Presented by: Christian Roesler, PhD
Dreams have been used in psychotherapy since Freud’s publication, The Interpretation of Dreams. First, the prominent dream interpretation theories of Freud and Jung are presented in comparison, as well as the resulting therapeutic approach. These concepts are then compared with the results of empirical dream research, which has developed since the discovery of REM sleep in the 1950s. An important finding here is that the central assumptions of Freudian dream theory need to be reconsidered, while many elements of Jung’s understanding of dreams are supported. The results of this research have also led to further development of the concepts of psychotherapeutic work with dreams within psychodynamic schools, which today can be formulated as a general psychodynamic model of dream work. In addition, there is now comprehensive clinical dream research in the context of various therapeutic schools. In summary, it can be said that it has now been convincingly proven that dreams have meaning, are related to problems in the dreamer’s waking life, that they deal with these problems in a targeted manner, and that the use of dreams in psychotherapy is helpful and effective. The overview of clinical dream research is rounded off with an overview of the results of the lecturer’s research program Structural Dream Analysis, in which the close connection between the client’s unconscious psychological issues, conflicts, and complexes, the course of psychotherapy, and the structure and symbolism of dreams could be demonstrated. This is illustrated by example cases with very large dream series (over 1000 dreams). It has been demonstrated here that dream series from psychotherapy follow a typical phase model and that typical motifs actually appear at the phase transitions (which can also be understood as turning points). Overall, it can be said that working with dreams in psychotherapy today enjoys broad scientific support, and that these findings can be used to derive a coherent, practice-oriented concept for working with dreams in psychotherapy.
CE
