A contribution to the understanding of the role of the superego in dreams: Further development of an approach to dreams in analytic group psychotherapy

Seven dreams from patients in three different groups are presented to illustrate the author's ego-psychological approach to dreams in group under varying conditions as well as to emphasize particular concepts regarding the role of the superego in the dream. This paper demonstrates how the author addresses group process, individual functioning and the dream simultaneously within the context of an ongoing therapeutic process. The first section of the paper points out that theoretical contributions towards an understanding of the dream, since its original position of importance, have been almost nonexistent. The author believes the significance of the superego throughout the analytic process as well as in theory has been underestimated.Dr. Edwards is an Associate Supervisor and Faculty Member at the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in the Group Department. She is also a Training and Supervising Analyst at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, a Training Analyst at the Institutes of Religion and Health and the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute, and a Lecturer and Guest Faculty at the New York University Postgraduate Medical School.     

Working with dreams in a bereavement therapy group

There is ample theory and research about group therapy, dream work, and bereavement as separate subjects. However, there is little written specifically about utilizing dream work in bereavement therapy groups. Using the Foulksian group analytic model, dreams in one particular bereavement group (for parents of children killed in a terrorist action) were interpreted in such a way as to help members access deep unconscious feelings. This helped facilitate a fuller and more complete mourning process. The analytic, dream interpretive activity also helped overcome resistance in the group-as-a-whole and thereby facilitated movement through group development phases.     

From the dreams of a generation to the theory of dreams: Freud's Roman dreams

In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud's interpretation of oedipal desires does not occur at the expense of historical and personal desires, which are always there as a backdrop. In the relentless examination of his own dreams that Freud makes in order to show the mechanisms inherent in all oneiric deformation, we are also led to another, specifically historical, aspect of the issue of Jewish emancipation, which he experiences at first hand. By analysing his own dreams, Freud not only shows us the mechanisms governing dream formation, but also develops a pointed critique of his contemporary society and its prejudices.     

'We are the stuff that dreams are made on': the use of dreams in systemic therapy

This paper considers the place that dream material has occupied in therapy, and particularly family therapy. A rationale will be given for the inclusion of this source of information by systemic therapists. The use of dreams in systemic therapy with individuals, couples and families is described. Dreams are divided into five main categories: those that precipitate therapy, provide hypotheses, as memories, relationship dreams, and those that reflect the process of change. Each category is described and illustrated with relevant clinical material. The paper concludes with a method for working with dreams that is congruent with a systemic perspective applicable to individual, conjoint or family therapy sessions.     

The use of dreams in the evaluation of severely disturbed patients

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Reflections on group psychotherapy with eating-disordered patients

This paper addresses some of the dynamics, resistances, and transference and countertransference considerations in group psychotherapy with eating disordered patients. Several resistances are delineated, including guilt over being helped, the recreation of early problems around control and forced feeding, and withdrawal as a defensive operation. A brief vignette is presented which highlights the demand on the part of the therapist as well as the patient to contain and manage feelings rather than acting on them. Lastly, the author argues that group participation helps the patient to identify, articulate, and accept feelings and to promote assertiveness.This paper is based on a presentation given at the Training Institute for Mental Health on May 11, 1991.     

Dreamtelling as a request for containment: three uses of dreams in group therapy

This article is an attempt to develop a coherent, unified, and consistent conceptualization of dreaming and dreamtelling in the clinical setting. Dreams told in a therapeutic setting are challenging events: fantastically rich in content, but often overwhelming in their implications for peoples' relationships. When told in therapy groups, dreams provide additional challenges for all participants. Learning to work with dreams not only enhances understanding of unconscious intrapsychic and group processes, but may also have a strong impact on the therapeutic culture and working relationships in the group. After differentiating dreaming from dreamtelling, I briefly describe three uses of dreams in groups-the classical "informative" and more familiar "formative" uses, and a new perspective that focuses on the "transformative" aspects of a dream told. According to this perspective, a dream told has an interesting past, an important present, and a worthwhile future because of its interpersonal, intersubjective influence on the dreamer-audience relationship.     

Reflections on the use of spirituality to privilege religion in scientific discourse: incorporating considerations of self

Many lay writers have claimed that psychologists and other scientists need to integrate something called “spirituality” into their work. This spirituality, usually undefined, is not something the truth of which may be determined by scientific means, yet it should be called upon to guide or govern our actions in certain all-important ways. This paper deconstructs two such calls that, in the end, are based on the notion of revealed, or religiously held, truth. A paradigm by which spirituality can be investigated integrating the individual self with culture is proposed, and use of this paradigm when considering modernization and supply-side theses of religious propagation is suggested.