Prediction of session process and outcome in the Hill dream model: Contributions of client characteristics and the process of the three stages.

Forty-two therapists trained in the C. E. Hill dream model (1996, 2004a) conducted single dream sessions with 157 volunteer clients. Clients who profited most from dream sessions had poor initial functioning on the problem reflected in the dream, positive attitudes toward dreams, salient dreams, low initial insight into the dream, and poor initial action ideas related to the dream. When initial stages of the session were evaluated positively, later stages were also evaluated positively. Process (therapist competence/adherence and client involvement) was positively related to session outcome. Perspective also influenced the findings, such that clients', therapists', and judges' perceptions of process related to their own, but not others', evaluations of process and session outcome. Implications of findings for dream work and research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)