A Way of Exploring Dreams

[rachelmanija]

I’m sure you all know that most therapists don’t usually do that much dream exploration any more, despite its prominence in Freud and hence pop culture depictions of therapy

Comments

[wordsofastory]

This is really interesting! I've never heard of such a process (I mean, not that I'm a therapist or anything), and I find the ideas pretty fascinating.

[pameladean]

This is fascinating. I am wondering whether a similar process might unblock stuck creativity.

P.

[rachelmanija]

I wouldn't be surprised if it did. It has the feel of a creative process.

[pameladean]

Exactly; and that repeated zooming-in just sounds as if it could be very illuminating for all sorts of different things in addition to dreams, but perhaps especially art.

P.

[bummble]

Wow, interesting!

I like to do something similar, only instead of painting I will pick out tarot cards that fit the image/feel/situation.

(and not necessarily for dreams, just generally stuff that bothers me, makes me anxious etc - whatever gives me the 4 am-sies...)

[rachelmanija]

Oh, that's interesting! I bet you could also use my method with collage, which would be a bit more similar to yours.

[egelantier]

thank you! this is pretty fascinating; i love the 'blowing up' direction, and the correlational association painting, and the way you distance them from it in the end. i might try it one day...

in gestalt dreamwork is done by identifying a key moment and then talking 'from the role' of every character and detail in this moment (the girl, the wolf, the road, the forest around, the sun, et cetera) that feels relevant; in psychodrama, you recreate the dream with auxiliary egos, assigning all the characters and setting details, and then act it out or step into the mirror and look at it, and go wherever it takes you. in one-on-one therapy generally i just talk about prevalent themes (there's a lot of sieges happening in your dream, but your siegers are usually ambivalent and not fully menacing; what could it be about?).