Keeping a dream journal is one way to engage in meaningful dream work. It allows you to start to pick up on patterns and themes that may keep recurring in your dreams. Patterns you would not have realized on there without a record to look back on. Writing or typing out your dream also helps with making unconscious material conscious.
Smart Therapy’s approach in working with dreams in the context of improving mental health is based on a couple assumptions that fall into the psychodynamic and depth therapy realm:
(1) We have an unconscious aka subconscious, and “making conscious what is unconscious” can greatly help in relieving individuals of symptoms related to mental health conditions
(2) Dreams contain a lot of material from the unconscious that can give us insight into our feelings, needs, and experiences, as well as point to personal strengths and internal resources to turn to
Dream work involves the client bringing a dream to the session to explore, and the therapist and client together exploring the meaningful content in the dream.
The patient sharing their dream with the therapist has been shown to help:
Studies suggest that sessions where dream work occurs is perceived to be a higher quality session on the part of the experience of the client.
Research has also suggested dream work can help with the following:
I integrate these dream analysis therapy approaches:
Try Dream Revealing™
Book your first therapy session and we can explore how working with dreams can support your therapeutic and healing goals.