Discover the benefits of incorporating dream work into your practice!
This course is designed to give clinicians a basic approach for working with clients' dreams from primarily a Jungian perspective. This seminar will begin with a brief examination of the current neuroscientific findings that dreams play a natural and necessary role in maintaining a healthy psychological equilibrium. We will consider the importance of symbol formation in dreams before moving on to examine, step by step, the attitude one brings, the questions one asks, the nuances one notices, and the attention that must be paid to the intersection between a client's dreams and his or her current life situation. After exploring a few common dream motifs and symbols, we will end by discussing how therapists can deepen their own self-knowledge and gain insight into counter-transference reactions when they attend to their own dreams.

Course Content

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE SCIENCE OF DREAMING

• Dreaming is universal, natural, and therapeutic
• Dreaming consolidates memories and regulates strong emotions/traumas
• Dreaming influences both the body’s and psyche’s selfregulatory nature

THE NATURE OF THE SYMBOL AND THINKING SYMBOLICALLY

• Symbols as autonomous, dynamic, and multi-faceted
• The spontaneous therapeutic value of symbols
• Engaging symbolic material with a playful, intuitive approach

STEPS IN INTERPRETING A DREAM

• Paying particular attention to the details contained in the dream
• Explore the dreamer’s personal associations, and then widen the circle to include/reflect archetypal motifs
• Reflect on how the dream may compensate the dreamer’s conscious attitude

COMMON DREAM MOTIFS AND SYMBOLS

• Nightmares: being pursued by an assailant
• Driving or riding in a vehicle
• Animals

IMPORTANCE OF THERAPIST WORKING WITH ONE’S OWN DREAMS