Psychology association seeks a better understanding of psychic life during the coronavirus crisis by collecting your dreams
Local psychologists have embarked on a “dream catching” exercise as evidence presents itself of people experiencing more vivid and intense dreams as a result of the pandemic.
They aim to take a snapshot of how our mind deals with powerful collective phenomena like COVID-19.
The Malta Depth Psychology Association is inviting the public to submit their dreams as part of its Breakfast Dreams project.
“Dreams are not only personal but connect us also to the unconscious dimension of the other, that is, to the larger world we live in,” said association vice president Christiane Sullivan.
“The idea behind this dream catching activity during COVID-19 is to invite people to record their dreams and offer them as dreams for the collective.”
Sullivan, a psychologist, psychotherapist and Jungian analyst, said that collecting these dreams – which will be anonymous – is an opportunity to explore a deeper understanding of psychic life during these difficult times.
They will be collected into a dream journal where the main collective unconscious themes and archetypal motives emerging during this crisis will be gathered and eventually explored.
Rattled lives… and dreams
The pandemic has unsettled people on individual, family, national and global levels, says Marcella Muscat, a counselling psychologist, Gestalt psychotherapist and Jungian analyst.
At night the true extent of the emotional impact can come forth…
COVID-19 has rattled identities, assumptions about life and coping strategies. And the emotional intensity of it all is often amplified in dreams as people try to work through things at night.
“In this time of uncertainty, there is frequently a change of intensity and focus. We read things in the papers that shake us, but consciously may seem relatively handleable, but then at night the true extent of the emotional impact can come forth…
“For each individual the dream drama would enact aspects of COVID-19 that affect him/her individually and aspects that relate to the collective,” she said.
Because of the “stay at home” directive and social-distancing practice, people have more time to sleep, dream, wake up slowly, remember their dreams and take time to pay attention to them, Muscat noted.
From infection nightmares to hopeful rebirth
Dreams change during traumatic periods reflecting the inner experience of the individual, says art psychotherapist Jeannette Fiott.
“The current dreams are much related to the fear of the unknown with a lot of darkness. The unknown brings anxiety and the feeling of lacking control on the current circumstances, which in turn creates psychological stress.
“These take different forms… however, there is a general symbolic dream of underlying fear of what will follow, and how to go back to a form of normality, with tremendous losses of what constituted the previous normal daily life,” Fiott says.
Marcella Muscat elaborates that, with the coronavirus pandemic, several dreams conjure up negative emotions.
She reels out a list: nightmares depicting terror of being infected; war and battle imagery; loss, abandonment and the need to be ‘touched’; social media invasion and technological collapse; being persecuted or shamed; dwindling resources; falling: from grace, success, health; general impotence; green-eyed envy; pathophysiologic dreams (where you are gripped and paralyzed and wake up gasping for breath); aggression and homicidality amongst others.
Thankfully, she says, there are also pleasant, calming, dreams – new possibilities; new parts of our character being born; the gift of time; reconnection with nature; connection with children, with others (sometimes strangers) who are there for us; the calming, wise presence of dead relatives.
“However, the overarching themes are always related to our telos (purpose), to our death, to our spirit and our existential journey,” Muscat says.
Participate in the dream catching exercise by filling in this form: https://forms.gle/jh6HrymAk1ziUhRs5