In this study on pandemic dream experiences in rural Nepal, 54 interviews were collected 1 year into the COVID-19 pandemic and compared with 62 interviews collected some years earlier. As in comparable studies, the dream narratives were categorized and analyzed according to their content, employing methods applied in other studies. The frequency of dream themes was matched with predictions derived from three current strands in dream research: (a) threat simulation theory (TST); (b) the incorporation continuity hypothesis (ICH); and (c) social simulation theory (SST). The pandemic sample contained more reported nightmares and both aggressive and nonaggressive threats than the nonpandemic sample (supporting TST). The pandemic sample also exhibited more reported dream events associated with disease and illness than the nonpandemic sample (supporting ICH). There were both increased and decreased frequencies of social dream events between the two samples-weakly supporting and somewhat contradicting SST. An additional aim of the study was to relate the reported dream experiences to purportedly cultural factors in dreaming. The three dream theories (TST, SST, ICH) are discussed in relation to the concept of dream simulation as input conditioned by, and/or output conditioning, cultural transmission. The frequently recurring supernatural and religious content of the dream narratives seem to suggest the viability of all three dream theories.
Avicenna was an eminent Islamic philosopher and physician. Drawing primarily on The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine, this article presents a systematic account of his theory of dreaming within the framework of his psychology and natural philosophy. Avicenna conceives dreams as the activity of internal perceptual faculties during sleep, when external sensory input is suspended, whereas imaginative and compositive powers remain operative. The study demonstrates that he classifies dreams into three main categories: those reflecting daily experiences, those influenced by temperament and the four humors, and revelatory dreams. By analyzing the roles of the imaginative faculty (al-mutakhayyila), the compositive faculty (al-mutasarrifa), and memory (al-h & amacr;fiza) in preserving, recombining, and interpreting sensory forms, Avicenna develops an integrated account that unites epistemological, psychological, and physiological dimensions. He further emphasizes the diagnostic value of dreams in identifying bodily and psychological imbalances. Although the primary focus is historical and conceptual, the article briefly indicates how Avicenna's account invites cautious functional comparison with contemporary discussions. It suggests, for instance, that his view of the imaginative faculty finds parallels in research on mental imagery, whereas his analysis of memory during sleep resonates with studies on memory consolidation. Thus, Avicenna's theory opens new horizons for interdisciplinary dialogue between Islamic philosophy and modern cognitive science.
Lucid dreaming, a type of dreaming where individuals are aware that they are dreaming and may control their dreams, was examined in adults with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. The study explored the relationship between sleep metrics and lucid dreaming, analyzing 168 nights of sleep data from 27 individuals using portable electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets. Participants reported lucid dreams on 25 nights. To identify key predictors of lucid dreaming, the study employed generalized linear modeling with fivefold cross-validation to reduce statistical bias. Sleep onset latency, the time it takes to fall asleep, consistently emerged as the strongest predictor. Longer latency was associated with a lower likelihood of lucid dreaming, suggesting that specific patterns of sleep onset play a critical role. Wake after sleep onset, which measures sleep fragmentation, was positively correlated with lucid dreaming, indicating that more interrupted sleep might increase the chances of achieving lucidity. In addition, lower delta wave (1-2 Hz) activity during rapid eye movement sleep, often linked to deeper sleep, was negatively associated with lucid dreaming. These findings underscore the intricate interplay between sleep quality, brain wave activity, and the occurrence of lucid dreaming. The results highlight sleep metrics that could guide future therapeutic strategies, particularly for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder, by improving sleep quality and leveraging lucid dreaming to manage symptoms such as nightmares. Furthermore, the insights gained from this research may extend to the general population, broadening our understanding of the mechanisms and potential benefits of lucid dreaming.
