“Can psychoanalysis help in treating my bad dreams?”

Yes, psychoanalysis can definitely help ferret out deeper, underlying reasons. Though analysis is a wonderful route to explore layers of yourself, it is a lengthy and costly process. If you want an equally effective, quicker approach, psychotherapy is also a terrific alternative. You can dissect what's going on in your psyche, such that your 'sleep mind space' is brimming with residue from your waking life. Even a few visits with a therapist whom you like and trust, will go a long way in helping you sort out your dream activity. Good luck!

Unresolved issues, fears, and especially traumatic experiences can lead to having nightmares. In psychotherapy, including psychoanalysis, the thorough exploration, examination, and reliving of traumatic or related experiences within a safe therapeutic environment helps to effectively process distressing experiences. This significantly decreases the likelihood that they will affect you while you sleep.

That's a very good question. Psychoanalysis would be a very good type of therapy for you. Bad dreams can be very upsetting in themselves, but what's really important about bad dreams is that they tell us that something is going on inside us that is upsetting us. Very often it's not easy to know why we're having bad dreams because what's causing them isn't something that we're consciously aware of. In other words, it's something unconscious that's bothering us. That's why psychoanalysis is particularly useful as a type of therapy that is designed to help a patient understand unconscious processes including dreams. By understanding the underlying conflicts or traumas that are causing the bad dreams a patient is able to gain insight into her emotional life and work through the conflicts that are causing her emotional distress.

Kathe Hift, PhD

Maybe. I am a psychoanalyst myself, and dream analysis can be very helpful. But first I’d want to know whether you have been exposed to extreme stress and have other symptoms of PTSD, bad dreams being a cardinal symptom. If so, I would seek psychiatric treatment for PTSD. But it could also be good (with that knowledge in hand) to consult a psychoanalyst. Be sure to meet with 2-3 and have a list of questions about his/her orientation. Analysis differs both in theory, how interactive the practitioner is, use of the couch, # of recommended sessions, and other factors. Have the initial consultation sitting up, even if the analyst recommends otherwise. Go with your gut, and pocketbook. Ask about reduced fees for second and perhaps even third sessions.

Any therapist trained in dream therapy can be helpful including psychoanalysis.

Sure, any therapist should be able to help