ABSTRACT
The realm of dream is a relatively unexplored space in analytic couple therapy yet one that is full of potential. Exploring a couple's dreams opens a new space that lets us work at a profound level. Therapists' dreams may be viewed as countertransference reflecting unanalysed infantile conflict or as reflecting the therapy process. The dream reveals the main emotion and the threat as the story introduces its theme and central conflict. Telling the dream to the spouse or partner, and needing to tell the story of that particular dream, reveals the individual's narrative and conflict in the couple relationship, and it shows the partner's way of listening and responding, and so sheds light on the relationship. The individual dream of an intimate sexual partner is dreamt in a shared bed, in the presence of the person in relation to whom the sex drive is fulfilled or frustrated.