Research findings support connections between waking life and dreams. These findings ground the continuity hypothesis, which proposes dream content has continuity with waking cognition yet struggles to explain the discontinuities between waking and dreams. The embodied cognition theory of dreaming (ECTD) attempts to account for the findings of continuity and discontinuity by proposing that dreams are embodied rehearsals of affectively significant sensorimotor schemas drawn from recent waking experiences, thoughts, and memories. Central to ECTD is the idea that abstract concepts have sensorimotor foundations, so appear in dreams as embodied metaphors. Viewing dreams as sensorimotor schemas incorporating embodied metaphors accounts for both continuity and discontinuity dream findings. Support for this theory is provided by an explanation of metaphoric cognition in waking and dreaming, detailed descriptions of ECTD, and clarification on how sleep architecture and brain activity support the dreaming process. ECTD's relevance is then demonstrated with analyses of continuity and discontinuity findings including for posttraumatic and creativity dreams. Finally, the theory's empirical testability is highlighted and implications for clinical practice and cognition are discussed.
The relationship between waking life and dreaming seems complex, and various studies show that dreams are influenced by waking-life experiences. However, only a few studies deal with the interactions between coping strategies in waking life and dream emotions. The main goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between waking-life distress, coping strategies, and negative dream emotions. The data are based on a cross-sectional study and a longitudinal study where participants kept a dream diary over 14 consecutive days. When coping strategies were included, a moderated regression on the distress level and dream emotions revealed no significant differences. Instead, the interaction variable of waking-life distress and coping strategies is associated with less incidence of negative dream emotions. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation between waking-life distress and negative dream emotions. This study implies that distress has a significant impact on dream emotions, which in turn suggests that this research area should be researched further. For instance, this study could be recreated with highly distressed participants to obtain clearer results.
Erdelyi (2024) recently selected a dozen of Freud's seminal ideas that have continuing relevance for contemporary dream science. While several can be endorsed as lasting contributions, this reply explains why most of these concepts are actual impediments to the advancement of dream science. Freud's positive contributions include his proof that dreams have important psychological meaning; dreams can have multiple meaning; dream content is connected to waking life events (as posited by Continuity Theory); free association promotes a nonjudgemental attitude toward dreams; and identification of "universal" processes in dreams. Contrarily, Freud's foundational theory of dream disguise-with its corollary ideas of distinguishing manifest versus latent content; "universal symbols" like phallic-shaped objects; "universal distortions" like condensation and displacement; "hypermnesic" recall of infantile trauma/experience memories (as the presumed causal source of all dreams); and restricting interpretative authority to experts-are impediments to studying dreams in their actual "undisguised" nature. As explained, dreams may appear mysterious and baffling, but not because some unconscious agency is actively manipulating dream images to disguise their sexual, aggressive, and antisocial purpose and meaning. Instead, dreams are intrinsically honest, highly individualized, and idiosyncratic expressions, with high continuity with recent waking life, whose personalized meaning can be self-discerned by the individual dreamer (especially with noninterpretive, person-centered facilitative assistance from a professional). Instead of rejecting the directly given dream content as a deceptive "manifest" disguise, the direct and immediate imagery is fully significant in its original presentation and embodies a depth of personalized meaning in continuity with waking life experience.
This study explored how self-identified gender and sex role orientation influence the dream experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals. We recruited 85 TGNC participants in Hong Kong, aged 16-59 years, who completed measures for assessing their attitudes toward dreams and sex role orientation (masculinity and femininity) and maintained a nightly dream log for 14 days. The findings suggest that among trans females, those who perceived themselves as more feminine were more likely to experience dreams where they were victims of aggression, a relationship not observed in trans males. We also found that attitudes toward dreams mediated the relationship between socially ascribed femininity and various sexual and aggressive dream elements. These findings offer insight into prior research, suggesting that the observed differences in the dream experiences of women and men cannot be fully explained by sex assigned at birth, but reflect a complex interplay of psychological, social, and biological factors.
