Examples of Dream Analysis

Please enjoy the following examples of Dream Analysis. I have used material from dreams presented to me for analysis. I have obtained permission from the dreamers to use this material. They are a good example of my work and the way in which dream analysis can benefit us all. Identifying details have been changed and no names have been used to protect the privacy of clients. The first example shows how to write your dream scenes and how the free associations assist with the interpretation. The second example shows the type of response you will receive. 

Example 1.

Scene 1:

I walked into a store. I was carrying a black puppy. It seemed to be paralysed or couldn't walk. I feel really responsible for this puppy. It seems sad. I wanted to buy it something special to cheer it up. I was asking the man in the store if he had anything special for the puppy, but he didn't seem to be able to gived me what I needed. I found a packet of chicken strips. They kind of reminded me of some chicken strips I used to get in with frozen low calorie meals I used to buy. The puppy doesn't want to eat them.

Free Associations:

A store: Where you can buy things. Where you can get what you want/need.

Black puppy: Sad, dark, paralysed, not able to walk. Needing my care, my attention, broken.

Responsible for puppy: I need to care for this small dark broken puppy.

Special Treats: Something for it to eat, something to make it feel better, nurturing this dark thing, carrying it, feeding it.

Can't find what I want: The store is not meeting my needs, I'm frustrated, I just want something to make the puppy feel better. Something simple and right, I can't get it from this store.

Puppy wont eat: I feel bad. I want to fix this puppy but I can't find the right thing. It wont help itself. I feel powerless.

Analysis:

Dear Dreamer

Your dream begins with you entering a store holding a small black puppy who appeared to be not able to walk. You tell me you are feeling a lot of empathy and pity for this puppy and want to make it happy by buying it some special treats. You feel a real need to protect and nurture this puppy. You find the store lacks exactly what you need and you end up buying some small strips of chicken to feed it, which the puppy refused to eat.

Looking at what you told me about your life and your free associations, I can see that the dark broken and sad puppy relates to a dark, broken and sad aspect of yourself. The puppy may relate to a depressive period you are going through. The store relates to you being able to get your needs met in your life. You seem to have trouble in this area due to your inability to focus on what it is you actually want. You, like the puppy are vulnerable and unable to move. You may feel stuck in this sad place and unable to move out of it, although you keep trying to find something appropriate to lift your mood.

You may find that food is something you turn to to fill the void, or the food may represent some other bad habit that you have developed that is not good for you. We often try to fill our emptyness or to stop our anxieties with alcohol, food, drugs, sex, gambling, work or even shopping. This is a temporary fix and you need to look at what it is you really need to lift your sadness. Although you never really analysed the chicken peices you brought for the puppy, perhaps this holds a clue. Could it be that you are fearful or too chicken (scared) to push for what you want?

Scene 2:

I am standing over the puppy. It is in a box. Two smaller, fat white puppies are put in the box with the black puppy. I'm hoping the white puppies will encourage the black puppy to play. The white puppies are so playful, I am concerned they will hurt the black puppies, so I take it away.

Free Associations:

Black Puppy: Dark sad, broken little thing.

In a box: Boxed in, small enclosed.

Small fat white puppies: Healthy, happy, energetic, white, good, fun, wholesome.

Frightened they will hurt Black puppy: They are too energetic, having fun, playing, they might hurt the dark puppy. It's too scary, take them away.

Analysis:

The second scene of your dream see's you standing over your puppy and hoping he will be cheered up by the introduction of two white, energetic puppies. The two white puppies are smaller but much more energetic and playful. They are round and full of fun and joy. You watch for a short while and then feel it is too much for him and you remove him in fear that he will be hurt.

Once again, in looking at your associations, You are feeling boxed in with your depression. I feel the white puppies relate to fun opportunities that you really need in your life. You are fearful of taking these opportunities because you feel that you could not deal with them and may be hurt. In a sense you are feeding and nurturing and enabling your depression. You do not want to let it go at this time. When depression is in our lives, it can be hard to take affirmative action. I feel this dream is suggesting that your unconscious mind feels it is time to take those small opportunities for fun and stop avoiding them. Your unconscious mind would not want you to do this unless it felt you were ready. This is why the small and white puppy is good, as described by you, and your depression puppy is dark and depressed. The white puppies are smaller than your dark puppy. They will not hurt it. They may have actually helped it, but your fears made you cease the contact. You are holding on to something. It may be time to make a conscious decision to let it go and move into some small manageable fun times.

