This accessible volume integrates the latest research on sleep and dreaming with a cognitive- experiential psychotherapeutic perspective, providing a comprehensive guide to dream interpretation. In clear, jargon-free prose, elucidated by extensive case material, the author presents a three-stage model of dream interpretation based on the premises that dreams reflect waking life, that their meaning is best understood in a collaborative effort between client and therapist, and that both cognitions and emotions are important in this process. An Appendix contains a reproducible, self-guided manual on dream interpretation featuring step-by- step instructions and worksheets. This Appendix is an ideal resource for therapists to use with clients. Part I reviews the current literature on sleep and dreaming and provides a historical survey of the practice of dream interpretation from ancient times to the present. The author then introduces her cognitive-experiential model of dreams in Part II, proposing that dreams help individuals make sense of events in waking life by assimilating them into personal schemata, or patterns of past memories, thoughts, and feelings. Troubling dreams or nightmares, Hill suggests, can result when existing schemata are inadequate to assimilate stressful or discrepant events. Chapters then present the three stages of dream interpretation--Exploration, Insight, and Action--and a description of how therapists can help clients work with dream images to gain greater self-understanding and achieve personal change. Psychotherapeutic issues such as choosing which dreams to interpret, monitoring client responsiveness, and maintaining flexibility in the interpretive model are also addressed. The third section of the book provides extensive case material that illustrates the use of the interpretive model with both individuals and groups, and empirical research on the efficacy of dream interpretation is evaluated in Part IV. Table of Contents I. Background 1. The Role of Dream Interpretation in Therapy 2. Sleep and Dreaming 3. History of Dream Interpretation II. Explication of the Cognitive Experiential Model of Dream Formation and Dream Interpretation 4. A Cognitive Experiential Model of Dream Formation and Dream Interpretation 5. Exploration Stage 6. Insight Stage 7. Action Stage 8. Therapeutic Issues in Using the Dream Interpretation Model III. Clinical Examples of Using the Cognitive Experiential Model in Therapy 9. Single-Session Dream Interpretation 10. Individual Therapy with Recurrent Dreams and Nightmares 11. Dream Groups IV. Empirical Research on Dreams and Therapy 12. A Review of the Research on Dreams and Therapy Appendix: A Manual for Self-Guided Dream Interpretation Using the Hill Model of Dream Interpretation, Clara E. Hill, Kristin J. Heaton, and David Petersen from the publisher's website |