What I’ve Learned From Working with Clients’ Dreams: Unlocking the Unconscious
Dreams are an endless source of fascination and an almost miraculous part of the human experience. Some baffle us, others inspire us, and still others scare us. Each one stands out as a puzzle in our waking mind, evoking our deepest curiosity.
However, despite our innate curiosity, dreams seemingly get little therapeutic attention. Compared to other interventions utilized in a modern mental health clinic, dream interpretation plays a smaller role in the average practice. In case conceptualizations for psychotherapy services, we easily find sections like ‘physical activity’ and ‘social history.’ Rarely do we find a section titled ‘dream-life.’
Despite that, my experience providing comprehensive anxiety and depression counseling has convinced me that working with dreams is a rich, meaningful pursuit. It is an incredibly valuable addition to a clinician's core therapy skills. Whether a client is striving for better mental wellness or navigating complex life transitions, here are some lessons I’ve learned from working with clients’ dreams.
Prompting is Rarely Necessary
Dreams are an intimate part of our lives, and we should approach them carefully. We’re essentially asking a person to share the private visions and sensations of their most secluded hours. Best not to be intrusive.
Fortunately, I’ve found that most clients will offer their dreams organically. I’ve noticed two general occasions when this happens:
At the beginning of the session (“A couple days ago I had this dream, and I have to tell you about it…”)
In response to something brought up during the session (“Actually, that reminds me of a dream I had recently…”)
There’s an elegance to letting the client bring up their dreams spontaneously. A self-selection process occurs, leading them to offer dreams most relevant to their current waking struggles. For instance, an undergraduate in therapy for college students might share a dream about failing a test, or a client in therapy for procrastination might dream of being physically paralyzed while a clock ticks down.
However, if we do want to ask, inquiring about sleep serves as an effective gateway. Clients who are feeling overwhelmed often suffer from insomnia or vivid stress dreams. Assessing sleep naturally opens the door to discussing mental fatigue recovery and chronic stress treatment, leading right into their dream life.
An Eclectic Approach is Best
During my training in skill building therapy and advanced psychological techniques, I came across two major theories of dream interpretation: the psychoanalytic theory and the Gestalt theory. I try to use them both flexibly.
The Psychoanalytic Theory
Introduced by Sigmund Freud, this theory has two basic tenets:
The appearance of a dream (its ‘manifest content’) is only a disguise for its true meaning (the ‘latent content’).
This disguised meaning is found by having the client free-associate to the manifest content.
To use an analogy, the psychoanalytic interpreter treats the dream as a curtain. Using the client’s spontaneous associations, the therapist pulls back the curtain. For example, a business owner in therapy for entrepreneurs might dream of wearing a heavy mask. Through free association, we uncover feelings of professional inadequacy, naturally bridging the gap into imposter syndrome therapy.
The Gestalt Theory
Introduced by Fredrick Perls, Gestalt theory does not view the dream as a disguise, but as a fragmented presentation of the client’s existential situation. The goal is to help the client recognize and assimilate these fragmented parts.
In this process, the client is prompted to enact the ‘scripts’ played by each dream element. Perls would prompt this perspective-taking with directions like:
“Be the lake. And lake, tell me your story.”
“Let’s have these two rugs have an encounter.”
This technique is incredibly useful for interpersonal issues. Enacting a dialogue between two dream figures often mirrors the work we do in relationship therapy and couples counseling. When we are helping couples conflict, we teach them to hear each other's perspectives. Interestingly, applying Gestalt dream work teaches an individual internal communication skills for couples—helping disparate parts of their own psyche communicate. This can even be adapted for partners participating in high conflict couples therapy by having them explore shared themes in their dreams.
Putting Them Together
At first glance, treating a dream as a code (psychoanalytic) versus a call to integration (Gestalt) looks very different. However, Perls advised:
“No interpretation. You know everything — you know much more than I do, and all my interpretations only would mislead you. It’s simply a question of uncovering your true self.”
Whether we use free-association or integration, the goal is the same: helping the client discover something new. Using these tools and trusting the client's intuition is the most productive way to explore dreams.
When a client's mind is racing with associations, they often need help with overthinking. As an overthinking specialist, I encourage clients to look at their dreams using detached mindfulness. Just as we practice in meditation workshops and relaxation techniques therapy, observing the dream without judgment is a profound form of therapy for overthinking.
The Interpretation Should Be Collaborative
Many clients believe that once they’ve narrated a dream, we immediately understand it completely. We must resist the temptation to act as the all-knowing guru. Instead, the meaning should be discovered collaboratively.
To develop this tone, I preface dream-work with something like:
“Some people believe dreams can teach us about ourselves. In my experience, I’ve come to believe this is true. If it’s alright with you, I’d like us to explore this dream to see if it brings up anything useful. What do you think?”
This empowers the client to stop at any time, reinforcing collaboration. It serves as a gentle overwhelm therapy technique, ensuring the client feels safe pacing the exploration.
Incorporating Dreams for Holistic Healing
Exploring dreams has been a vital part of my work. Dreams are a rich gateway into conscious and unconscious conflicts. Engaging with them is an inherently collaborative process that serves as powerful emotional resilience training, deepening the therapeutic bond.
Whether you are providing individual care or the kind of nuanced couples therapy michigan residents trust, gaining skills in working with dreams will greatly improve your practice. I hope it brings as much insight to your sessions as it has to mine.