Dream content and intrusive thoughts in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Simone Cavallotti, Cecilia Casetta, Valentina Fanti, Orsola Gambini, Edoardo G Ostinelli, Rebecca Ranieri, Irene Vanelli, Armando D'Agostino
Psychiatry Research October 30, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.08.008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | OCD patients and healthy control subjects |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Continuity hypothesis Intrusive thoughts Obsession |
| Key findings | Obsessive and compulsive themes were significantly more frequent in dream reports than in waking narratives for both OCD patients and healthy controls, with no correlation between dream content and OCD symptom severity. |
Abstract
Although central to any exhaustive theory of human subjectivity, the relationship between dream and waking consciousness remains uncertain. Some findings suggest that dream consciousness can be influenced by severe disorders of thought content. The suppression of unwanted thoughts has been shown to influence dream content in healthy individuals. In order to better define this phenomenon, we evaluated the persistence of obsessive/compulsive themes across the dream and waking cognition of OCD patients and in a control group of healthy subjects. Participants were administered a shortened version of the Thematic Apperception Test to produce a waking fantasy narration, and were trained to keep a dream diary. Dream and waking narrative contents were analyzed in order to recognize obsessive/compulsive themes, and to calculate Mean Dream Obsession/Compulsion (MDO, MDC) and Mean TAT Obsession/Compulsion (MTO, MTC) parameters. No differences were found between the two populations in terms of MDO, MDC, MTO, nor MTC. Density of obsessive and compulsive themes were significantly higher in dream reports than in waking narratives for both groups. No correlation was observed between MDO/MDC scores and Y-BOCS obsession/compulsion scores in the OCD group. These findings strengthen the discontinuity hypothesis, suggesting that ruminative aspects of cognition are somehow interrupted during dream activity.
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
Cites 13
- The effects of suppressing intrusive thoughts on dream content, dream distress and psychological parameters Journal of Sleep Research May 16, 2013
- Dream Recall and Dream Content in Obsessive-Compulsive Patients The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease August 1, 2010
- Cognitive Bizarreness in the Dream and Waking Mentation of Nonpsychotic Patients With Parkinson’s Disease The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences October 1, 2010
- REM sleep and dreaming: the nature of the relationship Cambridge University Press eBooks July 14, 2011
- Daydreams and nap dreams: Content comparisons. Consciousness and Cognition July 9, 2015
and 8 more in the library