Depth psychology is an approach that views the unconscious and what lies beneath the surface of our awareness as having a major influence on our lives, including how we relate to the world, others, and ourselves. Often, it is things we are not even aware of that lie at the root of our symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, failed relationships, career blocks, and other areas of our lives where we feel stuck.

As a psychodynamic approach, depth psychology understands that many of the issues we encounter are rooted in early life experiences. By exploring and understanding how formative experiences continue to affect our thinking, feeling, reacting, and behaving, we begin to notice repetitive patterns that are at the core of our suffering. These patterns become predictable. As we become aware of the ways we repetitively engage with life that cause us pain or unwanted results, we can start to address and change these patterns. We then have the opportunity to choose differently.

Carl Jung, the founder of analytic psychology, viewed dreams as “emissaries of the unconscious, whose task is to reveal the secrets hidden from the conscious mind.” Because of this, dreamwork is an integral part of exploring the unconscious. It involves adopting a curious attitude toward the images and figures that appear in our dreams, trusting that they are present for a reason. These dream elements may be conveying insights or messages about ourselves that we have yet to fully understand or acknowledge.