Dreaming and Sleep-Related Metacognitions in Patients with Sleep Disorders.
Michael Schredl, Claudia Schilling
Clocks & Sleep September 1, 2022 DOI: 10.3390/clockssleep4030034 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 919 |
| Population | Patients with various sleep disorders |
| Duration | Seven days |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Nightmares Sleep-related metacognitions |
| Key findings | Dysfunctional sleep-related metacognitions are associated with more frequent nightmares and more negatively toned dream emotions, even after controlling for trait arousability. |
Abstract
Sleep-related metacognitions play a role in the etiology of insomnia and are distressing while falling asleep. Although similar concepts, such as thought suppression, have been studied in the context of dreaming, the relationship between sleep-related metacognitions and more negatively toned dreaming due to stressful pre-sleep experiences has yet to be studied. Overall, 919 patients with various sleep disorders completed the Metacognitions Questionnaire-Insomnia (MCQ-I20), Arousal Disposition Scale (APS), and Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale (PSAS) and kept a sleep diary over seven days eliciting dream recall, nightmare frequency, and the emotional tone of their dreams. The regression analysis showed that the MCQ-I20 (small effect size) and the APS (medium effect size) were associated with nightmare frequency and negatively toned dream emotions. These findings suggest that dysfunctional sleep-related metacognitions that are active prior to sleep are also associated with more negatively toned dreaming and more nightmares-even after controlling for trait arousability. It would be very interesting to study where therapeutic strategies, such as metacognitive therapy explicitly targeting sleep-related metacognition, could also be beneficial with regard to dreams (more positive dreams and fewer nightmares).
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 2
Cites 11
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- Comparing questionnaire and diary measures for eliciting nightmare frequency University Library Heidelberg 2015
- REM dream activity of insomnia sufferers: a systematic comparison with good sleepers. Sleep Medicine April 1, 2016
and 6 more in the library