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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 18 of 18. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
How does your therapist deal with dreams? Do you find s/he is very interested in them? Do you have long discussion about them?
And most importantly, do you feel that working with dreams is beneficial, more or less beneficial than other topics? The same?Dreams can lead to really deep stuff with my T, he loves dreams, and I can often express things in dreams I can't express in a waking state.
Do tell. All thoughts most welcome.
Shorte
PS as for termination, we're going to meet every two weeks for a while, then every three, then once a month - all at my pace. My eyes tear just writing it here.
Posted by daisym on July 27, 2004, at 1:48:18
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
We talk about my dreams a lot. Sometimes we can follow a thread, sometimes not. What surprises me most is when I see the same thing over and over in many different dreams. My biggest fear is finally overwhelming my therapist, so this shows up time and time again.
Recently I've been dreaming about therapy a lot, it's me telling my therapist about some csa stuff, then I dream the abuse again and then I'm working it through with him. But in my dreams he doesn't respond well, or he disappears, or he takes someone else's side. *sigh* he tells me that it is my gatekeeper/protector being the therapist in my dreams, trying to show me why I need to NOT trust him.
Since I have so many dreams about falling, my Therapist keeps threatening to teach me how to dream-fly == with or without wings, my choice!
Posted by vwoolf on July 27, 2004, at 4:01:13
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by daisym on July 27, 2004, at 1:48:18
I wish I could dream-fly. When you learn, won't you tell me how.
I dream very vividly, but never about csa stuff. A lot of animals and medieval cities. My Pdoc, a Jungian, is very interested and we always spend a lot of time pondering the dreams. My therapist, a Freudian, barely wants to touch on them, which I find very frustrating. I find so much insight in my dreams.
Posted by lookdownfish on July 27, 2004, at 5:08:05
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
My T is of the psychoanalytic persuasion and loves to hear dreams. I think she prefers dreams to the day to day stuff, which admittedly can be a bit dull. We don't discuss dreams every session, but occasionally a couple of dreams I had in the week can be the whole focus of a session. I always discuss dreams that involve her, as they seem to be crucial to how the therapy is going.
I personally find working through dreams to be at least as beneficial as any other discussion. It sometimes gets to some feelings you are just not aware of. And sometimes helps you express something difficult. For example, I recently dreamt I was searching for a new therapist and it enabled us to talk about whether I would like a different therapist or not; I would not otherwise have been able to talk about this for fear of upsetting her, but because it was in a dream, it seemed ok.
The other night, I dreamt she was dead, murdered with her throat slit, but then she came alive again. I'm on a long break at the moment, so I can't talk to her about it, but I guess it's about my fear of losing her. I'm sure she will be none too pleased to hear about this one.
Posted by Klokka on July 27, 2004, at 7:50:27
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
I don't think I've ever talked about dreams with my pdoc. He asked about them a few times in the beginning, but hasn't since. I get the sense that he'd be interested in working with dreams, but it hasn't happened because the few I felt were important enough to remember came at times where I felt like there were more pressing things to discuss.
Posted by Raindancer on July 27, 2004, at 7:54:30
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist » shortelise, posted by lookdownfish on July 27, 2004, at 5:08:05
Posted by gardenergirl on July 27, 2004, at 9:12:00
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by Klokka on July 27, 2004, at 7:50:27
I've talked about dreams a couple of times and have found it to be very helpful, although kind of difficult. My T always wants to know what the dream makes me think of. He wants me to free associate to it. The first time I had this really odd experience...I was free associating and going with it, and suddenly, I just felt like a steel wall came down in my mind and the associating just stopped. Just like that. I still wonder what's behind that wall.
My T also says there are two types of interpretations that can be made from dream work. One is the supportive interpretation. This one usually is based on the more obvious symbols and content and feels relieving to hear. I like those! The other type is the more insight-oriented interpretation. He tends to arrive at these based on the free associating I do. This usually can be more difficult to hear and can contain more primitive issues and content. I remember that same session when the "wall came down" he told me this, and I immediately said "not going there!" about the insight oriented interpretation. But over the week I thought about it a lot, and managed to come to it myself. The next session I told him what I thought and he agreed that's what he had been thinking.
Funny how you have to be "ready" to come to an insight. I'm glad he was able to respect that wall.
And Klokka, I've had dreams I intended to talk about before, but then something else came up by the time I had my session. I always intend to come back to it, but then it just seems to get away from me.
Take care,
gg
Posted by lookdownfish on July 27, 2004, at 10:33:38
In reply to Hi, lookdown! Good to see you again. (nm) » lookdownfish, posted by Raindancer on July 27, 2004, at 7:54:30
Posted by Miss Honeychurch on July 27, 2004, at 10:59:35
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
My T LOVES dreams. If I bring in a dream, we will spend all session on it. He maps them out and draws when I'm recounting them.
We have gotten to some very interesting stuff with my dreams. I find them absolutely invaluable and essential to my therapy.
Posted by pegasus on July 27, 2004, at 13:29:25
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
My new T is somewhat Jungian and therefore really into dreams. If I bring one up, she gets out her pad and starts writing. She always writes the whole thing down. Then we talk about it. She's pretty good at it.
