‘A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read’ (“Dream Book” of the Babylonian Talmud [200–500 ce])
Do you remember your dreams? Dreams have long been used in therapy and spiritual traditions to provide insight into our inner worlds and the unconscious. Dream interpretation is a bit of a misnomer as it may imply the therapist is interpreting the dream, moreover usually the dream becomes the focus for a therapy session and the work is done together to understand and explore potential meanings in dreams.
In Gestalt therapy each part of the dream is viewed as an aspect of the dreamer, every animal, object, person of the dream is a part of the self. In Gestalt therapy you can role play as everything in the dream to discover disowned or unwanted parts of the self and begin to integrate and bring awareness to those parts.
Psychodynamic therapy has different and sometimes conflicting ideas about the meaning of dreams, from viewing dreams as unexpressed ideas from childhood, to manifestations of the unconscious to reflections of everyday life.
Personally from an integrative, affirmative relational therapy perspective I believe dreams can provide valuable insight into the worries of our everyday lives and the unconscious processes that may be behind these. I also think that exploring dreams together can be a creative way to increase understanding in building a shared map of the dream world.