It’s Time to Bring Dreamwork Back Into Therapy

In my last post, I provided a brief, broad overview of some of the most prominent theoretical frameworks about dreams since the late 19th century, beginning with Freud and Jung, moving on to the modern era with the advent of modern dream research, and the eventual synthesis between the former and the latter. While theories about dreams are fascinating intellectually, they are intended to serve as the foundation for real-life application and practice, which is what we will begin exploring in this post. We’ll start by reviewing some links between modern dream research and Freud and Jung, particularly Jung, and how the research validates the therapeutic importance they placed on dreams. We’ll then look at how dreams stopped becoming a prominent part of psychotherapy, generally speaking, and make an evidence-based case for why dreamwork should be reintegrated into therapy.

The Neuroscientific Support for Dreamwork

Freud believed that dreams were, predominantly, a form of wish fulfillment and that their function was to protect sleep by obscuring the true meanings of repressed, often taboo desires so that they don’t disturb the dreamer into waking. In contrast, Jung saw the function of dreams as essentially being one of revealing rather than obscuring, and that what often gets revealed are the parts of one’s psyche that need to be integrated into the self for more wholeness or what Jung called individuation.

Contemporary empirical research has supported some of Freud’s ideas such as dreams being linked to unconscious desires and wish fulfillment.¹ However, it has questioned other ideas, including his belief that dreams serve a concealing role.² Similarly, the research supports many, though not all, of Jung’s theories such as his conviction that dreams reveal rather than conceal information.³ Research has confirmed Jung’s theory that dreams provide a picture of the current situation of the psyche and that they express aspects of one’s psyche that have not yet been integrated into the personality and are therefore causing internal conflict.⁴

For example, many patients dream about performing an aggressive or violent act. Often, a patient who feels ashamed or worried about this imagery will tell me they are "not a violent person" or "would not dream of hurting someone in real life." So why, they ask, are they dreaming about it? The aggressive or violent act in the dream could reveal the person's struggles to have a healthy relationship with normal aggression and reflect their need to bring more of this energy into their life in a healthier way. This idea illustrates Jung's concept of "compensation." That is, wherever one's psyche is out of balance — in this example, with aggression — the dream compensates for what is deficient or out of balance in one's waking life by producing this imagery and, thereby, draws attention to this part of their psyche and the deficient, excessive, or imbalanced quality which can be explored in treatment.

How Psychotherapy Lost Its Dreams

Given Freud and Jung’s belief in the psychological importance of dreams, dreamwork was a regular part of psychoanalysis in its early years. Since the development of psychotherapy is intertwined with psychoanalysis, it used to incorporate dreamwork quite regularly but over time this has diminished. This divergence coincided with the development of modern psychological research and therapeutic approaches that emphasized brevity, symptom management, and solutions over the more time-consuming and complex methods of therapy and analysis that accent presence, engagement, and relationship. At the time, it was widely perceived that dreamwork lacked an empirical basis, a perception which largely persists today. Most therapists do not typically use dreams in their work and have limited education and training about dreams and methods of dreamwork.

However, it is not true that dreamwork lacks an empirical basis. We have a significant body of research showing that dreams are psychologically meaningful, provide accurate reflections of the dreamers’ psyche, and can be a source of valuable information that may be applied to personal growth and creative problem-solving.⁵ Research shows which specific methods of working with dreams are effective and conducive to the goals of therapy, which further supports its use in contemporary practice, leading to a growing push to reincorporate dreamwork into therapy.

The Clinical Case for Working With Dreams

Simply knowing that dreams are indeed meaningful may not incentivize the field to reintegrate dreamwork. This is where the research specifically showing dreamwork is a powerful and beneficial tool for therapy may be useful.

In a 2004 review of studies on this topic, Nicholas Pesant and Antonio Zadra found that when therapists conduct dreamwork with their clients, it raises their clients’ level of self-awareness and also boosts their commitment to therapy (being committed to the process of therapy is one of the most important factors for its success).⁶ In a different review of the research in 2005, Erin M. Eudell-Simmons and Mark J. Hilsenroth corroborated Pesant and Zadra’s findings, but they also found that dreamwork was an effective way to track the client’s progress and provide valuable information about the client to the therapist, especially if the client is unable or unwilling to reveal that information through ordinary, non-dreamwork interaction.⁷ Eudell-Simmons and Hilsenroth conclude that dreamwork doesn’t necessarily replace other interventions or forms of therapy but can be another highly beneficial tool to incorporate in the therapeutic process. And finally, in a 2004 study, Clara Hill found that many therapy clients enjoyed and benefited from dreamwork even more than other forms of therapy.⁸

Dreamwork Within or Outside of Therapy?

Knowing that research supports the effectiveness of dreamwork, people may question if it should be practiced as part of their therapy or on their own. The answer is that it depends. Both approaches are effective and beneficial but are vastly different experiences. Research suggests that participants benefited even more when the dreamwork was facilitated by a therapist. The vast majority of clients also preferred therapist-guided dreamwork sessions over self-guided ones.⁹ Pursuing therapy or analysis with a therapist who is versed in the language of dreams and well-trained in dreamwork can significantly enhance, improve and deepen your therapeutic work.

As mentioned earlier, the use of dreamwork in modern therapy is more limited. Clients who want to integrate dreamwork may want to bring up the subject with their therapists and see what kind of training they have undergone, if any, and how experienced they are in working with dreams. Their answer may help you decide if you wish to change your therapist.

Dreaming Essential Reads

Nightmares No More

Are You Dreaming Right Now?

If your therapist has had enough training and experience to do effective dreamwork, what approaches are optimal? Fortunately, research and clinical data provide illuminating answers which we will explore next time.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.