Scene 3:

I suddenly realise I have left the puppy in the backseat of an old broken down car. I feel really paniced and guilty about it. I rush back outside to get him back. I can't believe I forgot about it.

Free Associations:

Old broken down car: Old, from the past, broken down, doesn't work anymore, car is how I get from one place to another, how I get where I am going.

Back seat: In the back, behind the drivers seat, behind me.

Forgotten the puppy: Forgotten this small dark broken thing. Left it behind, left it behind the drivers seat, left it behind me.

Panic and guilt: Feel so bad. How could I be so irrisponsible. I should care for this thing. I can't forget about it.

Analysis:

The next dream scene see's you realising you have left the puppy in the back seat of an old broken down car. You have forgotten about it. When you remember, you feel panicky and guilty. You rush back out to retrieve him. You really are on the threshold of getting over this depression. You left the puppy as you would leave behind the depression in your life, for other things that have taken your interest. You recently have had a time where you felt quite good, when the depression had lifted for a time. The old car, as associated by you, was old, rusty, broken down, a thing of the past. The car is the past, the way you have made your way through life. It is broken down, it doesn't work anymore. It is time to look at moving forward in a new way, a new vehicle. The puppy was left behind on the back seat, not in front. This depression is no longer driving your life.

Overall Meaning:

The puppy has come to you in the dream as a living thing. Something that you need to nurture and care for. This was probaby very helpful for a time. You needed to care for your depression. You needed to see your GP and other health care professionals. However, your depression is not alive and needing to be nurtured in the same way as a puppy. The depression has a lifespan, it may be coming to an end. Certainly you can grieve that you were depressed, but not grieve the end of the depression. Unless of course there are things about it that you will miss. This may sound silly, but sometimes people expect less of us, support us or care for us more if we are unwell. This is where you need to look at why you are holding on to this depression. It is also important that now you learn to nurture your playful white puppies. They represent the aspects of yourself that are playful and fun, energetic and happy. They are the lost ones if you stay attached to your depression.

You may worry that having fun can be dangerous. But remember that the puppies or fun aspect of your nature is only a small part. You fear them because you have repressed them so deep down, it is begining to feel like a pressure cooker. Funnily enough, once that lid is taken off, it's never that bad, you lose the fear of erruption. You have a large responsible self. You do not need to let go of this aspect, you just need to learn how to maintain balance between the two. On the scales of inner balance, your responsible self is weighing too high. To learn to rebalance, you need to introduce yourself to your inner Adult. This aspect is your true self. This self is encouraging, like a good referee. She can mediate between your responsible self and your fun self. With her in charge, you will always have control of both of these aspects.

I would like you to journal with these four aspects of the self. Write as the white puppies. Let your imagination go and hear what they would say if they had a voice. What kind of things do they want to do? What do they have to say? Then do the same with the responsible self. The self that controls what you do. It will probably be a critical self. It may feel that you should do this or do that. Good girls should...Nice girls would. Listen to what she says. How does she think you should behave. Also, listen to the black puppy. What power does it still have over you? What will you lose if you leave her behind with the rest of your inner world? She will still be there, safe and sound. She will simply be away. You can learn things from her, but she need not rule your life. Most importantly, introduce yourself to you Adult or True self. She is likely to say you can do what ever you like, but she won't push you out of your comfort zone. She may encourage the puppies within boundaries. She will say it's okay, if we look after our responsibilities, like our children and paying our bills, we can play with the puppies within a less restrictive but still responsible framework.

Exercise:

1. Journal the puppies both black and white

2. Journal your responsible self

3. Journal your Adult/True Self

Mediate between them to come up with a fun activity.

As you bring forth your fun aspects in a safe framework with the help of your true self, you will learn that there is nothing to be afraid of. Your fun aspects will no longer feel as if they will burst out, because they are no longer repressed. It is important to understand that moving past your depression is within your power. Your unconscious is giving you this message. Take the fun opportunities when they arise Don't keep yourself down. Take small steps. Practice fun on a small scale. Introduce yourself to the aspects discussed and learn how to control them. Best wishes in your future. Happy dreaming...Jackie

Example 2.

