My T follows the idea that seventyeight mentioned. He believes that each aspect of the dream represents a part of ourselves - animate or inanimate.

When sharing a dream with him, he usually tells me to pick one object - any object - and then we focus in on that object - give it a color, a feeling, try to share what that object would say, etc. It tends to lead to some very telling information.

Many times, I've had some horrific nightmares - and after exploring the meaning behind it, the nightmare dissipates...and usually the meaning has little to do with the awfulness of the nightmare.