A process research approach to the development of method in group dream work

This paper describes the development of a procedure for group work that is purely oriented toward the interpretation of dreams. Whereas other group dream work methods have tended to be unsystematic or atheoretical, the present method is operationalized in clearly defined steps and is derived from the analytical psychology of Jung. In an ongoing research process, procedural refinements have been indicated, and a step that focuses on the affective component of the dream has been incorporated. The therapeutic advantages of the new additions to the method are described. Generally the research indicates that the method is therapeutically beneficial and is not prone to deleterious effects. This paper demonstrates the value of a process research approach to the development of method in group dream work.A version of this paper was presented at the 25th International Congress of Psychology, Brussels, July 1992. Preparation of this article was assisted by a Rhodes University research grant.     

汉字:国人释梦实践的本土化面向

汉字释梦是根据梦像的视觉形象构造,寻找书写结构与其相对应的汉字,再依于汉字的本义把握梦的意义。首先依据现代心理学探讨传统梦学中汉字释梦的思想;然后对汉字释梦的可行性进行深入分析,认为梦和汉字都以表意为首要目的,都采取象形的表达方式,进而提出汉字释梦的操作思路;最后结合案例展现了汉字释梦在实践中的应用。     

Using dream interpretation to resolve group developmental impasses

This paper focuses on the use of dream interpretation in psychoanalytic group psychotherapy. One of the goals of the paper is to demonstrate that the kinds of dreams, manifestly about the group, offered at various points in the life history of the group, are influenced by, and, in turn, influence developmental phases in group. Dream interpretation also helps the therapist to identify emerging developmental themes in the group-as-a-whole as well as illuminate developmental impasses and resistances of the group. The second goal of this paper is to demonstrate how interpretations of these dreams can help lessen resistance and help the group to resolve the impasse. The paper first reviews some basic principles and approaches to dream interpretation in a group setting and then elucidates typical phases in group development. Two extended case examples are presented to illustrate how dream interpretation may be utilized to help the group move beyond the impasse.     

Inducing lucid dreams by olfactory-cued reactivation of reality testing during early-morning sleep: A proof of concept

The reliable induction of lucid dreams is a challenge in lucid dream research. In a previous study by our research group we were able to induce in about 50% of the participants a lucid dream in a single sleep laboratory night by combining a wake-up-back-to-bed sleep protocol and a mnemonic technique. In the present study, we extended our previous procedure by additional presentation of an odor during sleep to reactivate memory traces about reality testing. In total 16 male participants spent a single night in the sleep lab whereas the procedure induced in two participants a lucid dream (12.5%). The induction rate stays below the success rate of our previous study and therefore odor-cueing seems not a promising technique for inducing lucid dreams. Beside the odor presentation, several other methodological changes have been made, which will be discussed and hopefully help further dream engineering to improve induction techniques.     

Integration versus conflict between schools of dream theory and dreamwork: integrating the psychological core qualities of dreams with the contemporary knowledge of the dreaming brain

The various ways schools of psychotherapy relate to dreams have been marked by isolationism and mutual conflict rather than self-examination and then integrating the discoveries and methods of other schools. Jung’s method was in opposition to Freud’s psychoanalysis. Existential psychology was dismissive of Freud’s and Jung’s discoveries, while cognitive dream interpretation and cognitive therapy sought other roads entirely. In addition, scientific and neuropsychological dream research has been only insignificantly tied to the psychotherapeutic dream theories. These conflicts and the lack of a comprehensive dream theory has made it convenient for the current rationalist collective consciousness and treatment systems to reject the often times challenging knowledge about ourselves that dreams can provide. This paper describes how contemporary theories of complex cybernetic information networks can create an overriding, constructive framework for uncovering common traits within the above-mentioned branches of dream research and dreamwork. Within this framework, ten core qualities are delineated, supported by both therapeutic knowledge as well as scientific research: 1) Dreams deal with matters important to us; 2) Dreams symbolize; 3) Dreams personify; 4) Dreams are trial runs in a safe place; 5) Dreams are online to unconscious intelligence; 6) Dreams are pattern recognition; 7) Dreams are high level communication; 8) Dreams are condensed information; 9) Dreams are experiences of wholeness; 10) Dreams are psychological energy landscapes. For each core quality I describe short dreamwork sequences from my own practice and a schematic image of how I perceive the overriding interaction between systems in the dreaming brain. For each core quality recommendations for practical dreamwork are provided. Finally, I draw attention to dreams as a huge psychological resource for humankind.     

Working With Dreams in Group Counseling: Advantages and Challenges

Various challenges exist in the use of dreams in group counseling. Obscure and complex dream symbols and images, intricacies of the dream interpretation process, and a lack of counselor training in dreams are among the restrictions that limit the application of dreams in groups. At the same time, dreams constitute a universal human experience that is intriguing and compelling. Dreams offer a potential in group counseling for advancing the understanding of group members, promoting cohesiveness among group participants, and stimulating therapeutic group-member interactions.     

