Dream Interpretation — MRCPsych Paper B MCQ

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EasyPsychotherapyDream InterpretationMRCPsych Paper B

During psychodynamic psychotherapy, a 35-year-old woman describes a dream in which she is drowning. The therapist explores the remembered imagery and proposes that it symbolically expresses an unconscious sense of being overwhelmed in her relationship. Which psychotherapeutic technique is being used?

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Correct answer: E — Dream interpretation

The technique is dream interpretation. In psychodynamic therapy, the therapist explores the remembered or manifest dream material to formulate possible latent meanings involving unconscious emotions, wishes or conflicts. Here, drowning is understood symbolically as representing the patient's sense of being overwhelmed. Free association involves asking the patient to verbalise thoughts without censorship and may contribute to dream work, but it is not the interpretive act described. Socratic questioning and behavioural experiments are primarily cognitive-behavioural techniques used to examine beliefs and predictions. Graded exposure involves planned, progressive confrontation with feared situations or stimuli rather than symbolic analysis.

Reference: Eagle MN. Interpreting Interpretation. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 2023;71(6):1175–1210. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38511899/