Dream content in chronically-treated persons with schizophrenia.
Félix-Antoine Lusignan, Antonio Zadra, Marie-Josée Dubuc, Anne-Marie Daoust, Jean-Pierre Mottard, Roger Godbout
Schizophrenia Research July 1, 2009 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2009.03.032 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 29 |
| Population | Patients with schizophrenia under atypical antipsychotic medication and healthy controls |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Patients with schizophrenia report more nightmares than controls, but after controlling for report length, most dream content differences disappear except for a greater proportion of unknown characters. |
Abstract
Many clinical, laboratory and non-laboratory studies have examined dream content reported by patients with schizophrenia but findings have been variable and inconsistent. Using both questionnaire-based measures and laboratory REM sleep awakenings, we investigated dream content in 14 patients with schizophrenia (mean age=25.5+/-3.2 years) under atypical antipsychotic medication and 15 healthy controls (mean age=22.3+/-4.2 years). The relationship between eye movement density during REM sleep and dream content was also explored. Questionnaire data revealed that when compared to controls, patients with schizophrenia report experiencing a greater number of nightmares but no significant differences were found on other measures including overall dream recall, presence of recurrent dreams, and frequency of specific emotions. 39 dream reports were collected from each group following awakenings from REM sleep. Laboratory dream narratives from the patients were shorter and, after controlling for report length, most significant differences in dream content between the two groups disappeared with the exception of a greater proportion of unknown characters in the participant group. Patients with schizophrenia spontaneously rated their dream reports as being less bizarre than did controls, despite a similar density of bizarre elements as scored by external judges. Finally, both groups had a comparable density of rapid eye movements during REM sleep but a significant positive correlation between eye-movement density and dream content variables was only found in controls. Taken together, the findings suggest that dream content characteristics in schizophrenia may reflect neurocognitive processes, including emotional processing, specific to this disorder.
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 26
- Nightmares in Patients with Psychosis: The Relation with Sleep, Psychotic, Affective, and Cognitive Symptoms The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry August 1, 2015
- Exploring the neural correlates of dream phenomenology and altered states of consciousness during sleep Neuroscience of Consciousness 2017
- Continuity between waking life and dreams of psychiatric patients A review and discussion of the implications for dream research University Library Heidelberg 2014
- Sleep, Nightmares and Schizophrenia Journal of Sleep Disorders and Management November 3, 2017
- Examining the association between depersonalisation traits and the bodily self in waking and dreaming. Scientific Reports March 13, 2024
and 21 more in the library
Cites 9
- The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Journal of Sleep Research May 26, 2004
- Jungian personality typology and the recall of everyday and archetypal dreams. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1986
- Dreaming: a psychological view Schweizer Archiv Fur Neurologie Und Psychiatrie December 7, 2005
- Nightmares and Psychotic Decompensation: A Case Study Psychiatry August 1, 1998
- The dream as a model for psychosis: an experimental approach using bizarreness as a cognitive marker. Schizophrenia Bulletin October 17, 2007
and 4 more in the library