Dream Work: A Therapeutic Analysis

As the author of the text points out Dream work is not therapy but is therapeutic. In therapy there is a hierarchical relationship between the therapist and the client. The client looks more at the therapist as an authority and seeks answers from her. In Dream work there is more of a collaborative relationship when the client shares responsibility with the leader and the group. The author of the text refers to this as a "flat process" (p. 230). The authority or control never leaves the dreamers hands. Using this format, Dream working with clients offers several opportunities. Some of these are that it can reduce defensiveness on the part of the client/dreamer. I can use this process to integrate what I know about the client/dreamer

The potential is in using dream work to expand my self-knowledge and as an effective technique in counseling. One important consideration as discussed in the article by Schredl, Bohusch, Kahl, Mader, & Somesan (2000) and the text (Ullman, p. 239, 2006) a limitation is the lack of empirical studies and an overall theoretical formulation of the human psyche. In my future, and I intend to use dreamwork as a technique, it will be important for me to continue working on my personal dreams. In the article by Schredle, et al. (p. 1, 2000) they reported “significant relationship was found between the frequency of the therapists' working on their own dreams and frequency of work on dreams in therapy” (Ullman,

Dream work facilitates emotional healing. This healing occurs whenever a dreamer is honest in a social setting, such as a dream group. Mutual sharing and social support work together to facilitate the honesty that is needed to take a fresh look at the difficulties and possibilities inherent in the dreamer’s life. Dream work allows for the amplification of current problems along with their connection with relevant experiences that have occurred in the dreamers past. It allows for the dreamer to honestly confront both their strength and weaknesses. As the dreamer shares her dream with the group, she is able to locate her current underlying tensions and explore its ramifications as more aspects become visible in her dreams metaphors and associations. Secrets begin to appear and in a social context no longer triggering defense mechanisms. Dream works creates the conditions needed for the self-healing that is alive in all of us, and is only waiting upon the social interaction needed for it to naturally occur. Dream work allows for our innate creativity to flow freely and unhampered. However limited or distorted or waking lives may be, we have the ability while dreaming to inventively create an interaction between our limitations and distortions and the healthy aspects of our psyches (page 228, Ullman, 2006). Dreaming may be one of the last places where we can experience the creative impulses that lie within each of us. Dream work gives