How hypnosis works

Dream Analysis in Hypnotherapy

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Dream analysis in hypnotherapy uses a dream as a starting point for self-reflection: in a relaxed, focused state you revisit a dream that stayed with you, notice what it makes you feel and explore what it connects to in your waking life. Its value depends on treating the dream as personal material to think with, not as a coded message with one correct meaning.

Where does dream interpretation come from?

It is ancient, with records reaching back to Mesopotamia, but the version used in therapy comes mainly from two figures. According to the Wikipedia article on dream interpretation:

  • Sigmund Freud, in The Interpretation of Dreams, argued that dream content is a disguised fulfillment of wishes. He distinguished the remembered “manifest content” from hidden “latent dream-thoughts,” and recovered the latter through free association to each element of the dream. He called dream interpretation “the royal road” to the unconscious.
  • Carl Jung took a different route. He held that people in a dream can stand for aspects of the dreamer, cautioned against blindly ascribing meaning to dream symbols without a clear understanding of the person’s situation, and asked of each symbol, “Why this symbol and not another?”

Later theories pulled in other directions. Calvin Hall, in 1953, treated dreams as thoughts that happen during sleep, with images standing for the dreamer’s own ideas. The activation-synthesis hypothesis of Allan Hobson and colleagues proposed that dreams are side effects of neural activity in the brain during REM sleep, although, as the article notes, it does not say dreams are meaningless.

How does it work in a hypnosis session?

Practices vary. A session built on Jung’s caution, starting from what the dream means to you, might run like this:

  1. Bring a dream that stayed with you, ideally written down soon after waking.
  2. Revisit it in a relaxed, focused state, describing the scenes and noticing the feelings they bring up.
  3. Explore associations: what does this place, person or image remind you of in your current life?
  4. Summarize it. Jung adapted a method from Wilhelm Stekel of stripping a dream to its gist, like writing a newspaper headline for it.
  5. Connect it to something you can act on, such as a worry you have not addressed or a decision you are avoiding.

Why do dreams feel so meaningful?

Because people are inclined to treat them that way. The same article reports a 2009 study by Carey Morewedge and Michael Norton in which 74 percent of Indians, 65 percent of South Koreans and 56 percent of Americans said their dreams gave them meaningful insight into their unconscious beliefs and desires. People in the research gave more weight to dreams than to similar waking thoughts, and they were more likely to find a dream meaningful when it fit how they already felt about the people in it.

That second finding matters in a session. A dream reading that confirms what you hoped to hear may feel especially convincing for exactly that reason.

What should dream work not be used for?

Uncovering “hidden” past events. A dream image explored under hypnosis is not evidence of something that happened. WebMD’s medically reviewed overview warns that hypnosis by someone who is not a trained professional could lead to the creation of fake memories.

Treating nightmares on its own. Repeated, distressing nightmares are a sleep problem with specific treatments. According to Psych Central, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends imagery rehearsal therapy for nightmares and nightmare disorder associated with PTSD; ask a clinician about it.

Predicting the future or making big decisions. A dream can raise a question worth thinking about. It cannot answer it for you.

How to approach a dream session

  1. Write the dream down before you discuss it with anyone.
  2. Say what you think it means first, before the practitioner offers an interpretation.
  3. Ask how they work: do they explore your associations, or interpret symbols for you?
  4. Leave with one concrete question the dream raised about your waking life, and treat the rest as reflection.

This article is general information, not medical or psychological advice; talk with a licensed clinician about your own situation.

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