Hillary came for her first appointment wearing a peasant dress and drinking bottled water. Despite her bouncy entrance, it was clear that she looked fatigued and troubled.

PUT DOWN

Hillary reported that she had not been sleeping well and was troubled by a recurrent dream. In the dream, she is trapped in her basement with weird creatures that fill her with fear and dread. An old lady owns the house and keeps her as a prisoner in the basement with the creatures.

I responded by telling her that her dream was encouraging, as her unconscious was bringing unresolved fears to her attention. She put down her bottled water, rolled her eyes, and looked at me skeptically. I explained that our unconscious aims to protect us, and that conflict may come to the surface in dream images. As we discussed the dream, she realized that she did feel trapped by the need for approval from the important women in her life: her mother and her elder sister. Read the full article »