Unfortunately, I don't usually remember my dreams by the time I get to therapy. Just a couple of times so far.
My old T seemed more ambivalent about dreams. He never really mentioned them on his own, but he seemed interested when I brought them up. I did tell him about a couple of dreams I had that involved him. In one I trashed his office, and it felt really good, even when he went to go call the police. Sometimes I look back on it and think it's a shame that I never really did trash his office. For example, it might have been appropriate during the session in which he told me he was moving away. ;)
pegasus
Posted by vwoolf on July 27, 2004, at 14:39:38
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by pegasus on July 27, 2004, at 13:29:25
I've started keeping a notepad handy at all times - important-feeling thoughts and phrases keep coming to me and I note them down - and it's great for remembering dreams, which otherwise fade so quickly. By midmorning they are usually gone unless you do.
Posted by Joslynn on July 27, 2004, at 14:44:20
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by vwoolf on July 27, 2004, at 14:39:38
You can also get a pen with a light on top (you twist the pen to make the cap light up). That way, you can just jot down the dreams with your lighted pen and not even have to turn on a light.
Posted by Klokka on July 29, 2004, at 17:02:52
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by Klokka on July 27, 2004, at 7:50:27
Go figure, he asked me about them today and suggested I keep track of any dreams I have while he's on vacation. I think it was because we discussed a few things today for which there didn't seem to be an explanation. It seems daunting, though, because he mentioned wanting to keep track of my dreams consistently for a while - as though our sessions don't feel rushed enough as is!
Posted by shortelise on July 29, 2004, at 20:01:18
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by Klokka on July 29, 2004, at 17:02:52
For as long as I can remember I have kept a blank book by my bed and have written down dreams - not all of them, not all the time, just once in a while, or by spurt.
When I started seeing this psychiatrist, he suggested that some of his patients find it useful to keep a journal, so I have done this, and in it also write my dreads (Oops! Is a slip of the finger on the computer a Freudian slip? Or would it be called, maybe ... a Gatesian slip? Hm, the 'M' is nowhere near the 'D'.) I mean DREAMS.
Looking back through these books of dreams, and at the dreams I have had while in therapy, is a different sort of map of the past, unlike photos or journals. I like it.
Shorte
Posted by morning*bell on July 29, 2004, at 20:05:31
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
hello all - new here...
My therapist is great with dreams when i bring them up, and she is incredibly adept at deciphering them and making them applicable to my real life. she never asks directly though, she leaves it up to me to bring up dreams that I have.
morning*bell
Posted by Dinah on July 30, 2004, at 18:50:20
In reply to Dreams and your Therapist, posted by shortelise on July 27, 2004, at 0:24:52
I don't remember many dreams, so when I do I often bring them up. My sleep study showed that I entered REM sleep abnormally early, so that might explain my difficulty remembering them.
I think my therapist finds them rather interesting, a nice change of pace maybe? But I don't find his comments overly helpful. For one thing, my dreams are rarely difficult to interpret. I apparently dream as mundanely as I think. One of his standard methods is to ask what *I* think the dream means. But sometimes he pulls out that Jungian idea that you are everyone in your dream? Then one day I dreamed I watched someone kill himself, and he apparently decided to drop that method of interpretation with me.
Posted by shortelise on July 30, 2004, at 20:25:21
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist, posted by Dinah on July 30, 2004, at 18:50:20
To watch someone kill him/herself in my dream would mean chnage - I see death of various parts of myself. It does not mean loss of life, it does not mean I desire the end of my life, though at other times I have.
As I change, as I evolve, I lose and gain. When I gain the ability to work, I lose that helplessness I felt whe I was afraid to work. I lose the fear. The fear dies.
So if I watch someone die, if I am also that person, I am the watcher too, so if these things are parts of me, they are not the totality, therefor I am not witnessing my own death nor desiring it but seeing a part of me die.
Loss is death, we often mourn it as such.
I think dreams can be interpreted on lots of different levels.
Last night I dreamt that my parents put me into a psychiatric hospital. I tried to call my T on the telephone over and over again but I could not dial the phone, I could not make the number. I knew he would help me, he would get me out, but I couldn't reach him.
It occurs to me that looking at my dreams could be a very helpful way of getting through tapering off therapy.
Any thoughts on that?
Shorte
Posted by Dinah on July 30, 2004, at 21:23:55
In reply to Re: Dreams and your Therapist » Dinah, posted by shortelise on July 30, 2004, at 20:25:21
As someone who rarely remembers my dreams, and who usually dreams about getting up, eating breakfast, and brushing my teeth on those occasions I do remember them, I'm not at all an expert on dream interpretation. But if it is revealing to you, then I imagine it would be a useful tool for you.
If I relied on it, I'd only have one dream session every few months. :)
I do think it's possible that I dream about work though. A lot of times I sit bolt upright in bed remembering something that needs to be done or knowing the solution to a vexing problem. I always say I do my best thinking while asleep.
Sooo.... Back to work? ;)
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