Lockdown dreams: Dream content and emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic in an italian sample.
Psychoanalytic psychology September 27, 2021 G. Giovanardi, Alice Fiorini Bincoletto, R. Baiocco et al.
During Italy's three-month COVID-19 lockdown starting March 2020, an online survey of 598 participants aged 18–70 (mean 30.9) collected dream reports and measures of sleep quality, anxiety, depression, rumination, and fear of contagion. Dream transcripts showed a predominance of negative emotions, especially fear, fright, terror, anxiety, anguish, and preoccupation. Content analysis revealed themes of relationships, the human and natural environment, and COVID-19. The findings support the continuity hypothesis: dreams reflect the emotional concerns of the dreamer and help integrate intense waking-life emotions.