1st Edition

Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy

By Clara E. Hill Copyright 1996

    This accessible guide to dream interpretation is designed to help clinicians incorporate work with dreams more effectively into therapy. The author integrates psychodynamic, experiential, and humanistic theories into a comprehensive model based on the premises that dreams are personal and reflect waking life; that the meaning of dreams is best understood in a collaborative effort between client and therapist; and that both cognitions and emotions are important in this process. Based on the latest theory and research on sleep, dreaming, and cognition, and backed up by clinical work with both individuals and groups, the book contains numerous case examples.

    Special Feature
    An appendix features a reproducible self-guided manual on dream interpretation, suitable for distribution to clients, which features step-by-step instructions and worksheets.

    I. Background
    1. The Role of Dream Interpretation in Therapy
    2. Sleep and Dreaming
    3. History of Dream Interpretation
    II. Explication of the Cognitive Experiential Model of Dream Formation and Dream Interpretation
    4. A Cognitive Experiential Model of Dream Formation and Dream Interpretation
    5. Exploration Stage
    6. Insight Stage
    7. Action Stage
    8. Therapeutic Issues in Using the Dream Interpretation Model
    III. Clinical Examples of Using theCognitive Experiential Model in Therapy
    9. Single-Session Dream Interpretation
    10. Individual Therapy with Recurrent Dreams and Nightmares
    11. Dream Groups
    IV. Empirical Research on Dreams and Therapy
    12. A Review of the Research on Dreams and Therapy
    Appendix: A Manual for Self-Guided Dream Interpretation Using the Hill Model of Dream Interpretation, Clara E. Hill, Kristin J. Heaton, and David Petersen

    Biography

    Clara E. Hill, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland. She is the Editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology and the Past President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. Her current research interests include studying the efficacy of dream interpretation and the process and outcome of psychotherapy.

    This book provides a straightforward and clearly written manual on working with dreams in psychotherapy. The book is jargon-free and very easy to read. It should be useful to therapists or counselors of any theoretical persuasion in their work with dreams. --Ernest Hartmann, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University; Director, Sleep Disorder Center, Newton-Wellesley Hospital; Author of The Nightmare and Boundaries in the Mind

    Dreams have waited a very long time to be admitted to the club of mainstream respectability. Finally, this feat has been accomplished by a distinguished scholar, researcher, scientist, and clinician. Thank you, Clara Hill, for this achievement, and for putting your own stamp on dream interpretation. --Al R. Mahrer, Ph.D., University of Ottawa, author of Dream Work in Psychotherapy and Self-Change

    ...a well presented, well referenced, and balanced overview of the role of dreams in psychotherapy...this is also a very practical book... --J. Solis, Clinical Gerontologist
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