Dreams in psychotherapy

Many therapists, trained in the psychoanalytic tradition, have regarded dreams as a "royal road" to the unconscious mind. Much time has been spent in the clever and creative analysis of the dreams of patients. Patient dreams are said to be the production of some inner unconscious and highly creative voice, whose stories and creations cannot be understood by the dreamer but which seem to be couched in language understandable by the therapist.

Interestingly enough, the dreams seem to be tailored to the therapy. For instance, the patients of Jungian analyists have dreams full of Jungian symbols; patients of Freudian analysts have Freudian dreams, and so on. It appears that the dream is a communication specifically aimed at and couched in the specific language most meaningful to the receiver/analyst. From whom is the meaning concealed? The patient himself. So the patient has found a way to provide information to the therapist without having to understand it him(her)self.

It's easier to understand a dream as a somewhat dishonest form of communication in which the sender does not have to recognize nor take responsibility for the content. Such deception results in the therapist knowing more about the patient than the patient knows, and the therapist is thus cast in the expert/parental mode in relationship to the therapist.

Transcripts of early sessions of dream-oriented psychotherapy leave little doubt that the therapist can eaily train the patient to speak the therapist's professional language. Patients then become extraordinarily able to express themselves without having to recognize what it is they are expressing, leaving the therapist to translate for them.

How is the patient benefitted by this indirect form of communication? By keeping the dream symbolic and indirect, the patient is in a position to deny responsibility and ownership of the content of the dream. The all-knowing therapist (like the Sibyl of Greek times) can explain the content, unscrew the inscrutable, and have his/her position of authority confirmed.

I think it better to discourage the recounting of dreams in a therapy session. The time is better spent developing a relationship in which patients can become comfortable with their own inner life and with the therapist, enough, at least, to be able to tell their secrets more openly. Honesty and directness are attainable goals, and they bring lasting benefits of increasing self-honesty to the patient. In a good therapeutic relationship, there should be no areas that are too uncomfortable to be discussed.