Gods and REMS: The implications of recent dream research for the psychology of religion

Throughout history dreams have been primarily the province of religion. People in many cultures have looked to dreams as sources of spiritual insight and divine revelation. The relationship between traditional religious views of dreams and modern psychological views of dreams has long interested psychologists of religion—for dreams are a uniquely fertile subject for comparing religious and psychological understandings of human experience. In recent years there have been many revolutionary discoveries in dream research, discoveries that have taken us far beyond the seminal works of Freud, Jung, and the early sleep laboratory researchers. This essay describes the work of three leading contemporary dream researchers (neurophysiologist J. Allan Hobson, psychologist Stephen LaBerge, and anthropologist Barbara Tedlock) and evaluates the implications of their findings for our understanding of the religious dimensions of dreams. The essay concludes with some reflections on the valuable role of dream study in the psychology of religion. The primary claim is that recent dream research can make important contributions to current psychology of religion discussions about such issues as interdisciplinary inquiry, hermeneutics, the cross-cultural study of religious experience, the cultural and religious context of modern psychology, and the practical concerns of pastoral counselors.This essay is based on a paper presented on November 25 at the 1991 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Kansas City, Missouri.     

Jungian theory of dreaming and contemporary dream research – findings from the research project ‘Structural Dream Analysis’

The research method ‘Structural Dream Analysis’ (SDA) is described which allows for systematic and objective analysis of the meaning of dreams produced by patients in Jungian psychotherapies. The method focuses especially on the relationship between the dream ego and other figures in the dream and the extent of activity of the dream ego. Five major dream patterns were identified which accounted for the majority of the dreams. The clients’ dream series were dominated by one or two repetitive patterns which were closely connected to the psychological problems of the dreamers. Additionally, typical changes in the dream series’ patterns could be identified which corresponded with therapeutic change. These findings support Jung's theory of dreams as providing a holistic image of the dreamer’s psyche, including unconscious aspects. The implications for different psychoanalytic theories of dreaming and dream interpretation are discussed as well as implications for the continuity hypothesis.     

THE ONEIRIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEORGES PEREC

Georges Perec's book La Boutique Obscure (1973; translated into English in 2012) serves as the basis for this paper. The book is a collection of dreams that its author dreamed from May 1968 to August 1972. The present author treats these dreams as chapters in a bizarre autobiography, elaborating Perec's life through a discussion of those dreams and using them as a starting point with which to discuss his views of dream interpretation and the role of dreams in psychoanalysis.     

Dreams: Fifty Years and Counting

I have been following my dreams since I was a child. Jung says that a single dream may give the dreamer a lot of information; however, a series of dreams over time will show where the dreamer needs to do additional work, where and how the dreamer's life may be headed, and how the dreamer is dealing with this knowledge that comes from a realm of wisdom that is both numinous and mysterious. In my life, spirit has become a profound partner by pointing me in directions that were not conscious to me. I have had a wonderful opportunity to work with a fellow dream worker for the past ten years. We use active imagination and amplification until the meaning of the dream becomes clearer. Often our dreams produce parallel images, feelings, and actions, which to my eye confirms the deeper psychic connection we all have with one another. I have used images to capture the impact of the dreams on my psyche, and poetry to confirm and augment the deeper level of wisdom that unfolds in our dreams. Dream interpretation can only encourage dreamers to allow themselves to become comfortable with working with their dream material, but does not necessarily show them the final answers.     

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.     

Das Traumgenerierungsmodell von Ulrich Moser und Ilka von Zeppelin

Moser and von Zeppelin developed a dream generation model. Based on an empirical scientific method for dream coding derived from this model, affect regulation processes within dreams can be reconstructed. A dream of a Canadian soldier is used to illustrate this approach and to examine its possibilities as well as limitations. Finally, this article discusses how far such a procedure can be helpful in a didactical, institutional or academic context when approaching the dream phenomenon and as a process preceding dream interpretation.     

Configurational approach to manifest dream analysis: Possible acceleration of the patient's communication in psychoanalytic psychotherapy

This paper presents an approach to dream analysis utilizing the manifest content of a number of consecutive dreams from the same patient. Following a review of the literature, it is noted that in once-a-week psychotherapy there is often very little time for exhaustive dream analysis to unravel the buried meanings within the latent dream content. Twenty categories have been established for the configurational analysis, which is applied to the analysis of the first eleven dreams of a patient in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The authors independently analyzed the patient's dreams using each of the 20 categories with high reliability, then combined their contributions. This data was then compared with the treating analyst's independent clinical observations about the twenty categories.     

Madness and Prophecy: Dreams,Texts, and the Power of Rabbinic Interpretation

To the rabbis, dreams were a serious theological challenge. While in the Hebrew Bible dreams could be prophetic and therefore a source of authority, rabbinic authority was based on textual interpretation rather than direct revelation. This article examines one rabbinic strategy for responding to this challenge: the Talmudic dream ritual of Berakhot 55b. Through this ritual the rabbis place the dreamer in the position of a supplicant. Dreaming becomes like an illness or curse rather than a revelation. Instead of telling the dream, the dreamer prays for its healing. This article argues that this ritual itself is a form of interpretation, both of the dreamer’s dream and of the biblical texts about dreaming, in which the biblical idea of revelation through dreams is retained but the dream itself is stripped of any specific prophetic meaning. Through the performative speech of this ritual the dreamer places the dangerous dream under the power of rabbinic authority.

