotherapy.Despite the importance of dreams for psychoanalytic psychotherapy, minimal empir-ical research has been conducted to determine how dreams are used in psychoanalytic

Analyst's Dream Job Is Deciphering Dreams

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessAnalyst's Dream Job Is Deciphering DreamsJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:21 Mar 2008https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.43.6.0026Fasten your seatbelts! Or better yet, slip on your pajamas. It's time to journey into the realm of sleep and dreaming with Sheldon Roth, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard University.Roth, considered a dream authority, addressed the fabric of dreams, the purpose of dreaming, and the use of dreams in psychotherapy at the winter meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association in New York CityAmong the highlights of Roth's talk:Everything in a dream—even objects—represents the dreamer and how he or she experiences the world, Roth reported. Nonetheless, dreams may contain universal symbols. “Trains are usually symbols of change, separation, or newness.” There were a lot of trains in Freud's dreams.One purpose of dreaming seems to be to enhance learning. Recent research has revealed that while most dreams occur during REM sleep, dreams can occur during non-REM stages of sleep as well, and that dreams that occur during REM sleep or non-REM sleep can enhance specific types of learning. For example, REM sleep dreams seem to boost the learning of grammar, whereas non-REM sleep dreams appear to boost the learning of sports. In fact, “Each stage of sleep seems to contribute to different kinds of learning,” he noted.A second purpose of dreaming appears to be to solve problems. Indeed, if one examines the content of dreams concerned with problem-solving, one may well find a solution to the problem within the dream. For example, Roth cited a dream that one of his patients once had. The patient tried to drive away from home, but could not manage to do so. So she tried again—and again. Finally she succeeded and arrived at the home of an art teacher whom she had liked very much. The teacher had let her paint whatever she wanted. She felt relieved and happy. The dream thus seemed to reflect her desire to break out of a dependent relationship with her husband and to establish a world of her own.Actually, some people ratchet up dreaming during times of crisis, which may well be because they need dreams to help them solve their dilemmas, Roth pointed out.A third purpose of dreaming, Roth continued, seems to be to help people work through trauma. He cited a study in which a researcher tracked the dreams of people who had been traumatized in a car accident. The researcher found that the people dreamt different types of dreams as time went by. First they tended to dream of the accident occurring (as in flashbacks). Then they tended to dream that they had survived earlier traumas in their lives and probably could surmount this most recent one as well. Finally they stopped dreaming about the accident altogether. These findings suggest that they were using their dreams to work through their trauma.As a matter of fact, Roth speculated, dreams may not only help people metabolize trauma, but transform their trauma into works of art. For instance, Freud wrote his Interpretation of Dreams in the wake of his father's death, and it has a lot to do with loss and mourning. Roth thus believes that Freud's dreams about his father served as a springboard for his creation of the work.Dreams have still another purpose as far as psychotherapy goes, Roth stressed—they can help therapists help patients better understand their problems and how to solve them.For example, say you suspect that a dream that a patient has recounted has something to do with the current problems he is facing. One way to find out is to examine the dream's affect, Roth said. Affect is usually the key to the meaning of dreams and often represents conflict.Also, therapists should be aware that every dream that patients bring to them may have a transference element. A dream that a woman once recited to her therapist illustrates this point. The woman dreamt that she poisoned her dog, which she did not like. The dog may have represented herself to a degree since she was unhappily married and “snapped” at her husband. But the dog may also have represented her therapist. In other words, she may have been unconsciously asking herself, “Will my therapist snap at me just as I snap at my husband?”Finally, if you are having trouble interpreting a patient's dream, you might follow a tip from Freud, Roth advised: Try reversing the process of the dream, and it might give you the answer. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

The work with dreams in cognitive therapy

Several new theoretical aspects and techniques have been added to cognitive therapy since its beginning as a therapeutic approach. The need to expand the limits came from the clinical work, especially with challenging clients. The work with dreams in psychotherapy is one of these issues. Research suggests that some dreams may have relation to the dreamer's personality, contain the same themes and expectations of the awaken life, and express similar worries. Therefore some dreams could be considered important therapeutic material, where cognitive and emotional patterns are expressed and when schemas are fully activated. As the access to the dream memories and its discussion occur in the awaken state, the mode to remember details and the organization of the material will be influenced by the same characteristic distortions one uses to interpret reality. The objective of this article is to present some considerations about the cognitive model of dreams, including the description of an intervention that used a dream as a sign of change in the client's core belief

Anorexia dreaming: A case study.

A case study is presented focusing on a dream of a severely anorectic woman. The dream occurred at a point when the disorder had become life threatening. The dream is discussed in terms of its significance in the dreamer’s experience, its implications for the use of dreams in psychotherapy, and its relevance for the broader literature on psychopathology and dreams. Archetypal psychology’s aesthetic, and phenomenological approach to dreams is presented as a framework for understanding the ongoing significance of significant dreams such as the one presented here.

