THE USE OF DREAMS IN COUPLE COUNSELING: A Jungian Perspective by Renée Nell – Title 113

Psychotherapists of many different schools use dreams in individual therapy, but very few use them in counseling couples. Indeed, marriage and family therapists often have no experience in this area because dream interpretation is seldom included in their training.

Jung sees the dream as the steady endeavor of the unconscious to create the best possible equilibrium in the psyche. Dreams are a means to establish a homeostatic balance, or at least to show the dreamer what would be necessary to achieve this balance.

In this book, with the help of numerous examples, Dr. Nell explains the efficacy of dream interpretation when working with couples, individually and in groups, in the diagnosis and treatment of emotional disturbances.

One of the main tasks in the psychological individuation process is the reconciliation of opposites, especially the opposition between consciousness and the unconscious. Dreams create a bridge between these two worlds.

Renée Nell, Ph.D. (1910-1994), founded the Jungian residential treatment center, The Country Place, in Litchfield, CT, where she served for many years as director and senior therapist. The Use of Dreams in Couple Counseling was translated from the original German by Sandra S. Jellinghaus. There is a brief excerpt in the Jung at Heart newsletter, no. 42.