Scharff, David E.
Dream Analysis in Therapy for Couples with Sexual Issues
- 2005.
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The authors demonstrate the use of couples’ dreams in couple therapy for problems with intimacy, sexuality, and fidelity. Condensation, symbolization, and projective identification are mechanisms that result in the conversion of emotional and relational pain into sexual symptomatology. Dreams use similar processes to hide and at the same time convey emotional issues, and so dream analysis with couples is particularly useful in exploring and treating dysfunctional sexual relationships. As in individual psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, dreams in couple therapy express the transference. The authors show how dream analysis renders the couple’s shared transference for resolution in the treatment process.