We compared the self and relationship themes in dream sessions of 10 U.S. and 10Korean female college students. Preliminary analyses showed that the two samples weresimilar in terms of dream salience, but the U.S. sample scored higher in terms of sessionoutcome (session evaluation, gains in dream work) than did the Korean sample.Qualitative analyses revealed considerable similarity in their descriptions of self andrelationships in that participants in both samples discussed self-esteem/self-image, self-competence, personality and emotional traits, and multiple aspects of self. In terms ofdifferences, U.S. participants more often than their Korean counterparts discussed asense of self-agency, high self-esteem/positive self-image, desire to control their ownlives, self-competence, inner conflicts, and feeling distant and experiencing conflicts innonfamily relationships, whereas Korean participants more often than their U.S. coun-terparts discussed feelings of helplessness and feeling criticized in family relationships.Results are discussed in terms of cultural differences. Strengths and limitations of currentfindings as well as implications for research and clinical practice are included
REM sleep is essential for emotional regulation and memory consolidation.Lucid dreaming (the awareness of dreaming while asleep) has been proposed toenhance REM sleep's emotional processing function, yet its effects on mood andemotion-related cognition remain unclear. Eighty young adults (M(age)518.9 years)completed three baseline nights of single-channel electroencephalographic sleepmonitoring followed by three nights of lucid dream induction using the sensesinduced lucid dreaming technique. Sleep parameters (quality, REM duration),mood (Profile of Mood States), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), andemotion-laden working memory performance (delayed recognition working mem-ory task) were assessed. The lucid dream induction protocol did not significantlyincrease REM duration, lucid dream frequency, or improve global mood or sleepquality. However, REM sleep duration predicted cognitive performance under emo-tional distraction: Participants with longer REM durations showed faster reactiontimes and resilience to negatively valenced distractors, whereas shorter REM dura-tions were associated with slower responses to negative versus neutral distractors.REM time also correlated positively with vigor and negatively with fatigue on theProfile of Mood States, independent of lucid dream frequency. Although the sensesinduced lucid dreaming induction protocol did not enhance mood or sleep quality,greater REM sleep duration appeared to protect against affective interference duringworking memory. These results support the view that REM sleep promotes over-night emotion regulation and buffers cognitive performance against emotional distraction, even without lucid awareness.
Dreams represent a universal human experience linked to emotional regulation, memory processing, and psychological well-being, yet the extent to which stable personality traits shape dream experiences remains unclear. Previous reviews have either focused narrowly on nightmares or examined general sleep-related patterns, leaving questions about the broader role of personality in dreaming unresolved. This meta-analytic investigation synthesized evidence from 89 studies across 86 articles (comprising 65,474 participants) to examine associations between the Big-Five personality traits and nocturnal dream phenomena, including general/neutral dreams, nightmares, and lucid dreams. D & eacute;j & agrave; r & ecirc;v & eacute;, erotic dreams, and sleep paralysis were also included, though limited studies explored these phenomena precluding analyses into these domains. Neuroticism yielded consistent associations with nightmare frequency, intensity, distress, proneness, and with heightened emotional tone in general/neutral dreams. Openness was broadly linked to cognitive-perceptual engagement, encompassing greater dream recall, vividness, intensity, attitudes, sharing, and a weak positive association with lucid dreaming. Extraversion was narrowly related to socially expressive dimensions including dream sharing, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness yielded inconsistent associations. These findings support continuity models in which affective vulnerability and cognitive-perceptual orientation shape dream experiences. They also emphasize the applied significance of dreaming as a meaningful psychological domain. Nightmares may provide accessible markers of affective dysregulation and potential intervention targets, whereas openness-related engagement with dreams may be harnessed as a resource for creativity, reflection, and well-being. By situating dreaming within the framework of personality research, this study advances theoretical understanding and highlights practical opportunities for integrating dream research into clinical and educational contexts.
