Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Montague Ullman
DEFINITION
An experiential dream group is one in which people come together for the
purpose of helping each other work out the feelings and metaphors
conveyed by the imagery of their dreams. It is best thought of as an
exercise in dream appreciation. It is analogous to the appreciation at a
feeling level of the metaphor of a poem.
BACKGROUND
From time immemorial people have shared their dreams in the hope of
penetrating their meaning. Perhaps they merely have sought solace in the
sharing of an awesome experience. In some preliterate societies there is
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still much social support for dream sharing. This is so, for example, among
the Senoi-indians of Malaysia and the Hopi Indians of Arizona. For the
most past, however, activities around dreaming in Western societies have
followed a pattern, also laid down earlier, of bringing a dream to an expert
who offers an interpretation. The psychoanalytic context is the current
version of this earlier model.
Some degree of interest in dream sharing has persisted and has erupted into
greater prominence in the past decade as part of the general interest in
consciousness-raising activities. Growth centers have promoted small-
group dream sharing, spontaneous and sponsored dream groups have
sprung up, and a literature on the benefits and technology of dream work
has addressed itself to the needs and interests of people who wish to work
with their dreams. The Gestalt approach to dream work has become
increasingly popular. It stresses the advantage of role playing the elements
of a dream in the company of another or others (Perls, 1969). There have
been notable efforts to demystify dreams to make them accessible to the
nonprofessional (Faraday, 1973, 1974; Ullman and Zimmerman, in press).
A number of doctoral theses on the subject of dream sharing have appeared
in recent years (Randall,1977; Sabini, 1972). A new publication, The
Sundance Community Dream Journal, has appeared and is devoted to the
encouragement of dream work, particularly in group settings. An excellent
review of these developments appears in a recent volume, by McLeester
(1976).
The followers of Freud tended to perpetuate the idea that dream work had
best be left to professionals because of the risks involved and the special
theoretical knowledge that was needed. Jung's notions about dreams could
be more readily understood apart from any particular psychoanalytic
orientation to personality conflict. Dreaming experience stood in a
complementary relationship to waking life, and the elements that made up
the manifest content of the dream could gain meaning through a process of
amplification rather than through efforts to get at a disguised latent content.
Jung meant by amplification allowing the images and the qualities and
properties connected with them to come into focus as expressive and
revealing statements about the dreamer's life. This emphasis on the
revelatory power of the manifest content has been the leverage used to
move dream work from a restricted professional setting to a more general
public setting.
My own experience with dreams and the role they play in our lives
(Ullman, 1969, 1977, in press; Ullman and Zimmerman, in press) left me
convinced that dream sharing in small groups is a feasible route to serious
dream work. What one can do with a dream depends neither on
professional credentials nor on one's mastery of psychoanalytic theory. It
evolves out of one's interest in dreams and on one's readiness to engage in
self-disclosure in the context of a supportive social response system.
Resistiveness to dream work diminishes rapidly once a group gets under
way. This is not to say that it melts away completely, but rather that there is
a good deal of variation in the degree of comfort that people feel as they
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engage in the self-disclosure intrinsic to dream work and that for each
person the freedom grows greater with experience.
There are certain axioms and principles that underlie the operation of an
experiential dream group.
Axioms:
Principles. There are three main principles that govern experiential dream
work:
Emotional growth is contingent on the discovery of who we are and the real
impact we make on others. It involves the gradual shedding of illusions as
to who we are and what we think our impact is on others. Where there are
illusions, there are vulnerable areas. Our dreams reflect back to us the
tensions generated when events in our daily life expose some of these
vulnerable areas. In our dreams we seem capable of assessing these events
against the backdrop of our past experience and, in so doing, arrive at a felt
sense of their importance and the impact they may have for our future.
Emotional growth also takes place by another route. Tension results when
the novelty and strangeness of a reality event test the limits of our
competence. When tension of this kind triggers a dream, we again resort to
a backward scanning of our past to explore the possible resources we can
mobilize to meet the challenge. Inventive and creative solutions may be the
result.
assess and cope with the immediate tension confronting him. When the
resources thus mobilized are not adequate to the task, and the tension rises
rather than abates, awakening occurs. From the point of view of an
adaptive maneuver, this means that further waking experience is necessary
before this particular issue can be adequately dealt with.
