evaluation

• Effectiveness

  Recent research has provided support for Freuds link between dreaming and primary process thinking. Solms 2000 used PET scans to highlight regions of the brain that active during dreaming. The results concluded the rational part of the brain is indeed inactive during REM.
• Effectiveness

  Interpreting the manifest content and coming up with the underlying meaning relies on subjective interpretation of the therapist. The dream that is being interpreted is a subjective report of the dreamer and may not be reliable information. This means dream analysis highly subjective process going against the objective scientific aims of psychology
• Effectiveness - methodological issues. Much of the research into dreaming is conducted in sleep laboratories it can be therefore questioned whether the sleep dream state is as authentic as when in normal conditions as the patient is wired up with various electrodes as a result the ecological validity of dream research is questioned
• Ethics therapist - client relationship. Can be a potential power unbalance between patient and therapist .Generally the therapist takes the expert role offering patient insight in their unconscious the patient is reliant on therapist in making progress through the therapy . This can lead to over dependence on therapist and is especially true in people who suffer depression.
• Ethics - Emotional harm During dream analysis a therapist may guide a client towards an insight or interpretation that proves to be emotionally distressing. Although this insight may be necessary for recovery the distress caused may be greater than the distress the client was experiencing as a result of current problems. Its important that therapists warn their clients of this danger before they engage in the therapy