This study explores the grief dream content of family members who lost loved ones in the Roboski massacre, a traumatic event in southeastern Turkey in which 34 civilians were killed in a state-led airstrike. Using a phenomenological design, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 bereaved individuals who reported dreams of the deceased. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: Positive Dream Content, Negative Dream Content, and Postdream Reactions. Positive dream content included messages of reassurance, spiritual well-being, physical interaction, and comforting memories. These dreams were interpreted as emotionally supportive and reflective of continuing bonds. Negative dream content included traumatic imagery, emotional disconnection, and distressing symbols, such as graves, darkness, or mutilated bodies. Participants described intense psychological and physiological reactions to such dreams, including fear, guilt, and sleep disturbances. Postdream responses ranged from religious rituals (e.g., sacrifices and almsgiving) to cognitive and emotional shifts. Cultural and religious frameworks strongly shaped how dreams were understood and acted upon. Findings highlight the dual function of grief dreams in both regulating emotion and expressing unresolved trauma. In the context of politically unacknowledged loss, grief dreams served not only as personal expressions of grieving but also as cultural texts of memory, identity, and resistance. These results contribute to a culturally sensitive understanding of grief, emphasizing the symbolic and emotional significance of dreams in the adaptation to traumatic bereavement.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between body awareness, dream themes, and somatization symptoms in adult women. A total of 213 adult women aged 18-65 years participated in the study via online questionnaire. Body awareness was assessed using the Body Awareness Questionnaire, somatization symptoms were evaluated with the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and dream themes were measured using the Dream Themes Scale. For statistical analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and independent samples t test were employed. Body awareness was not significantly associated with somatization symptoms (p = .661, r = -.03), whereas body awareness and dream themes were weak but significantly associated (p = .004, r = .199), and somatization symptoms and dream themes showed a moderate positive association (p < .001, r = .327). In addition, dream content differed significantly between participants with below-average and above-average body awareness (p = .013). The findings revealed that as somatization symptoms increased among participants, dream content tended to become more negative. Headache emerged as the most frequently reported symptom, with heaviness in the limbs and nausea the most commonly co-occurring somatization symptoms. Future research should investigate the effect of body awareness on dream content and frequency through a multidimensional assessment, particularly in individuals experiencing pain and somatization symptoms.
We consider whether frequencies of people occurring in a long series of dreams of an individual share properties of frequencies of phone contacts made by a large sample of individuals. Saram & auml;ki et al. (2014) analyzed contacts individuals made by mobile phone over successive time intervals. By treating an occurrence of a person in a dream as analogous to a phone contact with the person, we reformulated their findings for phone calls as hypotheses to be tested for dreams. (1) A few people occur in a large proportion of dreams, and many occur in a small proportion. (2) The distribution of frequencies changes only little from interval to interval. (3) Despite little change in the distribution of frequencies, the people dreamt of change considerably from interval to interval, with greater retention of higher frequency people. The statements were true for frequencies of people occurring in the dreams of our studied individual. We further found that the distribution of nonzero frequencies of people each year was well described by a particular probability distribution, a power law.
The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that our daily activities are reflected in our dreams. The question of whether there are factors, for example, personality, that modulate continuity is still unanswered. The majority of participants of the U.K. library study (N = 1,375) stated that their dreams are affected by their daily activities. This perceived continuity is associated with openness to experience and supports the idea that boundary thinness, which is closely related to openness to experience, should be integrated into the framework of the continuity hypothesis. Moreover, dream recall frequency and female gender were also related to the self-rated continuity between waking and dreaming. This line of research clearly supports the necessity to carry out empirical studies looking at factors that might modulate the continuity between waking and dreaming.
This study aimed to investigate whether emotional suppression tendency is related to the discontinuity between wakeful emotions and dream emotions. Screening and diary surveys were conducted, and a total of 76 participants completed the study. The screening survey measured aspects of dreaming using the Manheim Dream Questionnaire (Schredl et al., 2014), the Emotional Suppression Tendency Scale (Kashimura & Iwamitsu, 2007), and the Japanese version of the Beck Depression Inventory (Hayashi, 1988). During the diary survey, conducted over 7 days, participants completed a presleep task in which they rated the emotions experienced during wakefulness that day and a postsleep task in which they described the content of their dreams and rated the emotions experienced within those dreams. The results confirmed an emotional discontinuity between wakefulness and dreams. Specifically, positive emotions during wakefulness decreased in dreams, whereas negative emotions increased in dreams. This is believed to be due to the emotion-processing function of dreams. However, in the main analyses, no differences in the intensity of emotions were observed according to emotional suppression tendency. This may be related to the fact that the Emotional Suppression Tendency Scale measures the suppression of emotional expression and that the diary method was used as the research approach.