An Egyptian Sufi Interprets His Dreams: ‘Abd al-Wahhâb al-Sha‘rânı 1493–1565

This study presents a sampling of dreams as recounted in ‘Abd al-Wahhâb al-Sha‘rânâ's autobiography, Latâ’if al-minan. Examining the methodology employed by the 16th-century Cairene sheikh in interpreting his own dreams, the study places al-Sha‘rânâ within the context of sufi and medieval Islamic traditions of dream interpretation. The examples given by al-Sha‘rânân? demonstrate that he valued dreams not for their alleged ability to portend the future but for their psychological merit as monitors of his spiritual condition.     

Das Traumgenerierungsmodell von Ulrich Moser und die Codierung von Traumprozessen

Under the conditions of sleeping, mental activity creates a psychic microworld “dream” experienced as the present, running predominantly in a pictorial and sensual way in a sequence of situations and sometimes containing verbal relations and cognitive processes. Together with Ilka von Zeppelin, Ulrich Moser has developed a model of the emergence of sleep dreams with the aim to reconstruct the dreaming process, which is normally concealed under the verbal structure of the dream report and to explain this sequence as the result of a cognitive affective regulatory process. In accordance with the theory of French, dreaming is seen as an attempt to cope in a simulative mode with unresolved neurotic conflicts and traumatic experiences. To make this process visible, the authors developed a very differentiated model-guided coding system, a form of operationalization of the “dream work” that records and describes all cognitive elements and all interactive behavior in the dream. This analysis provides the formal and structural characteristics of the dream that precede every interpretation of content or biographical meaning. In this way, dream series in a single person, as well as dreams in different groups, can be objectively studied and compared. A presentation of the dream model is followed by an introduction into the basic principles of the coding system. This dream process coding and the interpretation based on it are demonstrated on a specimen dream. This dream is Freud’s “Dream of Irma’s injection”, which he selected himself to demonstrate his method of dream interpretation in Die Traumdeutung and which was also used by Erikson to illustrate his “configurational analysis”.     

Dream appreciation group: A model of stress prevention for medical students

This paper describes a pilot study in stress prevention for medical students, utilizing Montegue Ullman's process in a dream appreciation group. Relevant literature on the use of dreams in a group is reviewed. In this model, group dynamics and interaction are not analyzed, rather the dream holds center stage. The technique of working with dreams in a group is described, and selected vignettes are presented to document the process. This study suggests that in the presence of a supportive group atmosphere, unconscious conflicts can be alleviated or resolved so as to enhance medical students' evolving personal and professional identity.This paper is based on a presentation at the thirty-first winter meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, Scottsdale, Arizona, December 11, 1987.     

FREUD'S PRIVATE MINI-MONOGRAPH ON HIS OWN DREAMS: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE CELEBRATION OF THE CENTENARY OF THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

A virtually unknown brief commentary by Freud on the characteristics of his own dreams is described and discussed. Freud's mini-monograph, discovered after some 80 years, has autobiographical, theoretical and organisational significance in the enigmatic context of the early development of psychoanalysis. Found among papers of Alfred Adler, this extraordinary document adds to our knowledge of psychoanalytic history, including the significance of dreams in the evolution of psychoanalytic thought. Freud's commentary permitted the identification of a particular dream as his own. This dream had been presented in anonymity to the fledgling Vienna Psychoanalytic Society for interpretation. The dream was later inserted, again anonymously, into The Interpretation of Dreams with Freud's own remarkable pre-oedipal interpretation. Freud's conflicted relationships with Adler and Jung are considered in historical context.     

When does a dream begin to ‘have meaning’? Linguistic constraints and significant moments in the construction of the meaning of a dream

The paper investigates the origin of the meaning of dreams starting with a discussion of psychotic dreams. The author distinguishes the dream as dream from the remembered and the narrated. A two-step dream phenomenology is proposed that both acknowledges the objectivity of the dream and traces the origin of its meaning to its translation into language. Following a review of recent neurobiological theories of dreaming, the paper focuses on certain aspects of the psychoanalytical understanding of the dream phenomenon and in particular on the interpretation of dreams from the perspective of intersubjectivity and phantasy.     

Linking psychological need experiences to daily and recurring dreams

The satisfaction of individuals’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as conceived from a self-determination theory perspective, is said to be conducive to personal growth and well-being. What has been unexamined is whether psychological need-based experiences, either their satisfaction or frustration, manifests in people’s self-reported dream themes as well as their emotional interpretation of their dreams. A cross-sectional study (N?=?200; M age?=?21.09) focusing on individuals’ recurrent dreams and a three-day diary study (N?=?110; M age?=?25.09) focusing on daily dreams indicated that individuals experiencing psychological need frustration, either more enduringly or on a day-to-day basis, reported more negative dream themes and interpreted their dreams more negatively. The contribution of psychological need satisfaction was more modest, although it related to more positive interpretation of dreams. The discussion focuses on the role of dreams in the processing and integration of psychological need-frustrating experiences.