Friday, January 20, 2012

Attitudes About Dream Meanings

Research has shown that people often report their dreams as meaningless but with further inquiry, they report that their own dreams do in fact have meaning. Interestingly, people often report that their dreams are meaningful in terms of their own health, the health of loved ones, relationships, and career. A study by Hsiu-Lan, Chia-Huei and Chen (2006) explored attitudes toward dreams and dream interpretation. One main finding was that initial attitudes toward dreams did not influence perceived gains from dream sessions via interpretation. How might this information aid clinicians when working with people and their dreams?

25 comments:

  1. This finding would greatly impact clinicians ability to help guide people towards insights in their waking life from their dream content. This finding proves that although many people may believe their dreams are insignificant and meaningless, through using the correct dream interpretation methods (i.e. STM), anyone can gain insight and find meanings that directly relate to their waking life. This would help clinicians to encourage people to interpret their dreams and assure those who doubt the meaning from their dream content that dream interpretation will enhance their ability to gain perspective from their dreams.

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  2. I think this information would help clinicians when working with people and their dreams because they won't necessarily have to worry about an individual's skepticism towards dream interpretation in regards to whether or not they will gain insight. They can also use this information to further persuade those in doubt that there is lots of supportive evidence for dream interpretation leading to significant insights, even for those that believe their dreams are meaningless.

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  3. I think this information would be helpful because it could encourage clinicians to persevere with clients and keep trying to use dream interpretation as a means of therapy, despite a client’s initial attitude towards the process. A clinician might still feel that the benefits of dream therapy out- weigh the client’s initial reluctant attitude towards the technique. I also agree with the previous post that suggested it might be beneficial information for the clients as well. It might be more motivating for clients to try the methods despite their initial attitudes. Clients might be willing to try anyway if they know that other individuals have been skeptical or hesitant but seen positive results from the process.

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  4. This information may help clinicians because although someone may have negative, positive or neutral feelings towards the fact that dreams have meanings, it doesn't hinder the insight that is gained. A clinician may be able to persuade an individual to go ahead and try one of the easy dream interpretation if they have a negative attitude towards dreams because this is easily explained and understood. In the end that person may find that an interpretation gave them great insight. This is turn could change their attitude and may be more willing to interpret and gain insight from further dreams.

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  5. Working with dream therapy may be difficult for the therapist if the patient has a negative bias or attitude towards it. Dream therapy is not as popular as other forms of therapy and it could be frustrating for a therapist if the patient is not confident in it. It can also be difficult for the patient if they do not understand how the therapy can help them. The research findings help the therapist in the sense that even though the patient may not agree with the therapy form in the beginning this will not reflect their ability to benefit from it. The important thing is to let the patient know that it is ok to have their own opinion about the therapy but encourage them to stay open-minded. Trying different forms of interpretation can help the patient find a technique they benefit from and could really help them change their attitude towards it.

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  6. This finding would be beneficial to the clinician because it would create no barriers when trying to convince a skeptical individual to take part in and be confident with dream therapy. When some individuals are skeptical of something they shut their mind off to it and become ignorant to any attempts at persuasion, thus, creating a barrier. When it comes to dream therapy, even if the individual does not think their dreams are meaningful in any way they still think that it is beneficial to take part in dream therapy. This would not only be beneficial to the clinician but to the patient as well. Since the patients feel that the dream therapy will be beneficial, they have a positive attitude towards their therapy and in turn this would ultimately increase the likelihood of recovery.

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  7. This information might aid clinicians in working with their patients because they would not have to worry about their patient being a skeptic. A lot of times there is a huge mind over matter factor and the person who is trying to be "healed" has to believe in what they are doing. I would assume that in these cases, the clinician takes up time trying to convince the patient of the ways that certain things work. In the case of dream interpretations, the clinician would not have to worry about trying to convince their patient of anything, and that would in turn give them more time overall to interpret the dreams and figure out what they mean for waking day life.

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  8. This finding is beneficial for the Clinician because not only does this mean the client's discovery is not affected by their initial attitude, but I feel it is the most beneficial for the client, that they find meaningful discovery without the clinician telling them that they will find meaning in their interpretations. I also personally think there is a larger effect when something (dream interpretation) changes your initial thought/attitude, rather than being in congruence. I feel as though being convinced of dream therapy by personally using it and finding meaning will give the clients more belief and confidence in Dream Therapy and Interpretation
    This also allows the Clinician to work with a larger group of clients, without the restriction of having to wean out those who have a skeptical attitude towards Dream Therapy.

