‘Keep on dreaming!’: theoretical and methodological considerations on Gestalt therapeutic dream work
Albrecht Boeckh
British Gestalt Journal June 1, 2025 DOI: 10.53667/qnwv3408 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key points | Argues that dreams are creative design processes integrating everyday experience and inner psychological processes, comparable to Gestalt processes in waking consciousness and supportable through Gestalt therapy methods. Contends that reducing dreams to projection is insufficient and sometimes therapeutically problematic, and attributes dreams' metaphorical and symbolic 'language' to the special logic of the right hemisphere, said to be predominantly active in REM sleep. |
Abstract
Abstract Dreams are understood as creative design processes for the integration of everyday experience and inner psychological processes. Although they take place in sleep, ignoring the external reference to reality, they are comparable and connected to Gestalt processes in waking consciousness, and can be supported in a similar way with Gestalt therapy methods. The reduction to the common thesis that the dream is a projection falls short and is sometimes problematic in therapeutic terms. The metaphorical and symbolic ‘language’ of dreams is due to the special logic of the right hemisphere of the brain, which is predominantly active in REM sleep. Keywords dream, Gestalt process, brain hemispheres
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |