Creative Methods, Images and Dreams in Psychotherapy: Methods, Processes and Results

Dear Colleagues,

At the very beginning of psychotherapy, working with dreams was introduced by Freud as a therapeutic method. A few years later, CG Jung introduced working with images and artistic creations in psychotherapy. The basic idea behind these approaches is that dreams, imaginations and other creative productions provide access to (unconscious) material that should be focused in the course of psychotherapy, and on the other hand, contain constructive impulses in the sense of resources which can support progress in psychotherapy. However, working with these methods has spread into many different psychotherapeutic approaches, even beyond psychoanalysis, and numerous therapeutic approaches and methodologies have developed either as part of broader approaches (e.g., in analytical psychology) or as distinct psychotherapies (e.g., Sandplay Therapy). Nevertheless, the process models of how these methods foster therapeutic change and research on such processes are still scarce, and the evidence base for the effectiveness of such approaches is limited.

We welcome submissions to this Special Issue, either in the form of theoretical articles and empirical studies, or as reviews and metanalyses which (a) develop theoretical process models of how creative methods, images and dreams support the process of change in psychotherapy; (b) investigate empirically processes of change in psychotherapies, making use of creative methods, images and dreams; (c) investigate empirically the efficacy and/or effectiveness of the use of creative methods, images and dreams in psychotherapies.

Prof. Dr. Christian Roesler
Guest Editor

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