Pretending to be an Alien: How the 'Dream Interview' Method Unlocks Meaning

Clients often look to therapists as the gatekeepers of their subconscious. They come in with a vivid, confusing dream and ask, "Dr. Ashley, what does this mean?"

The temptation is to pull a Jungian dictionary off the shelf and tell them that water means emotion or a house means the self. But the truth is, I don't have the answers. They do.

In my recent work, I’ve been exploring the Dream Interview Method (DIM). It is a technique designed to help clients create their own meaning from dream metaphors, and it relies on a surprisingly fun concept: pretending to be an alien.

Step 1: The Alien Perspective

The core of this method is the "Description" phase. To get to the truth of a dream symbol, the therapist must act like an alien from another planet who knows absolutely nothing about Earth.

For example, if a client dreams of a fire, I shouldn't assume I know what "fire" means to them. To one person, fire is destruction; to another, it is warmth; to another, it is cleansing.

So, I ask: "Pretend I come from another planet and have never heard of fires before. What are they like?"

This forces the client to strip away assumptions and describe the essence of the image. They might say, "It is overwhelming, chaotic, and scary."

Step 2: The Bridge

Once we have that raw description, we move to the "Bridge." This is where the magic happens. We take that description and look for a match in the waking world.

I would ask: "Is there any part or area of your life that is overwhelming, chaotic, and scary?"

Suddenly, the client isn't talking about a fire anymore. They realize they are talking about their job, or a relationship, or a past trauma. The dream wasn't hiding the meaning; it was just speaking in pictures.

Rewriting the Nightmare

This method is particularly powerful for PTSD and recurring nightmares.

When we use the Dream Interview Method alongside a "day notes journal" (tracking daily activities and feelings), we can identify the specific triggers that cause the nightmare.

But more importantly, we can reclaim the narrative. An individual with PTSD might discover that the fire in their dream isn't the trauma of the past, but a symbol of "relief" or "burning away" the old. By allowing the client to define the symbol, we move from fear to empowerment. We stop letting the nightmare haunt us and start interviewing it for answers.