21st Annual International Conference of the Association for the Study of Dreams

Copenhagen, Denmark, 18 – 22 June 2004

Panel:

Dreaming Around the World

Tjitske Wijngaard, M.A. [chair]

"Healing practitioners in Germany and their dreamwork"

Presenter: Ralf Penderak, healing practitioner and nurse.

Contact: ralf.penderak@t-online.de

What is a healing practitioner?
>
> If you want to practice medical science or alternative medicine in Germany

> legally, you must be a physician or a healing practitioner (Heilpraktiker).
> Most Heilpraktiker, like me, have been in other medical professions before. I started as a nurse. , like me:
> I'm a nurse.
> Statistics from of a Heilpraktiker school in Germany (1) sayshow about the
> educational profile of their students. They are typification, that there are roughly estimated equal parts ofcollege alumni, and graduates from
> alumni of college, high-school (Abitur) and secondary school (Realschule and
> Hauptschule). Keep in mind

Germany may have a different schooling system from that in
> than your home country.

Roughly 20,000 Heilpraktiker are organised in professional associations, maybe another 10,000 are not organised.
> The occupational title "Heilpraktiker" is protected by law. The pPublic
> health departments examine the Heilpraktiker candidates and give certificationsconcessions.
> The Subjects of examination subjects are among others: Aanatomy, physiology, psychology,
> general pathology, infectious and venereal diseases, hygiene.
> There are many more legal limits to what a Heilpraktiker may do, compared to
> athe physician. E, especially, German healing practitioners .aren’t allowed to treatment of many of the infectious and none of the all
> venereal diseases. isn't allowed for German healing practitioners, Tthey don't
> do surgery although they are permitted to safe treating wounds. The are not allowed to prescribe most of
> allopathic drugs. Except for the
> limitations I have just mentioned, tThe Heilpraktiker is expected by law to have knowledge, to the same level as
> like a physician in the fields of the therapies, he he or she is using.. TSave the
> limitations I mentioned above, the Heilpraktiker is, besides the physician,
> the only free and independent health professionalprofession in the German public health system.
>
> What therapies do Heilpraktiker apply in general?
>
> Healing practitioners often treat in naturopathic ways, but they also usewith homeopathy
> and by a wide variety of alternative and traditional healing means.
> My methods are osteopathy, chiropractice, Neuraltherapie and homeopathy. My
> healing practice is still young and I'm working on integrating dreamwork.
>
> How do Heilpraktiker work with dreams?
>
> Dreamwork is mainly done by a special group among healing practitioners, the
> psychologists (in the sense of the law for Heilpraktiker). They have a
> slightly different exam. There are some schools especially for this group of
> healing practitioners.
> To put it shortly: tThey use the methods well known among dreamworkers around
> the world,. bBut they also apply alternative methods., compared to clinical
> psychologists. TheyAnd combine their work with, among other therapies, naturopathy, homeopathy,
> astrology, and some usesome with body - oriented forms of psychotherapy. , to sum up some
> methods.
>

What is so special about dreamwork the dreamwork of a Heilpraktiker?

> In my eyes, the special featureair of Heilpraktiker psychologists is their mostly
> holistic approach, a spiritual approach, going beyond treating dysfunction,
> aiming for personal growth. Another important point is they are often combining dreamwork with other alternative or traditional healing methods.
>
> Some examples of Heilpraktiker and their dreamwork:
>
> A colleague of mine is leading the training at a school for Heilpraktiker
> and  psychology.
> She is trained in depth psychological dreamwork, is dealing with trance and
> healing, she does research in consciousness and dream - interpretation. She uses deep
> breathing techniques in her work and is experimenting with new forms of
> livinglife (THIS IS UNCLEAR TO ME).
> Another colleague is working with dreams, shiatsu ( a Traditional Chinese
> Medicine method similar to acupuncture) and releasing (a special method for
> emotional release). He gives workshops and, runssupplies a dream and nightmare
> hotline. He has also published a book on dreams and releasing.
>

A couple of colleagues I only know through an interesting book, they
> have published,. They seemingly touch everything related to dreaming experience
an> and research, beginning from how to get a better sleep, continuing with
> lucid dreaming, and going into the connection with the divine and channelling.
> These three examples should suffice in the frame of this presentation.
> If you have questions on the colleagues, I mentioned here, please contact me
> afterwards.

Overall I feel that the healing practitioners in Germany are innovative in integrating dreamwork and alternative healing methods. I look forward to the upcoming development and keep you updated.

> Thanks for your kind attention.

> Literature:
>  (1) Mehler, Keppler: "Wie mache ich mich als Heilpraktiker selbständig",
> 2nd edition, 1993
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