What Freudians can learn from Jung.

Noting that there has been an increasing sharing of ideas between psychoanalysts and analytical psychologists within the past decade, the authors, all Jungian analysts, survey Jung's clinical theory in an effort to identify areas where psychoanalytic clinicians might find Jung's concepts helpful. They discuss Jung's approach to the dream, his understanding of psychotherapy as a dialectical procedure, and the theory of complexes and archetypes. They also review how Jung's notions of the Self and individuation are used in contemporary Jungian practice. A dream of a man in his mid-30s is presented to illustrate how these formulations can facilitate understanding of the patient and the analytic process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Jungian personality typology and the recall of everyday and archetypal dreams.

Tested hypotheses concerning the relations among personality types, neuroticism, and the recall of archetypal dreams that were derived from Jungian theory. Dream records were obtained from a nonclinical population in 2 stages: first, recall of the most recent, most vivid, and earliest remembered dreams from 146 university students; and then dream recall on awakening, over an average of 23 nights, from 30 of the 1st-sample Ss. A total of 697 dreams was recorded. Ss also completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, and a dreaming questionnaire. Dream archetypality was rated in accordance with procedures of H.Y. Kluger (see record 1975-25510-001). The distribution of archetypal dreams across 106 earliest, 105 most vivid, and 102 most recent dream types matched Kluger's earlier results. The dream diary recall data showed that Jungian intuitives, as measured via Myers-Briggs continuous scores, recalled more archetypal dreams; introverts, as measured via Myers-Briggs continuous scores, recalled more everyday dreams; high EPI neuroticism scorers recalled fewer archetypal dreams. Results support several propositions of Jungian personality theory. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream interpretation and false beliefs.

Dream interpretation is a common practice in psychotherapy. In the research presented in this article, each participant saw a clinician who interpreted a recent dream report to be a sign that the participant had had a mildly traumatic experience before age 3 years, such as being lost for an extended time or feeling abandoned by his or her parents. This dream intervention caused a majority of participants to become more confident that they had had such an experience, even though they had previously denied it. These findings have implications for the use of dream material in clinical settings. In particular, the findings point to the possibility that dream interpretation may have unexpected side effects if it leads to beliefs about the past that may, in fact, be false. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of dream interpretation, event, interpretation, and unstructured sessions in brief therapy.

Twenty-five distressed adult clients received 2 sessions each of dream and event interpretation using the Hill model during 12 sessions of successful therapy. No differences were found in depth, insight, and working alliance among dream interpretation, event interpretation, and unstructured sessions, suggesting that dream interpretation is as effective as other therapist strategies. Dream and event interpretation may be equally effective because both lead back to relevant waking concerns and past memories. Pretreatment measures of client psychological mindedness, openness, and insight were generally unrelated to each other, to evaluations of insight within sessions, to therapist evaluations of client insight, and to pre- and posttherapy changes in insight. Cognitive complexity of client dialogue was related to the process and outcome of dream interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assimilation in therapy involving interpretation of recurrent and nonrecurrent dreams.

We studied the process and outcome of one case of successful, brief (20 sessions), dream interpretation-focused psychotherapy with a dissociative client. During the therapy, a recurrent dream and 3 nonrecurrent dreams were explored using Hill's (1996) cognitive-experimental dream interpretation model. To explore the process of therapy, the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES; Stiles, Meshot, Anderson, & Sloan, 1992) was used to track changes across treatment in the client's level of assimilation of the core theme of her recurrent dream. This analysis revealed that level of assimilation increased over treatment, with most changes in assimilation occurring during sessions involving the interpretation of the recurrent dream. Use of the Hill model of dream interpretation with recurrent dreams and with dissociative clients is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mulholland Dr.

This article provides an interpretation of David Lynch's (2001) film Mulholland Dr. as the dreamscape of Diane Selwyn, played by Naomi Watts. Viewers are caught in a story of murder, mystery, and lesbian love, only to realize that what they have witnessed is merely a dream. As Diane wakes up, memory flashbacks and hallucinations unveil the real events leading to the dream. The viewers are able to trace back the elements of the dream to their real-life sources and decipher the dream's secret agenda. Diane's dream is understood as an attempt to fulfill her deepest wishes and to alleviate her guilt for arranging the murder of her ex-lover. The dream is a failed attempt to escape reality, as well as a preparation for death. Whether or not one views Mulholland Dr. as inspired by psychoanalysis, Lynch's film is a masterful exploration of the unconscious workings of the human mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream bashing by Jastrow.

