CHARACTERISTICS OF JAPANESE DREAMS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: DREAMS THAT DEVELOP DREAMERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL THEMES BASED ON A CONNECTION WITH THE JAPANESE MENTALITY

Abstract

In analytical psychology, it is assumed that dreams have attached importance in psychotherapy and focusing on the structure of dreams, which is the dream situation, is useful for dream analysis. This article includes three quantitative studies to show a connection between the Japanese mentality and the dream situations that “The dream-ego sees others” and “Others take the initiative in positive behavior to the dream-ego.” Study 1 compared the rate of each situation in Japanese and German clinical cases. The rate of each situation was significantly higher in Japanese cases than in German cases. Therefore, Study 2 examined dreams with either situation appearing in the Japanese cases. It showed significant differences in the details of the situations when these dreams appeared in the course of therapy. Then, Study 3 examined the rate of each situation also in non-clinical Japanese college students’ dreams. Both situations appeared in non-clinical Japanese students’ dreams, but the rate of “The dream-ego sees others” was significantly higher in Japanese cases than in non-clinical Japanese students’ dreams. The three studies’ results suggest that both situations are characteristics of Japanese dreams and may connect with Japanese mentality or psychological themes.