Somnologie - Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin
August 4, 2023
Simon Kempe, Anna-Julia Krome, Werner Köpp et al.
2 citations
Two approaches for analyzing dream reports—the Hall and Van de Castle Coding System (HVCCS) and the Zurich Dream Process Coding System (ZDPCS)—were compared using one dream from a patient with impaired personality functioning. The HVCCS is economical to apply and focuses on content, while the ZDPCS provides a detailed reconstruction of the dream plot's dynamic development. The approaches differ in theoretical presuppositions, coding material, evaluation categories, norm data, time course of dream content, and economic and sample size considerations. Choosing an analytic strategy requires precise knowledge of each system's characteristics.
Somnologie - Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin
April 30, 2026
Julia Voss, Madlen Peters, Gordon Pipa et al.
A web-based self-help application called DreamMend, which uses an AI-powered chatbot to deliver imagery rehearsal therapy, reduced nightmare frequency and distress more than a waitlist control over 8 weeks. Nightmare frequency decreased in the intervention group while remaining constant in the control group, and distress decreased significantly more in the intervention group. The findings suggest that digital, AI-supported imagery rehearsal therapy is a feasible and effective self-help intervention for nightmares, though larger and more diverse trials are needed.
Somnologie - Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin
December 8, 2023
Michael Schredl
Adolescents with frequent nightmares rarely seek professional help. In a study of 100 adolescents aged around 15 years, none had ever sought help for nightmares, even though 21 reported having nightmares once a week or more often or found them quite or very distressing. Nightmares are linked to mental health problems in adolescents and can continue into adulthood, highlighting the need to find ways to reduce untreated nightmare sufferers in this age group.
Somnologie - Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin
August 15, 2023
Severin Ableidinger, Gerhard Klösch, Brigitte Holzinger
Dream research faces challenges due to limited, unstandardized, or labor-intensive questionnaires, leading to divergent results and poor comparability. The Dreamland Questionnaire, developed in 1997 and subsequently revised and partially validated, offers a short, easy-to-use tool covering dream quantities, qualities, and lucidity, and encourages dreamers to write down their dreams. It has been used to show that dreams collected in the laboratory differ from those at home, and that emotionality ratings differ between dreamers and external raters. The questionnaire is available in German.
Somnologie - Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin
July 24, 2023
Jonas Mathes, Jennifer Schuffelen
Chronic pain patients experience more frequent nightmares, greater nightmare distress, more pain dreams, and more distress from life events than healthy controls. They also report more negative and aggressive dream content and physical sensations in dreams. These findings confirm a continuity between waking-life pain and dream experiences, with distress from critical life events contributing to negative dream affect and pain perception.