As Jung put it, dreams ‘show us the unvarnished, natural truth, and are therefore fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse’ (CW 10, paragraph 31).

You may ask, then, why their meaning is sometimes so obscure. This is due to the dream symbol, and the essence of this talk will be to explore how we can understand and interpret these symbols and their many layers and levels of meaning which can, sometimes, go on unfolding over a lifetime.

In passing I will say something about the history of dream interpretation, contrast Jung’s and Freud’s approaches, and talk about the neuroscience and purposes of dreaming.

My particular interest is in the way that dreams show us the patterns which govern the way we relate to others, structure and live our lives, and influence what we believe – what psychotherapy calls our implicit, internal working models.

I will illustrate the talk with some of Jung’s own dreams and, in something of an experiment, I will talk you through how to go about interpreting one of your own dreams (so do bring one along!).

Marcus West is the Training and Supervising Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology and UK Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Analytical Psychology. He is the author of ‘Understanding Dreams in Clinical Practice’ (2011) as well as two other books: ‘Feeling, Being and the Sense of Self’ (2007), and ‘Into the Darkest Places: Early Relational Trauma and Borderline States of Mind’ (2016).

He has taught and lectured widely in this country and abroad and has written a number of papers and contributed chapters to books. He was joint winner of the Michael Fordham Prize in 2004.

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