What happens when therapists dream about their clients?
We often dream about what we've been doing and who we've been with, so it should come as little surprise to discover many psychotherapists dream about their clients. In fact a new study reports that nearly 70 per cent of thirteen participating therapists said that they'd had such dreams.Psychologist Clara Hill and her colleagues asked the 13 student psychotherapists to keep dream journals for the duration of the time they worked at a community clinic - either one or two years. The number of dreams recorded in the journals ranged from 6 to 150 per year, and the proportion that were about clients ranged from 0 to 0.19 (average 0.06). Also, at the end of a period of therapy with a client they'd dreamed about, the therapists took part in an interview with the researchers about their dream experiences and what they'd gained from them.The student therapists described their dreams about clients as disturbing and directly related to the therapy, often depicting the struggles involved. "Dreams appeared to function as a means for therapists to process difficulties they were experiencing in the therapy with these clients," the researchers said.Although unpleasant, the dreams about clients appeared to be beneficial. Therapists described how the dreams of clients led to useful insights. To paraphrase one example, a female therapist dreamt of being in a circus and her client appearing on the back of an elephant, and remaining in the middle of the ring even as the other riders and their ele...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Christian Jarrett Source Type: blogs
More News: Depression | Learning | Lessons | Psychiatrists and Psychologists | Psychology | Psychotherapy | Students | Study | Training | Universities & Medical Training