Dreams as Self-Narrative: Interpretive Sovereignty and Individual Dream Grammar in Humanities-Arts Therapy

초록

This study reframes dreams not merely as objects of interpretation, but as a form of self-narrative that facilitates self-understanding and self-care within the methodological framework of humanities-arts therapy. Transcending the limitations of conventional, theory-centered approaches that rigidly decode dreams according to predetermined psychological doctrines, this research establishes the dreamer’s “interpretive sovereignty.” Through an analysis of an individual’s dream work alongside East Asian traditions—specifically the historical records of the Mengzhanyizhi—this study indicates that dream symbols are fluidly interpreted according to the dreamer’s unique biographical context rather than dogmatic theoretical systems. Consequently, the role of the expert is redefined from an absolute interpreter to a facilitator who supports autonomous narrative weaving. By utilizing their unique “individual dream grammar,” dreamers restore their subjectivity, functioning simultaneously as the author, chronicler, and interpreter of their inner life. Ultimately, dreams are presented not as static symbols awaiting decoding, but as the living language of interiority that drives self-transformation. This study underscores that dreamers can practically achieve autonomous self-understanding and self-care through the hermeneutic reclamation of their own dreams.

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