Creative Explorations in Experiential Personal Construct Psychology: Accessing Nonverbal Meanings in Dreams

In the present study, I explored the effects of engaging with salient dream images on participants’ understandings of self, dream image, and world. Framed by a background of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP; Kelly, 1955), Experiential Personal Construct Psychology (EPCP; Leitner, 1988), Archetypal Psychology (Hillman, 1975), and the aesthetic perspective in EPCP (Thomas & Schlutsmeyer, 2004), my aim in this study was to encourage participants to take an aesthetic perspective towards a salient dream image and to develop a dynamic relationship with the image as the imaginal other. Four college students participating in a senior Capstone on dreams took part in the study. Participants engaged in the Expressive/Experiential Dream Work Method, an approach that alternated between presentational methods (e.g., creating a three-dimensional representation of the image, enacting the perspective of the image) and discursive methods (e.g., written characterizations, journaling) for expressing their understandings of a dream image and themselves. Three to four months after engaging in the Expressive/Experiential Dream Work Method, participants participated in a Post-Dream Work Session that involved writing a final self-characterization, participating in an interview that asked them about their experiences and understandings of the dream image throughout various phases of the study, and providing contrasts for previously identified constructs. I analyzed the data collected through these methods using a case study approach, examining the personal meanings of working with a dream using this method, as well as changes in participants’ processes of meaning-making. Over the course of the study, all four participants exhibited shifts in their understandings of the image, themselves, and their worlds. I interpreted the results of the study to indicate that through their engagement with a salient dream image, participants connected with important personal meanings and demonstrated personal growth in the direction of these meanings. I suggest that these changes reflect participants’ increased awareness of presentationally symbolized meanings, initially residing at a low level of awareness and partially accessible through engagement with dream imagery.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Miami University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Conaway, Kathryn Aileen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Leitner, Larry

• Psychotherapy
• Psychology
• Experiential Personal Construct Psychology
• dreams
• presentational symbolism
• creativity
• meaning-making
• levels of awareness

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1362784482

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:miami1362784482