Who Dreams of the Deceased? The Roles of Dream Recall, Grief Intensity, Attachment, and Openness to Experience
Dreaming (New York, N.Y.) March 1, 2019 Joshua Black, K. Belicki, Jessica Emberley-Ralph
Dreaming of a deceased loved one is partly explained by general dream recall, grief intensity, openness to experience, and attachment to the deceased. In two online surveys of bereaved adults—one of 268 people who lost a romantic partner within 12–24 months, the other of 162 people whose pet died within 6 months—path analyses showed that dream recall frequency directly predicted dreams of the deceased. In the pet-loss study, grief intensity and openness also had direct effects. Across both studies, grief, openness, and attachment indirectly influenced dreams of the deceased through dream recall or through grief and dream recall. Those who recalled such dreams reported more positive themes, unlike ordinary or posttraumatic dreams.