A Survey Focusing on Lucid Dreaming, Metacognition, and Dream Anxiety in Medical Students.
Çağdaş Yokuşoğlu, Mücahit Atasoy, Nurgül Tekeli, Ahmet Ural, Çağla Ulus, Yunus Taylan, Gülser Aydin, Gözde Gültekin, Murat Emül
Noro psikiyatri arsivi September 1, 2017 DOI: 10.5152/npa.2017.12606 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAmong 916 medical students, lucid dreaming was linked to metacognitive beliefs and dream anxiety. No overall sex difference in lucidity appeared, but males reported greater control over dreams, while females reported more realism, logical thought, and dissociation during dreams. Females also had higher dream anxiety and metacognition scores. Lucidity level positively correlated with both metacognition and dream anxiety. These sex differences in lucidity features may inform new therapeutic approaches for anxiety disorders.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 916 |
| Population | Medical students |
| Topics | Lucid dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream anxiety Metacognition |
| Key finding | Lucid dreaming level positively correlated with metacognition and dream anxiety, with sex differences in specific lucidity subdomains. |
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the level of lucidity and its relation with metacognitive beliefs and dream anxiety in medical students. Nine hundred sixteen medical students were enrolled in the study. The participants were assessed with the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams Scale (LuCiD), the Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30), and the Van Dream Anxiety Scale (VDAS). There was no significant difference in mean total lucidity score between females and males, but there were some significant sex differences in subscales of lucidity, and control was significantly higher in male students, while realism, thought, and dissociation were significantly higher in female students. In addition, females had more dream anxiety levels, higher total MCQ-30 scores, and higher cognitive confidence and uncontrollability scores according to Metacognition Questionnaire-30 than males. We also found that the mean lucidity level was positively correlated with the mean total metacognition score and the mean total dream anxiety level. Our results suggest that female medical students tend to have more realistic dreams (p=0.018), have more logical thoughts during dreaming (p=0.011), and have a more dissociative experience during dreaming (p=0.028), while male medical students have more controlled dream events (p=0.002). There seem to be differences according to lucidity features between sexes, and the relationship between subdomains of lucidity and metacognition might lead to new therapeutic approaches to several psychiatric disorders such as anxiety disorders.