Beyond the Ego and Towards Complexity through Social Dreaming

This chapter addresses the use of social dreaming to facilitate shared understanding of complex problems, such as coping with a pandemic or understanding climate anxiety. By creating a safe, containing space where unconscious thoughts and feelings are encouraged, a collective refusal to over-simplify complexity emerges. Although not therapy, social dreaming has therapeutic effects, containing anxiety, fear and trauma associated with climate change within the safety of dreams and a shared collage of images and associations.