ABSTRACT
The emotional reactions to dreams—the anxiety, fatigue, and excitement—only add to our belief that dreams must be important. Dreams are created in our unconscious mind. Understanding the meaning of dreams can open doors to real change in the course of psychotherapy. Dreams provide messages from the unconscious mind, as do the images produced in hypnotic trance. These messages may tell of internal struggles and emotional pain that parallel the trauma or emotionally painful family behaviors and attitudes that affect and limit the dreamer’s life. A variety of hypnotic guided imagery techniques can also provide direct access to the unconscious and can be used in the same manner as dreams. Whereas dreams, guided imagery, and hypnosis provide an understanding of unconscious processes at an individual level, myths offer a more global understanding of the functioning of the unconscious mind in the process of healing.
