Dream Recall and Dream Content in Obsessive-Compulsive Patients
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease August 1, 2010 Anne Katrin Kuelz, Ulrike Stotz, Dieter Riemann et al. 14 citations
Dreams of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) contain less positive content than those of healthy individuals. During treatment with exposure and response prevention, OCD-related themes in dreams significantly decrease, supporting the continuity hypothesis that daytime symptoms carry over into dreams. Contrary to expectations, exposure therapy does not make dreams more intense or disturbing. The analysis compared 40 dreams from 9 inpatients, 84 dreams from 10 outpatients, and 63 dreams from 11 healthy controls, with dream reports collected at treatment start and after initial exposure exercises.