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Children's dreams: Their meaning and use in clinical practice

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Abstract

Children begin dreaming sometime in the first year of life. Young children have a limited ability to distinguish dreams from reality or fantasy until they approach school age. Through childhood and adolescence, children's dreams tend to reflect representations of typical developmental issues, wish fulfillment themes, and environmental stimuli.

In addition to the manifest content, the latent meaning and associations of children's dreams also reflect the ego functioning of the child and are of extreme clinical value. Understanding these meanings can assist in our usual process of assessing emotional disturbances, locating the unconscious nature of the conflicts, and assessing the therapeutic relationship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Social Work, Boston College, Boston, USA

    Stephen J. Catalano M.S.W. (Doctoral Candidate)

  2. Children and Youth Services, Lakes Region Mental Health Center, Laconia, NH

    Stephen J. Catalano M.S.W. (Doctoral Candidate)

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth, USA

    Stephen J. Catalano M.S.W. (Doctoral Candidate)

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  1. Stephen J. Catalano M.S.W.
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Catalano, S.J. Children's dreams: Their meaning and use in clinical practice. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 1, 280–289 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00778689

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00778689

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