Integrating Jungian Dream and Imagination Strategies with EMDR Therapy

Integrating Jungian Dream and Imagination Strategies with EMDR Therapy is organized by EMDR Educators and will be held on Jan 30, 2027.

Description:
As an EMDR trainer and consultant, trainees will often report that their clients will share a dream with them after a critical EMDR processing session. Since they have no training in the content or meaning of dreams, they say things to me like, “I am completely ill-equipped to discuss a client’s dreams,” or “I don’t know anything about dream.,” They tend to move on with the treatment plan and move away from any discussion of the dream. Considering that the dream was so important to the early pioneers of psychology, it is unfortunate that this study has all but disappeared from the modern psychology landscape. This course attempts to fill that void. Pioneer of EMDR therapy, Francine Shapiro, encouraged the integration of other models with EMDR therapy. She stated, “Integrating models with EMDR causes profound psychological change” (Shapiro, 2018, p. 52).

This course has three primary purposes: First, to bring the Jungian influence within EMDR to light. Second, to honor Shapiro’s encouragement of integrating EMDR therapy with other models of psychotherapy, such as the Jungian model’s use of dream work. Thirdly, to examine current research, understanding, and utilization of dreams in psychotherapy. This course integrates both EMDR therapy and Jungian Psychology, creating a robust synergistic awareness of the magnificence of the human psyche. This course emphasizes experiential learning, by inviting trainees to do their own internal exploration. It offers the trainee an opportunity to have a deeper awareness and understanding of their own process through dream analysis.

The method used for dream analysis is based on the systematic and objective analysis of the content of dreams known as “Structural Dream Analysis” (Roesler, 2020). Additionally, we will discuss more recent therapies for working with dreams. (i. e., Imagery Focused Therapy (IFT) (Krakow, B., et. al. 2000) and Focused Oriented Dream (FOD) Therapy (Leijssen, M. 2004). Lucid dreaming will be discussed (Corlett, P. R., et. al., 2014; Chunyun, Y. & Heyong, S. 2020; Jarrod, G., et. al. 2020) and compared to Jung’s active imagination process. EMDR therapy is used in the trauma-informed approach to grief, often accompanied by dreams, which can be utilized and understood (Black, J., et. al. 2020). All three of these models, EMDR, IFT, and FOD, lack an in-depth examination of the content of the dream/nightmare. The purpose of these therapies is to have the nightmare extinguished and sleep improved. This training integrates EMDR therapy with Jungian strategies to enhance EMDR’s therapeutic understanding of the content of dreams and nightmares (Nilcerson, R. 2019).

This training alters no aspect of EMDR Therapy. It relies heavily on maintaining the fidelity of all aspects of the EMDR Therapy Model. The training adheres to the EMDRIA definition of EMDR therapy.

This is an advanced training. It assumes that each attendee is well versed in all eight phases of EMDR therapy and can administer all phases of EMDR competently. It is, however, assumed that the trainee will have little or no knowledge of Jungian Psychology, which is fine. Less…

Learning Objectives:

• Compare the similarities and differences of each of the two model’s approach to dreams and nightmares while describing other empirically validated methods of working with dreams and nightmares, (i.e., imagery-focused therapy (IFT) and focus-oriented dream therapy (FOD).
• Describe the necessity of client’s internal experience as a catalyst for positive change.
• Explain the six stages of transformation process discussed by Jung as individuation and Shapiro as the adaptive shift.
• Describe the dream themes that occur during EMDR therapy based on the six transformational stages.
• Explain different types of dreams and how they are integrated into dream work with EMDR Therapy and explain simple methods for helping the client understand their dream.
• Identify and utilize the three-part structure of dreams to develop an understanding of the dream.