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  10. The fact that initial attitudes about dreams has little influence on whether or not that patient will have insight via dream interpretation will help clinicians who work with their patients and their dreams. This will help by how when patients seem hesitant about dream interpretation (ie. How will this help me? I want results right away etc...) as they pass off their dreams as meaningless, the clinician can be reassured that the patient may still receive insight through dream interpretation.
    Clinicians can inform their patients that while their dreams may seem meaningless and interpretation might not be the quick fix they might be looking for, it will in fact help them gain valuable insight into their life.
    Tara-Lee Upshall

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  11. Yes I think that this would help the clinicians and their progress to helping their patients. I see that people still get some insight even when they don't think the dream was significant in anyway. One flaw I feel with this is people still have to have a passion to figure out their life problems to make real progress with their dreams. I feel the more invested they are in their dreams and the meaning of them the more information they will indeed find out about them. People will still get insight but I feel as though it is not all of the insight the dream is trying to tell them.

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  12. One of the nice things about having research findings at one's disposal is that someone else has already done the leg-work, all that remains is to field-test through application. Assuring a client that something is effective before they start can ease skepticism.

    Assuming there is already a desire in the client for help, demonstrated by the fact that they have in fact begun therapy, the resistance described could be handled on two fronts. First would be to tell the client that their attitude prior to dream interpretation doesn't matter, it will work anyway; kind of like sex or cold pizza, they will enjoy them despite themselves. Letting the client read the study may be a good start to break through rersistance, then urge them to judge by their own results. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

    Secondly, a flank approach may be in order. The clinician could ask the reflection of discrepancy question "why aren't you using a dream therapist's tools when you have engaged the services of a dream therapist?" This can be followed up by immediacy, i.e. "I'm sensing that you may be resistant to something you may discover. Am I in the ballpark?" Based on the responses (or lack thereof), a therapeutic in-road is possibly gained.

    A direct approach, i.e. challenging the notion that the dreams are irrelevant, can help too. How strong a challenge to use will depend on the client and the relationship with the therapist. The rersearch study can back this up too- "eveyone else's dreams have significance, what makes you think you are the exception?"

    Chris Morris

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  13. Research such as the one mentioned above will have a big impact on the way that clinicians deal with their patients during dream therapy. Although someone may want to try anything that would be seen as beneficial, everyone is not the same and others will choose a more concise approach, where they don't believe that interpreting their dreams will have any impact on their waking day life and situations. Becuase of this research, clinicians will be able to encourage those individuals who do not believe that any insight will be gained and start them off with something easy like TSM. As long as the individuals put 100% into the method, the insight gained will be benificial and these people may start changing their attitudes toward dream interpretation therapy techniques.

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  14. This information might help aid clinicians when working with people and their dreams because it can help provide relief to the client (for those who are having troubles with dream meanings). This means that the client’s discovery is beneficial regardless of whether or not they believe that their dreams are meaningless. It can provide significant insight into the client’s dreams and discoveries especially when methods such as TSM are used to help guide the client. Clinicians can inform their clients who are participating in dream interpretation that their dreams may seem meaningless in the beginning, but as they progress through the different interpretation methods, they will gain insight and information into their lives (health, careers, relationships) and the lives of others (relationships, loved one’s health, careers, etc…). As it has been mentioned above, one needs to be invested in the outcome of the method, and use it to their discretion.

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  15. I think the most obvious way that a finding such as this could influence clinicians when working with people and their dreams is the knowledge that even a skeptic could find use in their therapy through dream discovery. No attitude adjustment from those seeking their aid would be necessary, as whether they find insight or not isn't reliant upon their initial attitude. This makes discovery through dream therapy a very useful tool, as it can be used with a good success rate without much trouble through self-guided methods such as STM. Finding discovery within their dreams could then help an individual better understand their needs and wants, and make better waking day choices. This research assures a clinician that, when an individual discovers a relation between their dreams and their waking day life (in themes such as their own health, the health of their loved ones, their relationships, and their career), these discoveries will be meaningful to the areas of waking day life that are the most salient to the individual seeking aid.

    - Carey-Ann Bette

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  16. The findings of the study conducted by Hsiu-Lan, Chia-Heui, and Chen (2006) imply that even someone who does not believe in the use of dream interpretation can acquire great insight about their lives. This is important for clinicians who are first introducing dream therapy into their practice, and are unsure as to whether or not their patients will be accepting of this type of therapy. This is very good news for clinicians because they can inform their patients that, regardless of their initial belief in the whole dream interpretation process, it is likely that they will gain some insight about their lives. By introducing a simple method, such as the TSM, they could get their patients interested in dream interpretation, even if their patients are skeptical about the whole process. By acknowledge the fact that some clients will be resistant, and informing them that this process will work, the clinician can introduce a means of self-discovery that can change their patients’ lives.

