Theoretical and Practical Issues in Working With Children's Dreams in Counseling

Abstract

Working with children's dreams in counseling presents advantages and limitations. The counselor must consider issues related to dream theory and child development and follow guidelines to effectively process the dreams of children.

Dream work with children: Perceptions and practices of school mental health professionals.

“…Indeed, participants with more training in dream work also reported more competence in working with students’ dreams. This is consistent with Clark’s (1999) suggestion that although counselors may have interest in dreams and feel that dream work could benefit counseling relationships with children, their reluctance to engage in such activities may be due to a lack of training and feelings of incompetence. Research has demonstrated that therapists’ training in dream work uniquely predicted the percentage of therapy time spent on dreams, such that therapists with more training were more likely to spend increased therapy time working with clients’ dreams (Crook & Hill, 2003).…”

“…Considering that most practitioners in the sample reported having at least one student bring a dream into counseling, it would seem appropriate to include dream work in training programs, thus expanding practitioners’ abilities to counsel and help students. Indeed, Clark (1999) argued that, due to lack of training, many counselors may avoid exploring children’s dreams and thus fail to acknowledge a phenomenon that is of extreme interest to a child, even while focused on collecting essential information about that child. Consequently, future research should be conducted regarding the training of school mental health practitioners in dream work.…”

“…The research, in fact, shows a wide range of positive outcomes for dream work with children. Research indicates that working with dreams in therapy helps children clarify conflicts and better adapt to new situations (Catalano, 1990; Clark, 1999; Eismann & Purcell, 1992). In addition, Ekstein (1981) pointed out that dream-processing techniques help reduce children’s tension, potentially increasing behavioral control.…”

Imagination: An Essential Dimension of a Counselor's Empathy

“…It is also necessary in some instances for a counselor to imagine nonexistent things when empathically listening to a client (Kleiman, 1971). In this regard, empathically understanding a client's dreams, for example, can only be done by the counselor through evoking mental images that are unrestricted by reality boundaries (Capuzzi & Black, 1986; Clark, 1999). A counselor's imagination is requisite for visualizing a client's dream account, such as driving in the back of a truck on a highway while sitting on beach chairs in the company of Abraham Lincoln.…”

Early Recollections: A Humanistic Assessment in Counseling

“…At the same time, although this approach uses both clinical experience and intuitive acumen, it becomes difficult to document findings or to adapt procedures for instructional purposes. One way to approach this dilemma is to consider early recollections as a counseling tool that yields specific hypotheses that may subsequently be supported or refuted by data from contextual sources, such as objective and projective measures; reports elicited from a parent, teacher, spouse, or other sigruficant person; and dream material (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997;Clark, 1994Clark, ,1995Clark, ,1999.…”