Dreaming of you: client and therapist dreams about each other during psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Clara E Hill, Sarah Knox, Rachel E Crook-Lyon, Shirley A Hess, Joe Miles, Patricia T. Spangler, Sakar Pudasaini
Psychotherapy Research 2014 Retracted DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2013.867461 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 63 |
| Population | Clients receiving psychodynamic psychotherapy in a community clinic |
| Intervention | psychodynamic psychotherapy |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Attachment Dreams about clients Dreams about therapists Dreams in psychotherapy |
| Key findings | Therapists who dreamed about clients had higher dream recall than those who did not, and only two clients with high attachment anxiety reported dreams about their therapists. |
Abstract
Our objectives were to describe the frequency of therapists' dreams about their clients and clients' dreams about their therapists, to determine how therapists and clients who had such dreams differed from those who did not have such dreams, whether therapy process and outcome differed for those who had and did not have such dreams, and to describe the content and consequences of these dreams. Thirteen doctoral student therapists conducted psychodynamic psychotherapy with 63 clients in a community clinic. Therapists who had dreams about clients had higher estimated and actual dream recall than did therapists who did not dream about clients. Qualitative analyses indicated that therapists' dreams yielded insights about the therapist, clients, and therapy; therapists used insights in their work with the clients. Among the clients, only two (who were particularly high in attachment anxiety and who feared abandonment from their therapists) reported dreams that were manifestly about their therapists. Therapists-in-training dreamed more about their clients than their clients dreamed about them. Dreams about clients can be used by therapists to understand themselves, clients, and the dynamics of the therapy relationship.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |