Dreams, Sleep, and Psychotropic Drugs.
Frontiers in Neurology 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2020.507495 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Antidepressant Antipsychotic Anxiolytic Dream recall frequency Sleep |
| Key findings | Antidepressant and sedative psychotropic drugs reduce dream recall frequency, and the reduction of intra-sleep awakenings best explains this modulation, not changes in REM sleep. |
Abstract
Over the past 60 years, the impact of psychotropic drugs on dream recall and content has been scarcely explored. A review of the few existing experimental results on the topic leads us to the following conclusions. For antidepressant drugs, in the great majority, they reduce dream recall frequency (DRF), and the improvement of depressive symptoms is associated with an increase of positive emotion in dream content. For sedative psychotropic drugs, their improvement of sleep quality is associated with a reduction of DRF, but the effect on dream content is less clear. Few occurrences of nightmare frequency increase have been reported, with intake of molecules disturbing sleep or with the withdrawal of some psychotropic drugs. Importantly, the impact of psychotropic drugs on rapid eye movement (REM) sleep does not explain DRF modulations. The reduction of intra-sleep awakenings seems to be the parameter explaining best the modulation of DRF by psychotropic drugs. Indeed, molecules that improve sleep continuity by reducing intra-sleep awakenings also reduce the frequency of dream recall, which is coherent with the "arousal-retrieval model" stating that nighttime awakenings enable dreams to be encoded into long-term memory and therefore facilitate dream recall. DRF is nonetheless influenced by several other factors (e.g., interest in dreams, the method of awakening, and personality traits), which may explain a large part of the variability of results observed and cited in this article.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming | 2019 | Review | |
| Sleep and dreaming are for important matters | 2013 | Review | |
| Nightmare Disorder and Isolated Sleep Paralysis | 2020 | Review | |
| My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? | 2019 | Review | |
| Dream Recall: State or Trait Variable? Part I: Model, Theories, Methodology and Trait Factors | 1996 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 10
- More dreams of the rarebit fiend: food sensitivity and dietary correlates of sleep and dreaming Frontiers in Psychology July 1, 2025
- Haunted by Nightmares: Factors Associated with Nightmare Frequency and Experiences Psychology 2025
- Quantitative-Qualitative Assessment of Dream Reports in Schizophrenia and Their Correlations with Illness Severity. Brain Sciences June 3, 2024
- The effects of RBD medications on dream content: A critical review of evidence. Sleep Medicine October 21, 2025
- Dreaming in patients with epilepsy: a cross-sectional cohort study. Journal of Sleep Research October 1, 2025
and 5 more in the library
Cites 25
- Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Journal of Sleep Research May 12, 2003
- Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives Frontiers in Psychology 2011
- A Comparison of Mental Activity During Sleep Onset and Morning Awakening Sleep August 1, 1998
- Characteristics of the memory sources of dreams: A new version of the content-matching paradigm to take mundane and remote memories into account PLoS One October 11, 2017
- Increased Awakenings From Non-rapid Eye Movement Sleep Explain Differences in Dream Recall Frequency in Healthy Individuals Frontiers in Human Neuroscience October 15, 2019
and 20 more in the library