The hermeneutic value of the Daseinsanalytic approach to dream interpretation in psychotherapy: a case study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hermeneutic value of the Daseinsanalytic approach to dream interpretation in the process of psychotherapy. After delineating the Daseinsanalytic view on dream interpretation, with emphasis on the conceptualization of Medard Boss, the study explores the usefulness and validity of the case study as a method of investigating the content and process of psychotherapy. A psychodynamic formulation of the presenting problem is based on the conceptualization of the nature and etiology of neurosis as delineated by Andras Angyal, with particular reference to the pattern of noncommitment. The dreams included in the case material are then examined to determine to what degree they facilitated insight into the subjective experience and phenomenological existence of the dreamer, and what effect the dream interpretation based on the Daseinsanalytic approach had on the process of therapy. It is established that a phenomenological understanding of the client's dreams corresponds with his subjective experience of his emotional and existential condition, and that positive changes in the content of the dreams during the course of therapy correspond with overt, observable changes in his behaviour, ideation and mood. Based on these findings, the case study leads to the conclusion that the Daseinsanalytic approach to dream interpretation has hermeneutic value in the process of psychotherapy.