Creative Methods, Images and Dreams in Psychotherapy: Methods, Processes and Results
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychiatric, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 3648
Special Issue Editor
2. Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, 4055 Basel, Switzerland
3. Psychotherapy Science, Sigmund Freud Universität Linz, Linz, Austria
Interests: analytical psychology; couple counselling; postmodern identity construction; narrative/interpretative research; media psychology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
At the very beginning of psychotherapy, working with dreams was introduced by Freud as a therapeutic method. A few years later, CG Jung introduced working with images and artistic creations in psychotherapy. The basic idea behind these approaches is that dreams, imaginations and other creative productions provide access to (unconscious) material that should be focused in the course of psychotherapy, and on the other hand, contain constructive impulses in the sense of resources which can support progress in psychotherapy. However, working with these methods has spread into many different psychotherapeutic approaches, even beyond psychoanalysis, and numerous therapeutic approaches and methodologies have developed either as part of broader approaches (e.g., in analytical psychology) or as distinct psychotherapies (e.g., Sandplay Therapy). Nevertheless, the process models of how these methods foster therapeutic change and research on such processes are still scarce, and the evidence base for the effectiveness of such approaches is limited.
We welcome submissions to this Special Issue, either in the form of theoretical articles and empirical studies, or as reviews and metanalyses which (a) develop theoretical process models of how creative methods, images and dreams support the process of change in psychotherapy; (b) investigate empirically processes of change in psychotherapies, making use of creative methods, images and dreams; (c) investigate empirically the efficacy and/or effectiveness of the use of creative methods, images and dreams in psychotherapies.
Prof. Dr. Christian Roesler
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- creative methods in psychotherapy
- art therapy
- dreams in psychotherapy/dream interpretation
- images and imagination in psychotherapy
- process models
- efficacy/effectiveness studies
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
