The British Journal of Psychiatry
March 17, 2025
Nirit Soffer-Dudek, Eli Somer, David Spiegel et al.
Maladaptive daydreaming is a distinct syndrome in which the main symptom is excessive vivid fantasising that causes clinically significant distress and functional impairment in academic, vocational and social domains. Unlike normal daydreaming, maladaptive daydreaming is persistent, compulsive and detrimental to one’s life. It involves detachment from reality in favour of intense emotional...
Frontiers in Psychology
May 18, 2023
Giada Rapelli, Giorgia Varallo, Serena Scarpelli et al.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused several psychological consequences for the general population. In particular, long-term and persistent psychopathological detriments were observed in those who were infected by acute forms of the virus and need specialistic care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) has shown promising results in managing nightmares of...
Nature and Science of Sleep
2023
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Milena Camaioni et al.
3 citations
COVID-19 pandemic waves have strongly influenced individuals' behaviors and mental health. Here, we analyzed longitudinal data collected in the Spring 2020 and 2021 from a large Italian sample with the aim of assessing changes in dream features between the first and third wave. Specifically, we evaluated the modifications of pandemic dream activity as a function of the general distress...
Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice
July 25, 2022
Giorgia Margherita, Alessia Caffieri, R. Mariani et al.
Starting from the idea that dreaming could be considered an index of the psychological health of individuals regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, a major risk of psychological maladjustment has been registered for maladaptive daydreamers (MDers;i.e., people with a compulsive fantasy activity associated with distress and psychological impairment). Nevertheless, there is a gap in literature about...
Brain Sciences
October 20, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
23 citations
Recent literature shows that the Coronovirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has provoked significant changes in dreaming. The current study intends to provide an update about dream variable changes during the second wave of COVID-19. A total of 611 participants completed a web survey from December 2020 to January 2021. Statistical comparisons showed that subjects had lower dream-recall frequency,...
Journal of Sleep Research
October 1, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Anastasia Mangiaruga et al.
COVID-19 has critically impacted the world. Recent works have found substantial changes in sleep and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dreams could give us crucial information about people's well-being, so here we have directly investigated the consequences of lockdown on the oneiric activity in a large Italian sample: 5,988 adults completed a web-survey during lockdown. We...
Frontiers in Psychology
2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Anita D'Anselmo et al.
18 citations
Some studies highlighted that patients with narcolepsy type-1 (NT1) experience high lucid dream frequency, and this phenomenon has been associated with a creative personality. Starting from the well-known "pandemic effect" on sleep and dreaming, we presented a picture of dream activity in pharmacologically treated NT1 patients during the Italian lockdown. Forty-three NT1 patients completed a...