Dreaming during a pandemic: Low incorporation of COVID-19-specific themes and lucidity in dreams of psychiatric patients and healthy controls.
Judith Koppehele-Gossel, Lena-Marie Weinmann, Ansgar Klimke, Sabine Windmann, Ursula Voss
International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP 2023 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2022.100364 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 144 |
| Population | Psychiatric outpatients and healthy controls in Germany |
| Topics | Dreaming Lucid dreaming |
| Keywords | Covid-19 Dream incorporation Loneliness Psychiatric patients |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Pandemic-related themes were incorporated into dreams but rarely, and psychiatric outpatients did not differ from controls in this incorporation, which was independent of psychiatric symptoms and loneliness. |
Abstract
The present study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional quality of dreams, the incorporation of pandemic-related themes, and the occurrence of lucid dreaming. Dream reports and lucidity ratings of psychiatric outpatients (n = 30) and healthy controls (n = 81) during two lockdowns in Germany were compared to those of healthy controls (n = 33) before the pandemic. Results confirmed previous reports that pandemic-specific themes were incorporated into dreams. Overall, however, incorporation into dreams was rare. Contrary to expectations, psychiatric outpatients did not differ from controls in the frequency of dream incorporation of pandemic-related content. Moreover, incorporation was independent of psychiatric symptoms and loneliness. Loneliness was, however, associated with threat-related content, suggesting that it represents a risk for bad dreams but not for crisis-specific dream incorporation. Regarding lucid dreaming, both groups had similar scores for its underlying core dimensions, i.e., insight, control, and dissociation, during the two lockdowns. Scores for control and dissociation but not insight were lower compared to the pre-pandemic sample. Our working hypothesis is that REM sleep during lockdowns intensified as a means of increased emotional consolidation, rendering the associated mental state less hybrid and thereby less lucid.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- The clinical neuroscience of lucid dreaming. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews January 14, 2025
- Viral simulations in dreams: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on threatening dream content in a Finnish sample of diary dreams Consciousness and Cognition February 8, 2024
- The return to normal life: sleep, anxiety upon awakening, and nightmares following the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic Frontiers in Sleep June 24, 2026
- Individual and Situational Predictors of Threatening Dream Content During the COVID ‐19 Pandemic Journal of Sleep Research April 2, 2026
Cites 20
- Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Sleep September 1, 2009
- Lucid dreaming incidence: A quality effects meta-analysis of 50 years of research Consciousness and Cognition June 20, 2016
- Lucid dreaming: an age‐dependent brain dissociation Journal of Sleep Research May 29, 2012
- Dreaming during the Covid-19 pandemic: Computational assessment of dream reports reveals mental suffering related to fear of contagion PLoS One November 30, 2020
- Dreaming and the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey in a U.S. sample. Dreaming September 1, 2020
and 15 more in the library