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  17. The recent significant finding that ‘initial attitudes toward dreams did not influence perceived gains from dream sessions via interpretation’ could aid clinicians when working with people and their dreams. When people are sceptical about if they will be able to find meaning from their dreams via interpretation the clinician will not need to try and persuade the person instead they will able to see results themselves. By the people participating in dream therapy they will be able to see the results which is better than the clinician trying to persuade them that dream therapy really works. Starting off with a method that receives high success rate could help the person to start believing in dream therapy and therefore put more effort into receiving insight.

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  18. Before reading this article I assumed that a person’s attitude towards dream interpretation would have a direct impact on the outcome of a dream therapy session. It seems logical that a person with a positive attitude towards dreams would gain more insight out of an interpretation. However, as we all know, this was not the outcome in Hsiu-Lan, Chia-Huei and Chen’s (2006) study. I think this information would help clinicians understand that dream interpretation can still work and have an impact even if their client’s initial attitude is negative. I think it would be important for any clinician to at least try dream interpretation during a counselling session. It’s clear from this finding that doing dream therapy even once can change the attitude of an individual. However, this is just one article and I firmly believe that initial attitudes about dream therapy needs to be examined further, especially in different cultures.

    I personally think that my attitude towards dream interpretation has a large impact on the gain I receive from the interpretation. I feel that if I had a negative outlook about dream therapy than I would not gain nearly as much from it. I think that this article presents interesting findings in regards to dream interpretation and attitudes. However, Hsiu-Lan et al (2006) states in the article that the therapist still needs to be sensitive to the client’s wishes. I don’t think that as a clinician you can completely disregard a client’s concerns surrounding dream therapy based on one article. I think it would great to show them the research and perhaps other research on this topic so they at least give it a try.

    Alisha Cunning

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  19. These findings would suggest that dream interpretation is a useful and valid method of helping patients, and the results are not influenced by one's beliefs on the ability of the method to produce valid insights and findings. Also, with using these methods, patients may see the fun in it, and continue to keep a journal and interpret their dreams on their own, which is self-help.

    Melissa Van Grootel

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  20. These findings would be very influential for clinicians who are working with people and their dreams. When working with people regardless of if they believe there is meaning behind it, it would be worthwhile for the clinician and the patient to work through the dreams. If the clinician can convince the patient that looking at their dream ay be insightful, they would be able to see if there was any hidden health meaning in their dreams.

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  21. I feel that these findings are beneficial in the area of dream interpretation because it would encourage clinicians and therapists to promote dream interpretation to everyone, even sceptics. This is exceptionally valuable, because as individuals begin to make discoveries, it’s more likely that they will make walking day life changes.
    Grace Williamson

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  22. As previously stated, this finding is very beneficial to both the patient, and the clinician. The clinician will not have to worry about initial hesitancy from the client. Clinicians can reassure/encourage their client, knowing that initial hesitancy will not impact their future insight. This finding is also beneficial to the patient if they are struggling with dream meaning, or if the patient may be wondering how dream interpretation will help them, or if he/she is going to get results or not. Clients will still have a chance to gain discovery whether or not they believe their dreams are meaningless.

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  23. These findings would allow people who are skeptical about dream interpretation to experience some form of dream interpretation on a dream that interested them. Even if they went into the interpretation with a closed mind, the results show that if the findings are meaningful to them it may open up their mind and change their opinion on dream interpretation. I think that proper dream interpretation techniques should be more talked about in the public so that people will have the opportunity to discover new things about themselves. I believe it could help alot of people deal with their everyday problems.

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  24. These findings would be very beneficial for clinicians and patients who are working with dream interpretation. Although some individuals may believe that there are no benefits using dream analysis, studies show that by interpretating dreams, this helps all individuals see further insight in their waking life. When working with people with their dreams, finding hidden insight into ones dream will always have some sort of benefit. Whether it be for health reasons or simply to understand ones thoughts, a patient should always be encouraged to look further in their dreams.

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  25. I think this information is useful to clinicians in that it shows how much of an impact dream interpretation can have on a client’s perception of their dreams. When someone is first introduced to dream therapy, it can be understandable why he or she might think their dreams are meaningless, as there are still many people who believe that dreams are totally random events created by our imagination while we sleep. A clinician then should be confident knowing that the skepticism a client may have toward dream meaning is most likely a case of the client only trying to understand their dreams at face value, and thus they have never really tried to dig deeper into the true meaning of their dreams before. As such, this study shows that clinicians should not worry about skepticism towards dream meaning, but instead should be confident in knowing that once a client has been introduced to and properly applied dream interpretation methods to their dreams, he or she will realize the connections that exist between their dreams and their waking day life, and then apply what they learned from their dreams to make changes in their life.

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