By Elisha Gilb

What is depth psychotherapy? Depth psychotherapy is a psychoanalytic therapeutic modality meaning that it looks at the unconscious and early life experiences as fundamental aspects influencing us in the here and now. A depth psychotherapy session may look at teasing a part a dream the client had or using active imagination to move a problem through a person’s life.

The work done in depth therapy centers around dream work. A person may bring in a very important dream.  The therapeutic work would stem from looking at the components of the dreams, for example, the images.  We would look to explore the meanings and significance of factors making up the dream, and the implications of the dream or unconscious material on the person’s lived experience.  The work and dream could be further extended by using active imagination.  For example, perhaps a dead relative came to the dreamer, and before the dreamer could ask an important question, the dreamer woke up.  Extending the work therapeutically via active imagination, I’d ask the dreamer to continue the conversation in the therapy setting.  This type of work holds significance as it allows unconscious material to become conscious, and moves psychic energy into the personal growth and understanding of psychic material. (more…)