With his seminal work The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud placed dreams and dreaming as central to the workings of unconscious life. He viewed the investigation of the meanings of dreams as a core analytic preoccupation and task.  Carl Jung saw dreams as an intrapsychic communication between unconscious and conscious aspects of mind. Melanie Klein’s work with young children and development of an analytic play technique led her to discover how the play of children could be considered as the developmental equivalent to the dreaming of adults.  Wilfred Bion believed that the dream work of the analyst was happening continually, whether known about or not. Donald Winnicott suggested that the area of overlap between a patient’s dreaming and that of the analyst is where analysis takes place. Hanna Segal spoke of dreams which are evacuative and seek to make an impact on the other.  Donald Meltzer saw the dream process as a way of thinking about emotional experiences and the process like a theatre for the generating of meaning.

Alongside these groundbreaking observations, many subsequent psychoanalytic writers and clinicians have developed multiple ideas about this endlessly fascinating area of human experience. For instance, a few questions pertinent to psychoanalytic work would be: the role of dreaming in the evolution of a mind; what may inhibit or undo the capacity to dream; dreaming and its relationship to the development of symbolic function; the use, both progressive and defensive, made by the patient in their reporting of dreams in analytic work; the role of dreams in understanding the transference and counter-transference; the analyst’s dreaming as a response to the patient’s dreams; the relationship between dreaming and thinking, when asleep and awake.  

In this MPDT conference we have presentations from four eminent clinicians who will stimulate our capacity to imagine our way into the world of dreams and dreaming. This includes thinking about this phenomenon as being just as important and interesting to infants, young children and adolescents as it is to adults. Additionally, we have space to consider how dreams incorporating group life and social dreaming can lead to important insights into societal preoccupations and social relationships. In addition to the presentations, there will be time for questions, comments, and discussion. 

We really hope you will feel encouraged to join us, either in-person in Manchester, or online from wherever you are.