Argues that the position of J. Jastrow (1928, 1932) presented in the article by L. T. Benjamin, Jr. and D. N. Dixon (see record 83-32709) incorrectly leads one to believe that Jastrow was not in favor of dream interpretation. However, when looking at Jastrow's comments in their context, a more accurate representation of his position emerges. Jastrow believed that misdirected use of dream interpretation could mislead the general public and could be potentially harmful, but his position did not condemn all dream interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream interpretation sessions: Who volunteers, who benefits, and what volunteer clients view as most and least helpful.

Undergraduate students (N ?=?336) completed measures of personality, cognitive functioning, and attitudes toward dreams; reported average hours of sleep and estimated dream recall; and kept a 2-week dream diary. A subset of 109 students volunteered to participate in and 65 students actually participated in, a dream interpretation session. The students who volunteered for dream interpretation had more positive attitudes toward dreams, recalled dreams more frequently, were more open and higher in absorption (capacity for restructuring one's phenomenal field), and were more often female than nonvolunteers. The volunteer clients who gained the most from dream interpretation reported fewer dreams in a 2-week dream diary. Clients reported that the most helpful aspects of dream interpretation were insight, links to waking life, and receiving another person's input. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of training in dream recall and dream interpretation skills on dream recall, attitudes, and dream interpretation outcome.

Forty-two volunteer clients with below-average dream recall and attitudes toward dreams participated in training sessions focusing on either improving dream recall and attitudes toward dreams, building dream interpretation skills, or educating about counseling. After training, individual dream interpretation sessions were conducted. No significant differences were found among the 3 conditions in regard to dream recall, attitudes toward dreams, or client- or therapist-reported session outcome, but effect sizes suggested that participants in the skills condition gained more from sessions than did participants in the dream recall–attitudes condition. Session outcome for all volunteer clients was equivalent to those in previous studies of volunteer clients with no training, suggesting that training was not necessary and that these participants were able to benefit from single-session dream interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The manifest dream and its use in therapy.

Reviews the book, The manifest dream and its use in therapy by Roy M. Mendelsohn (see record 1990-98422-000). Dr. Mendelsohn is interested in determining the unconscious thoughts and desires of the dreamer and claims that he can discover these by a kind of direct interpretation of the dream text as related by the dreamer, without resorting to the latter's associations. He does so by employing the context in which the dream occurred and his own understanding of symbolism. Is the author's technique of value? It depends on what is asked of the dream and its interpretation. If one is analyzing a patient, the answer must be no; such abstractly conveyed interpretations favor the resistance, if anything, and may lead to the persistence of intellectualization and personal myths, now expressed in metapsychological terms. If, on the other hand, we are treating patients who are regarded as unsuitable for analysis, it is conceivable that such statements, aided by the authority of the therapist, may give the patient a sense of order and thus relieve anxiety for a time. The author's ambitious claim that his interpretations are useful in so many other ways is inadequately documented, however, resting as it does on complex and often confusing abstract statements. In failing to convey how he derives his conclusions from his observational data, he makes it very difficult to accept the validity of his method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction: Two Archetypes in Search of an Identity.

Counseling psychology, according to Domke's article in this present series, is a specialty that is in its adolescence. The chief reason for saying this is the perpetual agonizing about our professional identity and definition. We seem to be forever wrangling about who we are and what we want to become. In part this is due to the strongly hybrid nature of counseling psychology. We have always had one foot in psychology and the other in education. To the many reasons already put forth for this state of affairs, the author adds a metaphor that he thinks add some perspective to the current situation of counseling psychology. The model of the "psychologist" as an agent for amelioration of human suffering is of relatively recent origin. In the process of defining our unique contribution to the helping services, in general, we have been struggling with the models given to us by history. Using the Jungian perspective, we can identify some of these models of practice as archetypes that have become part of our personal and cultural heritage. The author of this article goes on to name some of the archtypes (or roles) and explains how each will affect counseling psychology in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racism and projection of the shadow.

