effectiveness

• evidence supports the idea that our dreams are constructed as a result of the id
• Solms = PET scans to identify regions of the brain that are active during dreaming
• solms showed the rational part of our brain (ego) is inactive whereas the area concerned with memory and motivation (id) are very active
• This suggest its an effective way to uncover repressed unconscious desires so they can be dealt with and resolve the disorder
• evidence supports the effectiveness of Da in helping people improve their self-esteem
• Falk & Hill = compared 22 divorcing women in 8 week dream interpretation groups to 12 woman in a control condition
• Falk & Hill = women who participated in dream interpretation groups showed improvement in self esteem and insight
• this suggests that dream analysis is effective at helping women adjust to the life changes associated with divorce
• a weakness of dream analysis is that it is based on subjective interpretations of the manifest content
• Freud= did not support dream dictionaries as each interpretation needed to be made in the context of the clients situation
• additionally, the manifest content could be a literal representation of a memory or emotion
• this means that it is difficult to scientifically demonstrate that it is the interpretation of a dream that leads to the effective treatment of disorders
• one therapists may offer a different interpretation from another