Working with Dreams
Throughout centuries, the dreams were considered useless meanderings of the mind but Sigmund Freud brought to light their importance with his book The Interpretation of Dreams. Since then, much research has been done in this area.
Studies showed how important dreams are for our mental and emotional well-being, specifically ‘REM-deprived subjects showed anxiety, irritability and difficulty in concentrating’. Furthermore this research shows that ‘the pills people take to regulate their sleep cause profoundly disturbed sleep’; these and other drugs deprive us of the REM periods so necessary for balance and sanity.
When it comes to dreams hypnotherapy can help in a variety of ways
You might have a repetitive, troubling or interesting dream or a dream you know it’s important but you are unable to decipher by yourself what it’s trying to tell you.
Also during the course of therapy many emotional processes can be stimulated that can be associated with other memories held in the subconscious.
The symbolism in dreams reflects a deeper meaning, representing unconscious conflicts, desires and issues. This process helps you to gain an understanding as to their meaning.
Dreams and their meanings are very person specific and as such are subjective in their interpretation. Because of this, dream interpretation is carried out by the client using a form of free association under the guidance of the therapist.
Not only we work on the interpretation of the dream but I also help you to deal with those life issues that are triggering the nightmares.
This will help particularly artists, writers, musicians, …
When we have a problem it is often suggested that we “sleep on it”. This suggestion probably stems from the observation that we sometimes appear to solve problems more effectively when we are asleep. It has been hypothesised that in sleep the neuronal connections within the brain ‘flow’ more freely than when we are awake.
We all have access to this source of knowledge when we learn to pay attention to our dreams. Not only dreams relate to the problems or concerns that were on our mind prior to sleep, but they give us insights and understanding on relationships, attitudes, the way we see ourselves, facts we were not aware of, warnings, etc.
Keeping a journal is an important tool for our personal growth; I’d recommend take time each evening to review the day’s events, actions, reactions, feelings, successes, failures, disappointments; include your hopes, fears, plans, expectations and especially goals. Next day as you awake, discipline yourself to awaken gently and immediately begin to recall all that you have dreamt and ideally write it down immediately with as much details as possible.
