Skip to Main Content
10
Views
6
CrossRef citations
Altmetric

Section 2. Practice

Dream Work Treatment of Nightmares Using Transactional Analysis

Pages 283-291
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
Translator disclaimer

Little attention has been given to dreamwork in the transactional analysis literature, yet dreams can be powerful symbolic statements of a client's emotional processes and can serve as clear indicators of the direction psychotherapy might usefully take. This is particularly true of nightmares, which can be seen as the psyche's equivalent to physical pain in the body. Nightmares are often rooted in historical trauma, neglect, or abuse, compounded by Child survival decisions, but they also arise directly out of traumatic experience in adult life. This article contends that combining transactional analysis and simple action methods adapted from psychodrama can be effective in empowering clients to make redecisions; to break the cycle of rackets, games, and script beliefs; and to reduce repetitive posttrauma nightmares. The transactional analysis literature on dreams is briefly reviewed, and several nightmares are described using transactional analysis concepts and a practical dreamwork process. Connections are made to Berne's (1947/1971) concept of physis and James's (James & James, 1992) concept of the inner core.

Additional information

Author information

Evan Sherrard

Margaret Bowater, M.A., is a psychotherapist and a Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (clinical) who lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. She is a cofounder, co-director, and tutor of the Human Development and Training Institute of New Zealand and the author of a book on dreams and visions, a topic on which she has conducted many workshops. She and Evan Sherrard offer a variety of training in transactional analysis in Auckland.
Evan Sherrard, S.T.M., M.A., is a registered psychologist and psychotherapist and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (clinical) who lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the founding teacher in the Department of Psychotherapy and Applied Psychology of the Auckland Institute of Technology, where one of the core modalities is transactional analysis.