Why Should We Care About Dreams?

Dreams are a truly collective phenomenon.  Dreaming is an experience we all share as humans on a nightly basis. While some people have poor dream recall, the dreams are still occurring during our REM sleep cycle. As a child, I had exciting and colorful dreams, but I didn’t think much about them. It wasn’t until adulthood, when I entered my first Jungian Analysis, that I began to see how powerful dreams are.

I entered analysis to help with a deep depression that had taken over my life. Working with dreams helped me navigate this state in a way that simply talking about my emotions and cognitions couldn’t. One day my analyst pointed out something that significantly shifted the depression for me. He noticed that despite the waking world feeling grey, my dreams were alive with color and movement.

Under the surface, my psyche was moving and shifting in beautiful ways (as it always does when one is going through a transformation). I simply had to witness and pay attention to my dreams to see that change was happening. The more I worked with my dreams, the grander they became, and the more energy I recovered. In my current practice as a Psychologist and Art Therapist I have seen this process occur many times. I have witnessed over and over how working with dreams can help facilitate change and growth for the psyche.

How do you Work with Dreams?

When I start work with people interested in dream work, I ask them to keep a daily dream journal. This journal is not just for writing down dreams, but also for personal reflection.

Many people will first state that they don’t remember their dreams, in which case I ask them to try to write down the first few words that come to their mind as soon as they wake up. Generally, people start to remember their dreams about two weeks into this process if they are diligent. Once people start writing their dreams down the unconscious seems to react to the attention and dreams tend to become more vivid.

Together we explore the dreams that are most vivid for the client. We always look for what symbols might be showing up in the dream, the emotional elements of the dream, and what different parts of the dream might mean to the client. I personally approach dreams as a way for the unconscious to communicate to the dreamer about the psyche. Dreams can show us where a person is unbalanced in life, what they need to do to move forward, or sometimes what they are avoiding.

Every person will have different associations with their dreams, so it is important to treat every dream as something new. I like to think of dreams like plays with each character and every part of the set, representing something different in the psyche. For instance, a character dressed like a king might represent the dreamer’s inner sense of power and strength; however, it could also represent compensation for the dreamer feeling powerless in the waking world.

Likewise, a dream about an old house could be associated with cozy feelings of childhood for one person, but with feelings of neglect for another. Working with dreams can be tricky!

A Note on Lucid Dreaming

I do not usually recommend lucid dreaming while engaging in dream work.  Lucid dreaming refers to the process in which a person works towards controlling their experience in a dream. While it can be a fun experience, the goal of dream work is to try to understand what the unconscious is communicating to the dreamer. When a person is lucid dreaming, the ego is controlling the dream space, which means the unconscious cannot appear spontaneously like it tends to in a normal dream. 

3 Helpful Tips for starting Dream Exploration

1. Write down your dreams daily. If you don’t remember your dream, try to write the first thought that comes to mind when you wake up.

2. Look for patterns and themes in your dreams. What do those patterns mean to you?

3. Journal about your associations with different elements of your dreams. If you dream of birds, how do you feel about birds? What sorts of memories do you have about birds?

About the Author

Cammi Manchur is a psychologist and art therapist specializing in ADHD, Couples therapy and Jungian-Analytic Therapy (Depth psychology) . She works with youth (16+) and adults, supporting them in understanding their strengths, navigating challenges, and developing practical tools for focus, emotional regulation, and self-confidence. Influenced by the work of Carl Jung, Cammi brings a deep appreciation for creativity, symbolism, and the unconscious into her clinical practice. She integrates evidence-based psychological approaches with art therapy to help clients access insight beyond words. To find out more about Cammi please visit her website.