DREAMS AS INDICATORS OF UNCONSCIOUS DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES IN PSYCHOANALYTIC GROUP-THERAPY

In the present paper it will be examined by means of the description of a therapeutic group process to what extent the dreams may indicate structural gain of the individual and of the analytic group as a whole. The theoretical basis is provided by Ammon's conception of the dream as an ego- and group-function. Ammon concluded that the dream as a particular form of thinking represents a specific ego-function and indicates the ability of the individual ego to up its own boundaries. The intention of the authors is to persue the processual course of the group dreams over one year with the underlying hypothesis, that the dream ability and implicitly the demarcation ability from the symbiosis and destructive dynamics leads to a structural developmental process towards own identity. The described therapeutic group process exposes the interplay between the symbiotic and the oedipal level in Ammon's conception of analytic group psychotherapy. Within this process, the dreams illustrate and help to render unconscious internalized past destructive dynamics. The sequences of dreams reported in the group make evident the fundamental importance of working through of destructive-aggressive dynamics.