These general ideas about the nature of dreaming are shared with the group.
They represent a point of view about dreams that defines the essentials
without a commitment to any particular metapsychological superstructure.
They are developed in greater detail elsewhere (Ullman, 1973; Ullman and
Zimmerman, in press).
Precipitating Event
I prefer the term "intrusive novelty" to "day residue" to refer to the event
that determines the content of the dream. This term defines the two
characteristics of the prior event that make it apt to resurface as the nuclear
focus in a dream sequence. The event has the quality of novelty in the sense
that it catches the person off guard. At the time it is encountered, there are
no immediately available ways of coping with it. The event is intrusive to
the extent that it is linked to earlier unsolved emotional issues from the
past. Alternatively, it may be experienced as novel on the basis of its being
truly new and outside the range of past experience. In the first instance the
element of novelty lies in the unexpected exposure of some defensive
strategy related to unresolved emotional residues from the past. In the
second instance the element of novelty lies in the nature of the event itself
and the challenge to personal growth that it offers. In either instance the
intrusiveness results in the need to explore past stores of experience in
order to mobilize the resources needed to deal with the impact of the
precipitating event.
Longitudinal Scanning
This term refers to the remarkable way in which a precipitating event taps
into our remote memory stores and mobilizes bits and pieces of past
experience that are affectively related to it. This is a mechanism available
to the dreamer that enables him to explore the implications of any tensions
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associated with the day residue and to assess his coping resources, healthy
and defensive, in dealing with them. The range of data thus made available
is much greater than that at his disposal at the time the event was initially
confronted. In effective dream work it becomes necessary to clarify and
understand the present context in order to understand the relevance of the
references to past experience.
Visual Metaphor
Dreams can be thought of as three-act dramas with the dreamer looking for
the answer to a specific question in each act. The opening act setting begins
with the dreamer's concern with the question: What is happening to me?
The affective residue associated with the recent event has registered a
tension now being experienced by the dreamer. As he moves into the
second act, his concern is with the question: What is the history of this
tension, and what resources can I mobilize to deal with it? In the final act,
he is concerned with the question of how to move toward some kind of
resolution. At this point he is faced with the possibilities of a binary
decision. Can the tension be contained without disrupting the sleep cycle,
or is it great enough to result in awakening?
There are only a limited number of dilemmas which people find themselves
in that preoccupy them while dreaming. Some of the more frequent ones
include:
GUIDELINES
1. The decision to share a dream rests solely with the dreamer. No one
should ever be made to feel under constraint to share a dream.
3. Short dreams are preferred to longer ones for reasons of expediency with
regard to time. Dream work proceeds slowly and should progress at a
leisurely pace. A very long dream may prove too cumbersome to manage
in any reasonable time period.
4. The process is explained, and the roles of the dreamer, the group, and the
leader are defined. Any questions concerning the process or the various
roles are clarified at this point.
THE PROCESS
First Stage
to tell his side of it in the third stage, then the full unconstrained response
of the group has already been set before him.
Second Stage
The group members are asked to "move into" the dream and try to make it
their own. They are asked to respond at two levels, first to the feelings the
dream evokes; and second to the images. They have free reign in exploring
the limits of their response and are under no obligation to defend or justify
it. They are to speak to each other rather than to the dreamer. They are told
that what they come up with is to be considered their own projections until
and unless there is later validation by the dreamer. As much time as is
needed is allowed for each of these responses to run its course.
The concept of the visual metaphor having been explained, the group now
explores each of the images as well as the relationship of each image to
each other one for its possible metaphorical meaning. Again, the group is
encouraged to report whatever occurs to it. We are seeking out what each
one has to contribute. At this stage we are not concerned with
contradictions, differences of opinion, and so on. The goal is to display the
broadest possible spectrum of personal responses to the metaphorical
potential of the imagery and to do it without "laying" an interpretation onto
the dreamer.
The group's activity at this point is best described as an exercise that may
or may not be helpful to the dreamer. The members are encouraged to
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come out with whatever they feel, regardless of how unrelated or purely
personal it may at first appear. This is not easy to do. It takes some effort
and experience to move away from the comfortable stance of focusing on
what they think the dream is telling the dreamer to working with the dream
in terms of what it is telling them.
