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Red Balloon: Approaching Dreams as Self‐Narratives
Author(s) -
Androutsopoulou Athena
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00236.x
Subject(s) - dream , narrative , psychology , trace (psycholinguistics) , content (measure theory) , psychological intervention , narrative therapy , psychotherapist , psychoanalysis , aesthetics , social psychology , literature , art , philosophy , linguistics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , psychiatry
In this article, dreams are seen as stories within a self‐narrative. Dream stories, like all other stories, are told in an effort to make sense of experiences. Here, dream content is linked to current concerns, some aspects of which are not given voice in waking. Dreams depict restricting themes but also openings in self‐narratives. Several examples are provided of how dreams can be linked to early, middle, and late therapy phases associated with recognizing, challenging, revising, and maintaining a revising stance. It is further suggested that dream stories can be used to trace, facilitate, and evaluate the process of reconstructing self‐narratives. Finally, a number of therapeutic interventions are briefly presented to facilitate the work of narrative‐informed family therapists working with individuals, families, and groups.