A questionnaire about working with dreams was given to 95 clients in ongoing psychotherapy. Results indicated that clients who discussed dreams in therapy (68%) had more positive attitudes toward dreams, higher dream recall, and more therapist encouragement for talking about dreams than clients who did not. Clients reported that therapists used more exploratory than insight or action dream-related activities. The outcome of the dream session was positively related to the therapists' encouragement of dream work and dream-related activities used. Clients who had not discussed dreams in therapy indicated that they had not because there was not enough time in sessions to work on dreams or it had never occurred to them to talk about their dreams in therapy.
In this study, 49 public school mental health practitioners (school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers) completed a survey about working with students' dreams. The majority of these practitioners reported having at least one student bring up dreams during counseling, more frequently with troubling dreams and nightmares or when coping with grief. Results showed that practitioners were less likely to talk about dreams with students who had been identified with an adjustment disorder, psychosis, or eating disorder; those who were oppositional or ill; and those who struggled with substance abuse problems. Although most practitioners did not feel competent working with children's dreams and reported minimal training in dream work, they were interested in learning more about children's dreams and potential uses of dream work in supportive counseling.
The authors suggest that focusing on dreams in counseling may be a useful framework to explore clients' spiritual values and beliefs. Because little is known about how spirituality and dream work are integrated in practice, the purpose of this article is to document how some counselors and clients work on spirituality and dreams. Responses of clients who focused on dreams from a spiritual perspective are described and discussed. Relevant clinical issues that counselors may encounter are identified. Recommendations are made for counselors who wish to integrate spirituality and dream work in counseling.
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