Active dreaming

Domain I · Psychodynamic & depth psychology · Robert Moss · 1996

What it is

a way of working with dreams as experiences to be acted on and re-entered, not only analysed. It treats dreams as real experiences in their own right. It also treats imagination and waking coincidence as continuous with night dreaming. Moss's three "only" things are things dismissed as "only a…

Format

• Moss publishes no phased treatment model, session count or phase-transition criteria. The structures he does publish are:
• Gather information: feelings, a reality check, a future check, and what the dreamer wants to know.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Format Moss uses: pairs and circles in workshops; drumming circles for reentry; a three-year teacher training. The School of Active Dreaming is his training body; its curriculum structure is not drawn on.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• same cautions as 4.18.
• group pressure to report "matching" experiences.
• keep it physically safe, and step out of role clearly at the end.
• it is working when the image keeps prompting associations or new dreams.
• Over-psychologising dreams that the client experiences as literal or transpersonal.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.