This article uses the Jungian concepts of the shadow and shadow projection to illuminate racism. It argues that racism is one form of shadow projection. Racism and shadow projection have deleterious effects on both the targets and the perpetrators of projection. For the targets of projection, psychotherapy involves empathic understanding of the effects of racism and client empowerment. For the perpetrators of projection, psychotherapy involves exploration, acceptance, and monitoring their shadow side. This article suggests that training for therapists also include awareness of the shadow. Such awareness would support therapists' comfort with clients of different cultural backgrounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Dreams: A Key to Self-Knowledge.

In this book, readers are presented with another approach to decoding dreams--the Perceptanalytic Dream Interpretation System. Readers are told that the usual psychoanalytic mode of dream interpretation is flawed. Freud focused on the wish-fulfilling function of the dreams, but Piotrowski and Biele conceptualize dreams as unconscious attempts to clarify the dreamer's "personal intrapsychic conflicts" and to find solutions to the conflicts. They provide detailed "rules" and "axioms" to guide dream interpretation. However, Piotrowski and Biele do not offer any empirical evidence as to the reliability or validity of their dream interpretation rules. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role-play validation of a sociocultural theory of symbolism.

As a form of role-play, 344 freshmen college students were asked to name inkblot responses likely to be reported by a perceiver who was under various mood conditions, such as love, anger, etc. The Ss were told that this was a study in aesthetics. The Es had prematched 16 well-known Rorschach symbols with their typical mood interpretation, and then examined the responses of Ss under role play to see if these hypothesized connections in fact occurred. 10 of the 16 mood-symbol pairs were validated, and it was concluded that Rychlak's theory of symbolism, which generated this study, was supported. The Ss were relying upon, in an unsophisticated manner, the same cultural experience which Rorschach or dream analysts rely upon in making their hypotheses about personality. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culturally diverse groups and MMPI interpretation.

In this article I suggest that culturally determined thought processes, including ethnocentrism, world view, and etic preoccupation predispose interpretation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to unintentional bias as a result of minimization of consistent group differences in item responding. Group personality as evidenced by group consciousness has been described by identity measures for Afro-Americans and acculturation indices for Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. Instruments for world view measurement have been developed from several perspectives. Research on the potential cultural content of differences in MMPI item responding by Afro-Americans and other cultural groups continues to be necessary, although a more systematic approach to interpretation that includes identity and world view measures is now feasible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freud versus Adler on dreams.

Comments on the article by L. T. Benjamin, Jr. and D. N. Dixon (see record 83-32709) that describes Freud's attempt to help an American girl named Mary Fields by interpreting her dream in which there was some conflict between Fields and her parents regarding the man with whom she was involved. For Freud, dreams were the royal road to the unconscious mind, and they represented a disguised fulfillment of a repressed wish. The authors discuss the Adlerian perspective on dreams which states that the purpose of dreams is to support the lifestyle against the demands of logic or common sense, and sees dreams as an attempt to make a bridge between an individual's lifestyle and present problems. From an Adlerian perspective, Field's dream had a connection with her problem, which was her anxiety over her attraction to and desire to see her friend, and also the possible negative outcome of this dilemma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reality matters: The shadow of trauma on African American subjectivity.

Few psychoanalytic theories accord social, political, and cultural realities a role in the development of the psyche. This silence distorts and constricts our understanding of all subjects, but is particularly pernicious for the nondominant, as it renders significant aspects of their subjectivities invisible. African American subjectivity is an instance of such omission. The trauma of slavery critically shaped our subjectivity, yet this impact is rarely acknowledged. In fact, the subjugation, cruelties, and deprivations of slavery have given a traumatic cast to African American subjectivity. Through the intergenerational transmission of trauma this wounding has endured. This article examines the effect of African American historical reality on subjectivity. In particular, transmission of slavery’s essential characteristic—a relationship of domination—is explored. A clinical case manifesting instances of these issues is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)