How to run a dream group
The Ullman method
There are lots of different ways of working with dreams. One of the most popular is the Ullman method. Montague Ullman was a dream expert who worked in New York in the 1970s. Ullman believed that the best person to understand a dream, was the dreamer themselves.
By sharing and discussing their dream with other ordinary people, the dreamer can be supported in this journey. Instead of psychoanalysts, psychiatrist, or any other kind of expert, the Ullman method relies only on respectful human connection.
The intention is not to uncover the ‘true’ meaning of a dream. We do not use dream dictionaries.
This method does not make any comment on where exactly dreams come from, or what the function of dreaming might be. It works the same whether you have mainstream neuroscientific understanding of dreaming, or whether you have a more spiritual viewpoint.
What do I need to get started?
Very little is required! Practically, at least an hour (two is better) and a quiet room where the group won’t be disturbed. Three to twelve participants works best.
What actually happens during the session?
Before the session. If you have had a recent dream, write it down and bring it with you. If you don’t dream, or don’t want to share a dream, then no preparation is necessary. The Ullman method is best suited to ordinary dreams. Nightmares and dreams relating to traumatic waking experiences are better explored in other settings.
Step one. One group member volunteers to share their dream. This person is referred to as the dreamer.
Step two. The dreamer describes their dream in as much detail as possible. The group are then invited to ask questions they may have missed or not quite understood.
Step three. The group offer their own reflections and interpretations of the dream. The group try to imagine what it would have felt like to them, if they had dreamed this dream. To constantly remind ourselves that our comments are projections, rather than solutions, we begin each comment with the words “If this were my dream…”
Step four. The dreamer come back to the centre of the process. They share reflections on whatever ideas or insights they find most interesting. They might share what they have learned about their dream.
The purpose, goals, and benefits.
Most people participate in dream sharing because it’s fun and because they want to understand themselves better. That being said, there are some other benefits.
Community building. Sharing dreams builds social bonds. After telling someone your dream you will feel closer to them. And they will feel closer to you. Trust and intimacy increase, especially if you’re already in a relationship. Evolutionary psychologists think dream-sharing started around 40,000 BC. Probably the same time as complex language and cave painting. A group of academics at Swansea University have proposed that dream sharing was one of the drivers behind our transition from competitive individual hunters to collaborative members of a social group.
Conflict resolution. In the 1970’s there was a lot of Western interest in a tribe called the Senoi, hunter gatherers who lived in the jungles of Malaysia. It was said that they shared their dreams over communal breakfast each morning, and, thanks to their dream-based lifestyle, enjoyed sound mental health and a non-violent society. This might be a slightly romanticised version of the truth, but there are other (modern) examples of dream sharing resolving conflict.
The Dream Mapping project is an international art project that collects dreams from Russian and Ukrainian dreamers, with the goal of rehumanizing the enemy. Last year two British psychologists used dream sharing to resolve much smaller, interpersonal workplace conflict.