Dear Dreamer

Your dream consisted of only one scene. It is a very interesting scene however and offers much for analysis. You saw three brides standing outside a church. All brides were dressed in white. Each bride held a rose and were of different ages. One was quite young, one was middle aged and the other was quite old. The old bride held a black rose while the two younger brides held red roses. You say this dream affected you very strongly emotionally and you awoke in tears.

You free associate the church as a place in which marriages, funerals and christening occur. You say it is a place where people do not commit sin, where vows and promises are made before God. You also add that you are not really religious. The white dresses represent purity, marriage, virginity, being locked in to marriage, to a man, traps. You associate the roses with blossoming and blooming, then to prickly, hurts you, pricks you. The red you see as the color of blood, women's blood. I take this a bit further for you, women's blood , menstral blood, woman sexuality. You see the black rose as dark, shadowy, grief, mourning.

For such a small dream with little content, it can tell us a lot. It also points out why I need to know about your life and where you are situated right now. I feel this dream is telling you that you have held on to the promise you made in front of God many years ago. You say you were married to a man for twelve years and you had two children in this time. You also tell me you have not had any other real relationships in the more than twenty years since this marriage ended.

Your unconscious mind is telling you that you have been a wife and lived as a wife enough even though this period of your life has past. Although you claim to not be religious, at some time in your life you encripted the message that if you make a promise in front of God, you must keep it. You say you no longer care for this man. On some level you do care about the promise you made.

Consciously, you fear that you have grown too old. Unconsciously you are grieving the loss of your sexual self. Your unconscious mind is telling you it is never too late, It has broken through in a strong emotional manner to make you wake up and smell the roses. You have been so fearful of being hurt again, you have stopped seeing the beauty in a budding, blossoming relationship and see only the thorns. You see all men as dangerous to your well being. All relationships are a risk. There is every chance that a new relationship may not work out. Is it better then, to take no risks and lose out on what appears to be a very important repressed aspect of yourself. Your sexual self has been repressed for so long, that just thinking about exploring this aspect, probably brings up repulsion, anxiety and fear. You tell me you like being alone and that's great. However, although you are a very capable woman and do not need a man, there is a large and hidden aspect of yourself which would very much like one.

I feel by your writing that there is an aspect of you that distrusts men. I think there is another aspect that quite likes men. I feel this aspect is your more feminine, sexual, naughty self. She actually misses the cuddling and canoodling and in fact misses the sex. Although your mistrusful self may come across aggressive, she is there because she is protecting the self who made those promises with love and stars in her eyes many years ago. She is naive, she went into the marriage full of hopes and promises and happily ever after. She has been badly treated and she has a protector now. A protector you created, your mistrustful self. She is not going to let anyone hurt the naive young bride again.

I would like you to journal with these three aspects of yourself. This includes your Mistrustful Self, Naive Bride and Sexy Self. You may have difficulty talking with your sexy self. She has been repressed so long, your defence mechanisms will try to block her for fear she will spillout of her top and make a fool of herself. The key to managing this is to get in touch with your Inner Adult or True Self. This is your inner mediator. This is the one who is always looking out for the intrests of the whole self. This self is calm and assertive. She is encouraging and needs to be the final word. The adult self keeps every one from getting out of hand. While journalling, use your adult self to keep track and teach yourself how she can level the fears and anxiety as they arise. She will say things like...It's okay, take a breath. This is an exercise. I am in control. When you start thinking things like, "Oh God, this sexy self is ridiculous. What kind of woman would think like that." Your adult self will come in with.."It's okay. She's just being loud right now because she hasn't been heard in so long. Don't judge her. Get to know her. I'll keep things under control.Okay"

Exercise: Journal

1. Mistrustful self

2. Naive Bride Self

3. Sexy Self

4. Adult/mediator self

The job of the adult here is to bring about balance. It's as if your aspects are on a see saw. Your Naive Bride Self and her protector Mistrustful Self are taking too much weight. We don't want Sexy Self to have too much either. Your Adult Self is in the middle. She has a foot on each side. She can adjust the see saw so that every one gets a turn. She can push her weight on either side as needed to bring back balance to a comfortable level.

You are certainally not ready to hit the town in mini skirts. But perhaps you could join a club or rediscover an interest which may get you out and socialising. It may increase the opportunity of meeting people of either sex and developing relationships, either romantically or as friends in a safe environment.You may actually see that many men are really cool people. Always remember to develop that relationship with your inner adult. See how she can assist you to allay fears of being out of control. Good dreaming...Jackie