After all the projective responses have been developed, the leader may
attempt to bring them into a more organized relationship to the manifest
content, in order to emphasize that the sequence of images is as important
as the images themselves. Comparisons, contrast, and other clues to
meaning emerge when this is taken into consideration. An image that
appears puzzling when looked at by itself may assume meaning when
examined in its relationship to the preceding and succeeding images. The
leader's efforts at orchestrating the group's input and checking it against the
manifest content also provide the opportunity to call attention to any details
in the dream that might have been overlooked or not given sufficient
attention.
What accounts for the fact that some of the responses of the group at
feeling and metaphorical levels resonate with the dreamer? The group's
ability to pick up feelings the dreamer may be unaware of is, I think, due to
the fact that images arise out of feelings in the first place, and through their
selection and arrangement they often convey the source of their origin. As
for the group's coming upon metaphorical translations of the imagery that
strike a chord with the dreamer, it is not a surprising development. We all
swim about in the same social sea so that any particular image may convey
similar metaphorical meaning to the dreamer and to one or more
respondents in the group.
Third Stage
This stage is devoted to the dreamer's effort to find the connecting links
between the imagery of the dream and the immediate life situation giving
rise to the dream. It unfolds in three phases.
Phase I. The dreamer is given all the time needed to respond to the input
from the group and to develop his own view of what the dream now means
to him. He can go about it in any way he wishes; either he may stress those
parts of the dream that were opened up by the group, or he may begin with
where he was in relation to the dream before the group work began.
Phase II. When the dreamer is finished, the group then enters into a
dialogue with him to help explore any images that remain unclear and to
help identify the relevant life context. This is done in the form of open-
ended questions which any member of the group may put to the dreamer, at
the same time recognizing that the dreamer remains in control of the level
of self-disclosure he wishes to make. When the dreamer finds it difficult to
identify any recent events related to the dream, it may be helpful to ask him
to try to recall his last thoughts and preoccupations before falling asleep.
This often yields a direct clue to the focus of the dream. If the dreamer is
unable to do thus, he may be asked to recount the events of the day before.
Doing thus often leads quite unexpectedly to the identification of the
significant precipitating event. The dreamer is also encouraged to explore
the connections to the past suggested by the imagery.
Phase III. The dreamer has the last word. He assesses the degree of
"closure" he now feels about the dream. If it is not sufficient, he can
encourage the group to continue with the exploration. He is free to stop the
process at an earlier time if, for any reason, he should wish to.
At this stage the group must again be careful to respect the dreamer's
authority and not use their questioning to challenge it. The questioning, like
the group's participation in the second stage, should be an instrument that
helps the dreamer in his exploration of the dream. It should not be used in a
confronting or challenging way or as a way of getting agreement.
Rationale. By the time the third stage is reached, a feeling of trust and
rapport has developed between the dreamer and the group. A genuinely
concerned, helpful, and supportive response is elicited when someone has
had the courage to share a dream and seek help with it. There is an
important though implicit aspect of the process that further nurtures this
trust. It stems from the fact that the process evolves dialectically into one of
mutual self-disclosure. The dreamer defines himself by offering a dream.
This in turn leads to the group members defining themselves through the
projections they offer. In the final stage all parties become better known to
themselves and to each other. The dreamer gains from those parts of the
group's projections that are relevant to him. The group members gain from
the discovery that aspects of their responses that they thought related to the
dreamer were really their own projection. They learn by being confronted
with their own biases as the images fall into place in the dreamer's life.
The dreamer needs the group's help in the exploration of the images. It is
the group's interest, support, and probing that help close the gap between
what the image is conveying and what the dreamer may be defending
himself against. Our dreams offer us the opportunity of growing more
whole. This is an aspect of emotional healing that requires the concerned
support of others.
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TABLE 14-1.
2. Focus of the The focus of the group is The focus of the group is
group. on the impact of the dream on the impact of the
on the dreamer. The focus behavior on an
is on an intrapersonal interpersonal field.
field.
3. Nature of The nature of the task is to The nature of the task is
the task. establish the meaning the to seek meaning in the
dream images hold for the behavioral expression of
dreamer by seeking to a tension as it becomes
close the intrapersonal manifest in an
distance between the interpersonal field (past
image and the real-life or present).
context of the dream.