A review of empirical research supporting four conceptual uses of dreams in psychotherapy

AbstractThe present review consists of a re‐conceptualization of the existing empirical literature regarding the use of dreams in psychotherapy into four potential contributions. These four contributions of dreams to psychotherapy are discussed as being particularly relevant for clinicians in applied practice to (I) facilitate the therapeutic process, (II) facilitate patient insight and self‐awareness, (III) provide clinically relevant and valuable information to therapists and (IV) provide a measure of therapeutic change. The present review is distinctive in that it emphasizes the pertinence of research regarding dream use to applied clinical practice and it includes previously unreviewed research regarding dreams in psychotherapy on these four specific ways dreams can be useful within the therapeutic process. In addition, this review includes a section discussing the under‐researched and largely neglected potential for dreams to provide accurate and efficient information to therapists. Limitations of the research as well as future directions are presented. The generally positive findings of this research suggest that dreams can be considered an alternative type of clinical material that can be useful in psychotherapy. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Client Reactions to Working With Dreams in Psychotherapy.

Client Reactions to Working With Dreams in Psychotherapy.

Working with dreams in psychotherapy: The therapists' perspective.

129 therapists completed a 70-item questionnaire about working with dreams in psychotherapy. Almost all therapists (92%) worked with dreams in psychotherapy at least occasionally. Therapists reported that 15% of clients had brought dreams into therapy during the past year. Therapists engaged more in exploratory than insight- or action-oriented activities when working with dreams. They were more likely to work on dreams with clients who had troubling dreams or who were interested in working on dreams, but were unlikely to work on dreams with schizophrenic or psychotic clients. Those clinicians who were more likely to work with dreams had more training, higher estimated dream recall, more positive attitudes toward dreams, and did more personal dream work than clinicians who were not likely to work with dreams.

Trauma and Dreams

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewsFull AccessTrauma and DreamsMartha Crowner, M.D.Martha CrownerSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Jan 2003https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.54.1.115AboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Trauma and Dreams could be aptly subtitled "Use of Dreams in Psychotherapy With Traumatized Adults and Children." It is a volume of 17 chapters in three parts, edited by Diedre Barrett, a practicing clinical psychologist, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, and editor-in chief of the journal Dreaming.Most of the book's chapters are examples of the work of practicing therapists, authors who work in varied settings with a wide range of patients, or clients. Some chapters are individual case reports, some summarize group psychotherapy, and some draw generalizations from work with a series of individuals. Many report on research, typically research in which investigators categorize nightmare content and compare the content and frequency of nightmares in different groups.Part 1 consists of five chapters on dreams after childhood trauma. Two chapters describe clinical work with children who have been recently traumatized, and the other three describe work with adults who were traumatized as children. Part 2 is made up of seven chapters on adult trauma in wars and natural disasters. One of these chapters classifies dreams of survivors of the 1991 firestorm in Oakland, California; one describes common nightmares of refugees from political terror in Central America; one discusses nightmares of Vietnam combat veterans; and one compares the dreams of well-adjusted Holocaust survivors with those of survivors who are not so well adjusted. Part 3 is titled "Traumas of Normal Living." It is a mixed group of five chapters, including one on dreams of adults who are recently bereaved and one on dreams of the recently divorced.Trauma and Dreams is useful for anyone who works with traumatized patients but especially for psychotherapists. Its abundant case material provides an intriguing view on the process of therapy with quite varied and unusual groups of patients. The descriptive studies give the practitioner an idea of what to expect. Dr. Barrett's volume is an important contribution. I often found myself wishing for more theory and more general reviews to give perspective and shape to the clinical material. The book contains few broad conclusions, although many authors hold that dreams serve as markers for change as psychotherapy progresses.For theory I turned to Freud, but found that he wrote primarily about the analysis of dreams as part of psychoanalytic technique, not about dreams among traumatized individuals. However, he did appreciate that trauma changes dreaming. In his Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1), he wrote "When anyone has lost someone near and dear to him, he produces dreams of a special sort for some time afterwards." This observation could be extended to many other kinds of trauma, as Trauma and Dreams illustrates so well.Dr. Crowner is clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and attending psychiatrist at Project Renewal, Inc., in New York City.edited by Deirdre Barrett; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2001, 272 pages, $18.95 softcoverReference1. Freud S: Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. New York, Norton, 1966Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 54Issue 1 January 2003Pages 115-115 Metrics History Published online 1 January 2003 Published in print 1 January 2003

Who needs their dreams? The usefulness of dreams in psychotherapy.

Who needs their dreams? The usefulness of dreams in psychotherapy.

Recovery of early memories associated with reported dream imagery.

In recent years dreaming has been characterized as an information-processing activity that functions adaptively to match new experience with representations of past events already stored in long-term memory. Nine patients who reported dreams in psychotherapy were asked expressly if the dream imagery recalled a specific event from early in their lives. Of 50 consecutively reported dreams, 46 were associated with early events whose imagery appeared in the dream. When questioning about the past was omitted in a later series of 34 dreams, the same patients spontaneously recalled early events represented in the dream imagery only 13 times.

The use of dreams in psychotherapy: practical guidelines.

Although there is a large literature pertaining to the use of the dream in psychoanalysis, there is no systematic approach to working with dreams in psychotherapy. This communication seeks to present some guidelines for the use of the dream in psychotherapy. Reference is made to the significant difference in the "dimensions" of psychoanalysis as compared to psychotherapy. A distinction is drawn between the use of the dream in supportive psychotherapy as contrasted with insight-oriented psychotherapy. In the former, the dream--if used at all--serves supportive functions; in the latter, the goals are to develop better awareness by the patient of himself. Understanding of the dream is reached by inserting it into the context of the patient's psychological life; however, what is actually communicated to the patient will be keyed to the psychologic surface that the patient presents.