“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul…”
— Carl Jung
Working with Dreams in Therapy: Dreaming is a phenomenon of nature. Each of us dream every night, though many unconsciously choose not to remember their dreams. The more we consciously choose to pay attention to our dreams, the more we begin to remember them. Clients find that working with dreams in therapy increases their conscious awareness.
Jung believed that although the dream spoke in images, it showed the psyche as it is. For Jung the dream is a picture of the psychological situation of the individual in his waking state:
“Dreams are impartial, spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche, outside the control of the will. They are pure nature; they show us the unvarnished, natural truth, and are therefore fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse.” – G. Jung (CW 10 317)
To help remember dreams, keep paper and pen, or your cell phone next to your bed and make or record notes as soon as you wake up. Keeping a dream journal can be helpful because it allows you to track your dreams over time. It’s also useful in our work together if you contemplate or write about the events going on in your life at the time of each dream.
As we begin to try to interpret your dreams together in session, we will slowly reflect on the images and their meaning for you. In this way, we will create a unique dialogue between the conscious and the unconscious parts of your psyche that allow new images and insights as they arise within you. This is invaluable material that will guide and assist your therapeutic process.
“The psyche is the starting point of all human experience, and all the knowledge we have gained eventually leads back to it.” — Carl Jung