Dream content and intrusive thoughts in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Psychiatry Research October 30, 2016 Simone Cavallotti, Cecilia Casetta, Valentina Fanti et al.
The continuity between dreaming and waking consciousness remains unclear. In this study, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and healthy controls provided waking fantasy narratives using a shortened Thematic Apperception Test and kept dream diaries. Analysis of obsessive and compulsive themes in both dream and waking reports showed no differences between the two groups in the density of these themes. However, for both groups, obsessive and compulsive themes were significantly more frequent in dream reports than in waking narratives. Among OCD patients, dream obsession and compulsion scores did not correlate with their Y-BOCS symptom scores. These results support the discontinuity hypothesis, suggesting that ruminative thought patterns are interrupted during dreaming.