Dream research has traditionally emphasized threat simulation, emotional regulation, and memory consolidation. Less attention has been given to whether dream content reflects broader social motives. Using the fundamental social motives framework, we coded 397 dream narratives for self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care. Self-protection and status most frequently served as primary motives, disease avoidance was rare but consistently present, and motivational patterns were largely similar for men and women. Correlational analyses revealed systematic clustering of survival- and caregiving-related motives as well as social-evaluative and mating motives. These findings suggest that dreams may function as a multimotive simulation space in which adaptive challenges related to survival, reputation, relationships, and kinship are rehearsed and integrated.
This study examined the application of expressive art in the cognitive-experiential model of dreamwork originally developed by Hill (1996), focusing on its use with child participants. The study addressed three primary research questions: (a) whether a dreamwork workbook based on Hill's model would facilitate children's exploration of their dreams; (b) whether the addition of expressive drawing would enhance children's understanding of their dreams and their ability to relate dream events to waking-life experiences; and (c) whether specific features in children's dream drawings were associated with dreamwork session outcomes. Using a within- and between-subjects experimental design, each participant contributed one dream, which was used in both a baseline and an experimental condition. Fifty-three children, aged 8-12 years, participated in the study. Measures included the Dream Intensity Scale, Session Evaluation Scale, Gains from Dream Interpretation Scale, and Session Impact Scale-Understanding Subscale. Results revealed significant improvements in both the workbook and expressive drawing conditions when compared with the baseline. Although mean scores were higher for the expressive drawing condition than for the workbook condition, a statistically significant difference was observed only on the Session Evaluation Scale. Drawing ratings were significantly associated with the Gains from Dream Interpretation and Session Impact Scale-Understanding Subscale scores.
Sexual dreams are prevalent and often reflect one's subconscious sexual attitudes. Homosexual individuals have historically faced discrimination, leading to internalized homophobia, which can influence their sexual dreams. However, research on this topic is limited. This study examined the link between internalized homophobia and sexual dreams, focusing on the roles of depression and psychological resilience. This study used the Sexual Dream Experience Questionnaire, the Internalized Homophobia Questionnaire, the Rasch-Derived Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale with 450 homosexual subjects. Regression analysis and the bootstrap method were used to test the mediation and moderation model. The findings indicated that (a) internalized homophobia positively predicted four dimensions of sexual dreams, (b) depression mediated the link between internalized homophobia and aversion to sexual dreams, and (c) psychological resilience negatively moderated the impact of internalized homophobia on depression. The study shows that internalized homophobia in homosexual individuals significantly affects the emotional responses and content of their sexual dreams. Specifically, internalized homophobia positively predicts aversion to sexual dreams through a mechanism that exacerbates individuals' depression. Conversely, psychological resilience can counteract this effect.
Cross-sectional studies have established consistent associations between nightmare frequency, waking anxiety, and sleep disturbances. Yet, little is known about the extent to which individuals explicitly attribute sleep impairments to nightmares. This study examines subjectively estimated effects of nightmares on overall sleep quality and on sleep onset latency due to fear of nightmares. A sample of 285 participants (221 women, 60 men, and 4 nonbinary) with a mean age of 24.00 +/- 7.51 years completed a questionnaire. The findings extend prior research on the interplay between anxiety, sleep quality, and nightmare frequency: Approximately 10% and over 40% reported that nightmares affect sleep onset due to the fear of nightmares and overall sleep quality, respectively. As hypothesized, individuals with more frequent nightmares and higher anxiety levels were more likely to report negative effects of nightmares on sleep onset latency and sleep quality. Our findings suggest that combining therapeutic techniques for treating nightmares, sleep problems, and waking anxiety might be beneficial for nightmare sufferers.
