Dissociations of the night: individual differences in sleep-related experiences and their relation to dissociation and schizotypy.

Dissociation, schizotypy, and unusual sleep experiences (such as hypnagogic hallucinations, nightmares, and waking dreams) are strongly interrelated, forming a common domain of unusual cognitions and perceptions. Lucid dreaming, however, is only weakly related to these other measures. The strong correlation between dissociation and schizotypy can be partly explained by overlapping items measuring detachment or depersonalization; removing those items sharpens the distinction between the two constructs. Sleep experiences are more closely tied to dissociation than to schizotypy, and only weakly associated with the Big Five personality traits.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The author examined the associations among sleep-related experiences (e.g., hypnagogic hallucinations, nightmares, waking dreams, and lucid dreams), dissociation, schizotypy, and the Big Five personality traits in 2 large student samples. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that (a) dissociation and schizotypy are strongly correlated-yet distinguishable-constructs, and (b) the differentiation between them can be enhanced by eliminating detachment/depersonalization items from the dissociation scales. A general measure of sleep experiences was substantially correlated with both schizotypy and dissociation (especially the latter) and more weakly related to the Big Five. In contrast, an index of lucid dreaming was weakly related to all of these other scales. These results suggest that measures of dissociation, schizotypy, and sleep-related experiences all define a common domain characterized by unusual cognitions and perceptions.