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Anomalous Patterns in Dream Content

Kelly Bulkeley

The Scribes of Sleep July 4, 2023 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197609606.003.0011 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative analysis Peer reviewed
Sample size 7
Population Seven main figures (dream journal authors)
Topics Dreaming
Key findings Uncommon dream features reflect personal meaning and creative imagination, and blind analysis of word frequencies can infer waking-life concerns.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the dream journals of the seven main figures, looking for unusual and anomalous features of dream content. Whereas the previous chapter looked at the common patterns of dreaming, this one focuses on the patterns that stand out as uncommon and distinctive to the individual dreamer. Included is a discussion of the continuity hypothesis and the idea that patterns in dream content are accurate reflections of people’s emotional concerns in waking life. The continuity hypothesis is balanced here with an appreciation for discontinuities in dream content, features that can reflect special instances of personal meaning and creative imagination. Several experiments in “blind analysis” are described, in which word-usage frequencies are used to make inferences about the individual’s waking-life concerns.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on dreaming, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The Other as a Nightmare: The Israeli-Arab Encounter as Reflected in Children's Dreams in Israel and the West Bank Jewish and Arab fifth to seventh graders living in various settings in Israel and the... 1989 Qualitative content analysis n = 212
Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1 Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in... 1990 Survey interview study n = 442
Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective 2011 Phenomenological study
Partial memory reinstatement while (lucid) dreaming to change the dream environment. Lucid dreamers 2020 Qualitative study
Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death‐related dreams during the COVID‐19 pandemic Global survey participants 2022 Longitudinal mixed-methods study n = 2,240

Citations in the library

Cites 4

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