The effect of trimipramine on dream recall and dream emotions in depressive outpatients.
Michael Schredl, Mathias Berger, Dieter Riemann
Psychiatry Research May 30, 2009 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2008.03.002 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 3,926 |
| Population | Depressive outpatients |
| Intervention | Trimipramine |
| Duration | 4-week treatment |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Four-week trimipramine treatment shifted dream emotions toward the positive end of the scale, paralleling reduced symptom severity. |
Abstract
Trimipramine is a sedating tricyclic antidepressant which is not only effective in the treatment of depression but also in primary insomnia. In contrast to most other antidepressants, trimipramine does not affect rapid eye movement sleep. In a large sample of depressive outpatients (N = 3926), the effect of trimipramine on dream recall and dream emotions was studied. The effect of trimipramine on dream recall was small and might be explained by the reduction of negatively toned dreams. The 4-week treatment with trimipramine yielded a considerable shift in dream emotions towards the positive end of the scale, which is paralleled by the decrease of symptom severity. The present findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming by demonstrating a close link between waking-life symptomatolgy and negative dream emotions. Future studies should analyze dream content in order to support the hypothesis that improvement in day-time symptoms is reflected in patients' dreams.
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 14
- Sleep and dreaming are for important matters Frontiers in Psychology 2013
- Peace of mind and anxiety in the waking state are related to the affective content of dreams Scientific Reports August 20, 2018
- Continuity between waking life and dreams of psychiatric patients A review and discussion of the implications for dream research University Library Heidelberg 2014
- Circadian and Sleep Modulation of Dreaming in Women with Major Depression. Clocks & Sleep February 28, 2022
- How our Dreams Changed During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects and Correlates of Dream Recall Frequency - a Multinational Study on 19,355 Adults. Nature and Science of Sleep 2021
and 9 more in the library
Cites 4
- Dreaming: a psychological view Schweizer Archiv Fur Neurologie Und Psychiatrie December 7, 2005
- SSRI treatment suppresses dream recall frequency but increases subjective dream intensity in normal subjects. Journal of Sleep Research June 1, 2001
- Emotions in diary dreams. Consciousness and Cognition December 1998
- Dreaming and insomnia: Dream recall and dream content of patients with insomnia Journal of Sleep Research September 1, 1998