Dreams and Trauma Changes in the Manifest Dreams in Psychoanalytic Treatments – A Psychoanalytic Outcome Measure
Tamara Fischmann, Gilles Ambresin, Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber
Frontiers in Psychology September 14, 2021 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678440 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | Severely traumatized, chronically depressed patient from the LAC Depression Study |
| Duration | Three years |
| Keywords | Dream Psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalysis Unconscious mind Embodied cognition Psychotherapist Epistemology |
| Citations | 9 |
| Key findings | Transformation in manifest dreams, as measured by the Zurich Dream Process Coding System, may indicate therapeutic changes in unconscious mental functioning. |
Abstract
Although psychoanalysts are interested in symptom reduction as an outcome, they are looking for instruments to measure sustaining changes in the unconscious mental functioning. In this article it is discussed that conceptually well-founded transformation of manifest dreams analyzed with precise empirical methods could be considered as a promising indicator for such therapeutic changes. We are summarizing a dream generation model by Moser and von Zeppelin which has integrated a large interdisciplinary knowledge base of contemporary dream and sleep research. Based on this model the authors have developed a valid and reliable coding system for analyzing manifest dreams, the Zurich Dream Process Coding System (ZDPCS). One exemplary dream from the beginning and one from the third year of a severely traumatized, chronic depressed patient from the LAC Depression Study collected in psychoanalytic sessions as well as in the sleep laboratory have been analyzed applying the ZDPCS. Authors hypothesize that transformation in dreams as measured with the ZDPCS is the result of memory processes of traumatic embodied memories in the state of dreaming.