DreamSenseMemory - a Gestalt-based dream-work approach embracing all our senses.
Brigitte Holzinger, Franziska Nierwetberg, Larissa Cosentino, Lucille Mayer
Research in psychotherapy August 24, 2021 DOI: 10.4081/ripppo.2021.529 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Psychotherapy Gestalt theory Gestalt therapy |
| Key points | Argues that Gestalt therapists help clients experience repressed, ambivalent, and unpleasant material so it can be accepted and integrated into the self, often through dream work. Proposes that the newly developed DreamSenseMemory technique, based on neurological findings about sensory influence on memory, leads dream content to be remembered more often and in more detail, thereby supporting dream work and integration. |
Abstract
Gestalt therapists believe that their task is to help their clients to experience repressed, ambivalent, and unpleasant things in order to accept and implement them in their whole self. To implement those 'things', those elements of the self, they need to be uncovered first, which is a process that often is achieved by dream work, as messages from the unconscious that are stuck in our dreams can be revealed by certain Gestalt-therapy methods. The method in focus is the newly developed DreamSenseMemory technique which is based on neurological findings on how the senses at play influence memory processing. Dream work with the DreamSenseMemory method has the advantage that by using this method on a regular basis, dream content will not only be remembered more often but also in more detail. Thus, effectively supporting dream work and its process of understanding the message of the unconscious, accepting the elements withing and implementing them in the self.