4. The expectations of the The expectations of all
Expectational group are secondary to its the members of the group
set. task of helping the and of the therapist gain
dreamer realize his own expression and seek
expectations with regard realization. Manifold
to the dream. One set of
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5. Nature of the The process brings into The process brings to
process. the open the unknown light the unknown
messages embedded in the messages embedded in
imagery of the dream. interpersonal behavior.
6. Source of the The dreamer and the The leader works from a
expectations. group work along intuitive theoretical base involving
and shared experiential personal and group
levels with no specific dynamics.
theoretical orientation.
7. Source of The support and trust The leader and group
change. developing between members engage in a
dreamer and group liberate number of strategies to
the healing power dream work through personal
images have, once their defenses and stimulate
concrete connections to change. These include
waking life are interpreting, confronting,
established. modeling, and so on.
8. Mechanism Using the projections of Unmasking the
of change. the group to free up the projections of the various
dreamer's connection to participants.
the dream.
9. Tempo The group moves at the The tempo is a reflection
tempo of the dreamer. of combined needs.
10. Role Leader: Plays a dual role. Leader: Assumes
differences. In leadership position he responsibility of a leader
assumes the responsibility but level of self-
for ensuring the integrity disclosing participation is
of the process. As a considerably less.
participant he engages in
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To summarize, we are dealing with two processes that have a similar
endpoint, namely, the healing of the individual. Each process gets there by
different routes, using different ground rules and assigning different roles
to the participants. It is important to bear this in mind in assessing the
relative indications and advantages of each. It is also important to avoid
slippage from one process to the other without taking cognizance of the
fact that the ground rules have changed.
the two processes complemented each other, with the patient learning to
make the best use of each.
3. The control exercised by the dreamer. This allays fears and anxieties that
might otherwise heighten defensive operations.
4. The leveling out of hierarchical arrangements. The fact that the leader
shares dreams and does not assume any special therapeutic role
minimizes defensive operations. It also lessens the likelihood of issues
arising relating to transference and resistance.
6. The ludic quality of dreams. The ludic or play aspect of dreams has a
greater chance of surfacing in a group setting than in the dyadic
relationship.
The best arrangement seems to be to use the group experience to get the
leverage on the dream necessary to pursue it in greater depth in the private
sessions. Quite often the pressures in the therapeutic hour do not allow for
the time necessary to work through a dream, in which case it may be
brought to the group. There are also instances when transferential and
countertransferential issues arising in therapy are clarified through group
work.
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Some of the optimal conditions for any small group process are the same
for dream groups. Some are different.
Frequency. There is some flexibility here. I prefer groups that meet weekly
for two hours.
Duration. The contract can be for any duration. Four weeks gives a
newcomer a feeling and grasp of the process. My groups tend to be
ongoing on the basis of renewing the contract for four weeks at a time. As
participants get to know each other better, more of their interaction
becomes reflected in their dreams, and the growing knowledge of one
another sharpens the accuracy of the contributions.
Group Process. There are occasions, though relatively rare, when the
integrity of the process is jeopardized. Then more time has to be devoted to
group process in order to deal with tensions that may arise within the
group. If the dream process is adhered to, tensions of this kind are minimal.
Deviations from the Process. Once the group understands lice importance
of identifying the immediate life context that gave rise to the dream, there
can be more flexibility about presenting older dreams and repetitive
dreams, provided enough of the context can be recalled, or if the dream is
so important that the dreamer is willing to risk the loss of specificity that
occurs when the context eludes us.
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Changes in the Group. At the end of each four-week period the makeup of
the group may change because of turnover. Although these changes may
have some impact on the growing sense of intimacy and trust among the
participants, they also provide the compensatory feature of fresh new input.
The group joins in the decision to bring in newcomers.
APPLICATIONS
The process lends itself to training and general educational purposes. It has
been introduced into a college curriculum (Jones, 1979) and into the
training of psychiatric residents and psychoanalytic candidates (Ullman,
1977). Experiential dream work can be extended to all age groups with
whatever changes may be needed to accommodate the special needs of
selected populations. Training programs to assure competence in leadership
will ultimately be necessary in larger numbers than are now available.
SUMMARY
REFERENCES
Faraday, A. The Dream Game. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.