S4 - Evaluation of therapy

• Effectiveness

  • Solm - PET SCANS - rational brain reigon inactive in REM, irrational active (Freud + ID/Ego)
  • Matt + Narvaro - 63 analysis, 75% improve
  • Schredell - Surveyed 70% said to have improved
• Symptoms or cause

  • Cause
  • Looks at underlying issues (Unconscious)
  • Freud - if cause revealed, patient can be cured (e.g - unconscious and childhood)
  • Dimaggio - pleasant emotions in dreams increase
  • Long-term
• Methodological issues


  • Weakness
  • Conducted in lab, question is sleep/dream is authentic
  • Lack ecological validity (patient wired - not day to day life)
• Subjective interpretation


  • Weakness
  • Based on subjective interpretation of the dreamer, may not be reliable
  • Highly subjective, against scientific aims
• Cost/time


  • Time consuming (3-4 weekly), 2-5 years
  • Costly - many weekly sessions for years with a therapist
• Ethics - Psychological harm

  • Could uncover distressing emotions and events
  • Past traumas stored in unconscious
• Ethics - false memory

  • Toons - therapists induce fake memory so long sessions, more money gain
  • patient may have wrong memories as stored in unconscious
• Ethics - therapist-client relationship

  • Power imbalance
  • Patient is reliant leading to overdependence on therapist
  • Grunbaum - if cilent believes it will work it will
  • If patient challenges therapist - may subject to being denial and abnormal