About the Book
This book describes how dreamwork can help alleviate depression, in both long-term and time-limited psychotherapy, and in self-treatment. The author shows how dreams shed light on issues contributing to depression-including drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, death and bereavement, conflicts about sex, health and body image, parenting, workplace stress and burnout, and ancestral, intergenerational trauma. Greg Bogart presents a synthesis of Jungian and existential psychotherapy, detailing how attention to archetypal symbolism brings into immediate focus new responses to pressing life challenges. He shows that allowing oneself to be affected by dream images and narratives promotes emotional, relational, and spiritual rejuvenation. One of the most lucid works yet on dreamwork in clinical practice, this book will interest those who experience depression, as well as their therapists and loved ones. It details a method that can be practiced by couples and family members and adapted to group work in a variety of clinical, educational, and occupational settings-any place where people feel safe and free to explore, reveal, and discover themselves.
Table of Contents:
Permissions , Preface , Symbols of woundedness in dreams , Developmental themes and intergenerational stressors in dreams , A dreamer's quest for love and self-acceptance , The weight of married life: six dreams , Dreaming of conflicted family relationships , Dreamwork through an existential lens , A dreamer approaching retirement , Dreams of an elder , The healing symbol of wholeness
About the Author :
Greg Bogart PhD, MFT, is a psychotherapist in private practice and lecturer in the department of Psychology at Sonoma State University, in northern California. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). He is the author of numerous books, including 'Dreamwork and Self-Healing: Unfolding the Symbols of the Unconscious', 'Astrology and Meditation: The Fearless Contemplation of Change', 'In the Company of Sages: The Journey of the Spiritual Seeker' and 'Planets in Therapy: Predictive Technique and the Art of Counselling'.
Review :
'The book you hold is a distillation of the wisdom, knowledge, and clinical technique of an inspired interpreter of dreams. Greg Bogart shows us how messages from the deep psyche illuminate psychodynamics, current life situations, and directions for healing in our patients and ourselves. He shows that even what appear to be negative dreams orient us toward wholeness. Although this book concerns the treatment of many different kinds of depression, it is far more. I regard it as a major contribution to the wider field of depth psychotherapy, one I warmly recommend. ' -Bryan Wittine, PhD, LMFT, Jungian Psychoanalyst, C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco'Based on years of clinical experience and a marriage of the wisdom of Jung with the practical strategies of existential psychotherapy, Dr Greg Bogart makes the meaning of dreams come alive. He demonstrates how dream work can be a potent resource at key turning points in the life cycle-including early adulthood, marriage, midlife, retirement, and old age. His examples are extremely clear and show the impact of working with an evolving series of dreams. Dr Bogart uses dreams to address practical dilemmas in love and work but always with an eye to a universal and spiritual dimension of dreaming. I highly recommend this insightful and uplifting book. It is relevant for psychotherapists, dream analysts, and the general public, especially for those who are depressed and want to experience a unique approach to healing.' -Alan Siegel, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley; Education Chair and past President, International Association for the Study of Dreams; author of Dream Wisdom: Uncovering Life's Answers in Your Dreams'In this innovative book, Dr Greg Bogart makes a convincing case that working with dreams can be an effective treatment for depression. Bogart's holistic approach combines existential psychotherapy, Jungian psychology, and cultural mythology. Each case study is a novella, filled with penetrating insights, and a joy to read. Dreamwork In Holistic Psychotherapy Of Depression is truly a breakthrough work, one that entertains as well as instructs. ' -Stanley Krippner, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Saybrook University, co-author, Extraordinary Dreams And How To Work With Them
