Dream analysis is central to psychoanalysis. It is the art of understanding how the unconscious speaks to one in the language of symbols. Some think that the symbols in dreams are universal. Though this may be part of what goes on in dreams, the school in which I am trained feels that what is equally true, is that one also creates, borrows and uses symbols that emerge out of, and are relevant to, one’s particular life story.

Read More

The symbols in our dreams both reveal and conceal feelings and thoughts. There can be good reasons for this. Dreams allow one to slowly recognize what it is that one might otherwise choose to ignore or deny. The indirect ways in which dreams “talk” to one helps the dreamer to prepare to integrate thoughts and feelings that might have been prohibited for some reason.

In order to understand dreams, the analyst needs to get to know the dreamer well enough to help her/him to “read” the dreams. Within the therapeutic relationship the analyst is able to facilitate the patient’s translation of the symbols in her/his dreams into every day language that is relevant to the dreamer.