The Interpretation of Dreams
Since the publication of Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, dream interpretation has been a standard technique often used in psychotherapy. However, empirical studies about the frequency of working on dreams in therapy are lacking.
Research findings indicate that dreams were often used in therapy, especially in psychoanalysis. In addition, a significant relationship was found between the frequency of the therapists’ working on their own dreams and frequency of work on dreams in therapy. Because work on dreams was rated as beneficial for the clients, further studies investigating the effectiveness and the process of working on dreams will be of interest.
Psychoanalysts Compared With Humanistic and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists
As expected, marked differences were detected between psychoanalysts and humanistic and cognitive-behavioral therapists. Psychoanalysts use dreams more often in therapy, regard working on dreams as more beneficial, and report a more pronounced enhancement of dream recall in their patients. Interestingly, no difference was found regarding the percentage of clients who initiate dream work. Likewise, the differences in the theoretical foundations were as expected; that is, psychoanalysts relied most often on Freudian dream theory.
Many of the humanistic and cognitive-behavioral therapists were familiar with Jungian approaches, although they often mentioned “other” (Gendlin, Perls, etc.). Psychoanalysts have read more literature about dreams and have more often worked personally with their dreams; however, no difference in dream recall frequency emerged.
Correlations Between Therapist Variables and the Use of Dreams in Therapy
Therapists’ own dream recall frequency was not related to the amount of work on dreams in their therapeutic sessions or the estimate of the benefit of working on dreams. On the other hand, the frequency of personal working on dreams was strongly related to the use of dreams in therapy; that is, therapists who worked with their own dreams also used dreams more often, valued the beneficial effect of working on dreams, and reported more pronounced enhancement of dream recall in their clients.
Although the correlation coefficients were larger for the total sample, most correlations of the two subgroups were comparable. No relationship was found between frequency of therapists’ personal work on dreams and the percentage of clients who initiated or rejected working on dreams.
DISCUSSION
The findings of the present study clearly indicate that working on dreams still plays an important role in psychotherapy, particularly in psychoanalysis, and contributes considerably to treatment success. However, therapists without psychoanalytic training used dreams much less often than psychoanalysts.
In view of the response rate of 60.3% (although this is considerably higher than that of Keller et al.13) and the sample size of 79 respondents, the findings should be considered preliminary. A larger sample would permit more detailed analysis of the different therapeutic schools (e.g., psychoanalysts, psychoanalysts with additional cognitive-behavioral training, psychoanalysts with additional training in client-centered therapy, Gestalt therapists).
In addition, the generalizability is restricted because only psychotherapists in private practice in two German cities were included. Although in Germany psychotherapeutic treatment of outpatients is conducted mainly by this group, future studies could also include therapists working in different institutions, such as psychiatric or psychosomatic clinics and mental health centers. In addition, a comparison between different countries could be very interesting. As in Keller et al., work on dreams was most often initiated by the client, but a difference between psychoanalysts and the rest of the group was not detected. In view of the beneficial effect of work on dreams, it will be very interesting to carry out studies in which clients will be stimulated to work with their dreams in order to compare their outcome with that of a control group with less or no working on dreams.
The result that therapists who worked on dreams with their clients reported an increase in clients’ dream recall frequency fits with findings of previous studies that therapeutic working on dreams enhances dream recall. The more pronounced enhancement of dream recall in the psychoanalytic group may be explained by the more intense use of dreams in that therapeutic school.
As expected, the theoretical basis of the psychoanalysts was Freudian dream theory. On the other hand, quite a few non-psychoanalysts were familiar with the Jungian approach. In our study, as in Keller et al.,
Adler played a minor role as dream theorist. Several other authors such as Eugene Gendlin and Frederick Perls were mentioned by the humanistic therapists, but the frequency was clearly below that of the psychoanalysts Freud and Jung. This result indicates that “modern” theorists are seldom the basis for working on dreams in private practice in Germany. Psychoanalysts reported more intense reading of literature on dreams and had more experiences in personal working on dreams. This can be interpreted as reflecting the more important role of dream interpretation in psychoanalytic training. However, work on dreams was also a component of the training for other therapies.
Interestingly, no difference in dream recall frequency between psychoanalysts and humanistic and cognitive-behavioral therapists was found; one might have expected that therapists who often work with dreams in their business would recall their dreams more often. Correlations between the therapist’s dream recall frequency and the use of dreams in therapy were also nonsignificant. On the other hand, the frequency of personal work on dreams was related to frequency of the use of dreams in therapy, and the beneficial effect of working on dreams was rated high. These findings confirm the observations of Greenson and Altman that personal experience with working on dreams seems to be crucial for the effective use of dreams in the therapeutic setting.
To summarize, working on dreams is still an important therapeutic technique that is frequently used, especially by psychoanalysts. The estimated contribution to treatment success is high: therapists reported that the majority of the clients who work with their dreams have benefited from this technique.