Little attention has been given to dreamwork in the transactional analysis literature, yet dreams can be powerful symbolic statements of a client's emotional processes and can serve as clear indicators of the direction psychotherapy might usefully take. This is particularly true of nightmares, which can be seen as the psyche's equivalent to physical pain in the body. Nightmares are often rooted in historical trauma, neglect, or abuse, compounded by Child survival decisions, but they also arise directly out of traumatic experience in adult life. This article contends that combining transactional analysis and simple action methods adapted from psychodrama can be effective in empowering clients to make redecisions; to break the cycle of rackets, games, and script beliefs; and to reduce repetitive posttrauma nightmares. The transactional analysis literature on dreams is briefly reviewed, and several nightmares are described using transactional analysis concepts and a practical dreamwork process. Connections are made to Berne's (1947/1971) concept of physis and James's (James & James, 1992) concept of the inner core.

Berne (1947) wrote a chapter on “Dreams and the Unconscious” in his first book, preserved that chapter through two revisions spanning 20 years, and was still mentioning dreams in his final book, especially as a source of insight into script patterns. The author describes a memorable example of working with a 94-year-old man whose script apparently denied death and shows how the dreams and nightmares from his unconscious mind brought the underlying issues to attention and eventually provided resolution of the impasse.

This article describes how dreams can be used in personal growth and therapy, not only to help you clarify issues, but also to facilitate change. Dreams provide metaphors that show how you experience your world, both inwardly and outwardly. They may reflect your behavior patterns, identify script issues, show the effects of trauma, warn you of danger, or inspire you with symbolic visions. They are produced on a kind of “inner stage,” giving you the opportunity to consider patterns in your life and practice new decisions. Dreams emerge from the creative inner core of the psyche, which some would call the soul or spirit.

Most of our dreams are symbolic pictorial representations of our response to current issues in our lives, produced by the inner self on the “inner screen” of the mind. The author posits that recurring dreams identify a particular script issue that continues unresolved in the dreamer's life until new insight or wisdom, or a change in the environment, enables the dreamer to change the script. The author has worked with many recurring dreams and nightmares to free the dreamer from lingering script decisions. After a brief review of the literature, an example is offered.

This article describes a single session of dreamwork with a 13-year-old boy using transactional analysis and some Jungian theory along with action methods. The client presented a dream that had frightened him, worked for an hour to make sense of it, left with insight into an inner conflict, and changed his behavior accordingly.