The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams (34 page)

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Authors: Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras

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BOOK: The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams
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Several dream researchers have reported on the work of Russian psychiatrist Vasily Kasatkin, who collected more than 10,000 dreams from his patients and then analyzed them to determine how they might warn of an impending physical illness. He believed that signals of disease that are not perceived by pain receptors could be picked up by the brain's optic area, which produces dream images. Based on the case histories he studied, he developed a kind of "dream-based diagnosis" that uses the content of dreams to reveal the nature and location of an incipient disease. For example, according to Kasatkin, dreams related to hypertension (such as being buried under a collapsing building) appear two to three months before the illness is diagnosed. His dream-based diagnosis has also been useful in determining the level of recovery for alcoholics, with dreams of drinking alcohol indicating a poor prognosis. While Kasatkin cautions that you should certainly check with a physician before determining a diagnosis from your dream, many ailments might be discovered and treated earlier if dream messages were heeded.
Healing dreams can also reflect and promote strength and recovery from an existing illness. Several dream researchers have devised symbolic "maps," for example, of the route of recovery for alcoholics, with dreams in the final phases including archetypal images of wholeness, ownership, and fertility. A leukemia patient named Ann has found that the symbols in her dreams have a healing effect. From the beginning of her diagnosis, she had had dreams about hunting the wolf that for her represented cancer. Here is an excerpt from her journal:
The horse and I are hunting the wolf. It is a very dark, moonless night and the wolf is a milky blur, streaking over the rolling grasslands of the steppe with us in hot pursuit. Running toward us is a huge herd of animals. At first I don't recognize them. Then as they get closer, I realize it is a huge pack of
 
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wolfhounds, hundreds of animals strong. The wolf veers off but they overtake it easily and it disappears under a boiling mass of snarling bodies. The horse and I stop a respectful distance away. A minute or two later all that is left are a few bloody tufts of white fur in the trampled grass.
Ann awoke in excruciating pain, a reminder, she writes, of "how hard my marrow is working to regenerate itself. This dream makes an interesting testimonial to the resurgence of my white blood cells. I look forward to the day when I go up there and find the wolf, and the leukemia it represents, already dead." The powerful imagery of this dream reflects Ann's physical battle with her illness, presenting the physical process as a story she can understand and participate in. Ann continued to record and work on her dreams throughout her medical and psychological treatment in a variety of ways. One of the first things she did was to change the negative images in waking fantasy, as described in chapter 6. For example, after getting a message from the wolf through role-playing in imaginary dialogue, she would visualize a new ending in which she hunts him down and transforms him with assistance from her horse, her "dream helper." Eventually, Ann went into a state of remission and began work on a book about her healing experiences through dreams.
There are a variety of ways to use dreamwork to aid in recovery from physical illness. The techniques Ann used are similar to Kilton Stewart's "Creative Psychology." In this methodology, all harmful or unhealthy dream images (sick, crippled, weak, and so on) are destroyed or transformed into positive images, and all healthful images (strong, fertile, integrating, and so on) are reinforced. Jungian psychotherapist Arnold Mindell describes a process of "working with the dream body" to discover the connection of the dream to the bodily concern by focusing on it through the Jungian amplification technique, thereby turning the
 
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"symptom into a medicine." (This process is described in more detail in chapter 5.) It can also be helpful to draw figures from a healing dream within an outline of the body, a tree (representing fertility), or within a circle or mandala (symbolizing wholeness or protection). See chapter 6 for more information on using art and drawing for dream interpretation.
Lucid dreamers are markedly successful in healing themselves through taking actions to change their dreams while they are dreaming. It may be that healing effects are intensified or more accessible during lucidity. The lucid dreams of the woman recovering from a physical assault in Russia are a good example of using lucid dreams creatively for healing. You may recall how, each time she dreamed of the assault, she bolstered herself up for increased strength by asking herself during the dream what options she had for protecting herself and then performing those actions in the dream. These actions symbolized her growing emotional strength and fostered her physical healing.
Another area where healing occurs in dreams is during pregnancy. Since the dreaming mind taps into information about the body, it is not surprising that pregnancy themes are common in women's dreams, even shortly after conception. Many women have nightmares about their babies, like the expectant mother who dreamed of seeing her baby still attached by the umbilical cord and born with one large eye. "I scream for help, but no one comes," she said. After working on the dream and changing it in waking fantasy, she reports being much more relaxed throughout her pregnancy. Research shows, in fact, that women who confront their fears about childbirth in their dreams have shorter labors and fewer complications at delivery than other pregnant women. If expectant parents were made aware of the healing power of dreams, it might save much needless anxiety during pregnancy and childbirth.
 
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Figure 7.2:
The tree in this healing dream represents fertility.
 
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It is probably clear by now that psychological healing, too, is possible in dreams and through dreamwork. "Letters from the Health Spa," the sample dream entry in chapter 5, clearly shows how paying attention to one's dreams can lead to emotional release and productive insights. Indeed, studies show that people who share and work on their dreams as part of psychotherapy make better progress and are less likely to drop out of therapy than those who do not pay attention to dreams. Tenzin Rinpoche gives some possible explanations for these healing effects in his book,
The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
: "Experience is very flexible in dream and we are free to do a great many things that we cannot when awake, including particular practices that facilitate our development. We can heal wounds in the psyche, emotional difficulties that we have not been able to overcome. We can remove energetic blocks that may be inhibiting the free circulation of energy in the body. And, we can pierce obscurations in the mind by taking experience beyond conceptual boundaries and limitations."
Having a positive attitude about the healing potential of dreams can make a big difference in the emotional impact they have. The same dream can lead to either distress or psychological healing. For example, one elderly woman whose husband had died recently learned this by comparing her reactions with those of a widow friend whose husband appeared regularly in her dreams. "My friend told me," she said, "that her husband would embrace her in her dreams as he had when he was alive. She would then wake up feeling sad that he wasn't really there. I rarely remember my dreams, but the next morning I dreamt that I was in bed with my husband's arms around me, feeling warm and content as we slept together. I received much comfort from that dream. Now that I know I can have such a pleasant
 
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experience with my husband in my dreams, I'm going to try to remember them more often!"
In addition to recalling a dream, the act of recording it can also be healing in itself. Writing down a dream can become a form of healing meditationthat is, a way to slow down in the morning and to ease the transition from sleep to waking life. Rather than bolting out of bed or immediately worrying about tasks for the day, take the time to be with the unconscious, deeper parts of yourself in your dreams, and record them. Journaling of any kind has been shown to raise immune function, which contributes to healing and overall health.
Like recording a dream, simply sharing it with someone, even without analyzing it, can be a healing process. Telling someone about your dream is an intimate act and can create or enhance closeness between you and others. Research shows us that improvement in health is accelerated by the experience of feeling connected and supported, and dream sharing is a simple and effective way of creating a connection with another person. Relationships are seen in a new light. Actions and injustices are rectified or made clearer. A dream experience can resonate in much the same way as a waking one, and provide insight, healing, and, finally, closure.
No dreamwork has to take place for the healing to begin. Sometimes, merely having the dream experience is enough to effect psychological well-being. Laboratory studies have shown that without dream time thinking becomes disorganized, and people become increasingly irritable and anxious. This research seems to indicate that just having dreams, even forgotten ones, contributes to good health. Much more can be gained from dreams, however, when we pay attention to them, both to their content and to their meaning.

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