An example given is a woman walking down a crooked path among tall, straight trees. The therapist asked her to become one of the trees which made her feel tranquil and serene and deeply rooted. She then realized she wanted more security. When asked to be the crooked path, she felt very sad as she felt she lived a devious and crooked life. In this way, the Gestalt therapist helped the woman to externalize some feelings that might have been avoiding. Once aware of them, she could change them.

This is what gestalt therapists call the phenomenological approach. People are encouraged to remember the emotion that the dream has for them at the moment. The therapist trys to get the dreamer’s interpretation of the dream rather than impose their own meaning on it. So the focus remains on the experience of the dreamer’s individual life and circumstances. 582,583

Phenomenological –the view that the phenomena of subjective experience should be studied through the person’s own perspective and interpretation.

Psychoanalytic Approach, Freud

Basically uses the argument that in dreams the dreamer may experience repressed anxieties that he or she is experiencing because the ego, which is dominant during the waking states, is now dormant. The symbolic is emphasized and the therapist might analyze certain symbols in order to determine the patient’s anxieties. Free Association by the patient is often used. (p.46)

FREE ASSOCIATION-A psychoanalytic procedure where a patient freely talks about whatever comes to mind.

EGO-the predominantly conscious part of the personality, responsible for conscious decision making.

Davison, G.C., Neale, J.M. (1982) Abnormal psychology: an experiemental clinical

approach. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: New York