Associations Between Alexithymia, Negative Dream Emotions, and Nightmares: A Study Using Most Recent Dream Reports
Yui Yoshioka
Imagination, Cognition and Personality May 7, 2026 DOI: 10.1177/02762366261449745 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 282 |
| Population | Japanese adults |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream Feeling Association psychology Affect linguistics Toronto alexithymia scale Developmental psychology Tone literature Clinical psychology Rumination Emotional intelligence |
| Key findings | Higher alexithymia scores were modestly but consistently associated with more negative dream emotions, higher nightmare frequency and distress, and more frequent dreams affecting daytime mood, while no significant association was found with positive dream emotions. |
Abstract
Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing feelings and a tendency toward externally oriented thinking. This study investigated the relationship between alexithymia and dream emotions among 282 Japanese adults using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Japanese version of the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire (MADRE), and a Most Recent Dream report including subjective ratings of eight specific emotions. The analysis revealed that higher alexithymia scores were modestly but consistently associated with a more negative overall emotional tone of dreams, higher nightmare frequency, greater nightmare distress, and a higher frequency of dreams affecting daytime mood. Subjective ratings of the Most Recent Dream further indicated that individuals with higher alexithymia tendencies experienced more intense negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, and confusion/shock,whereas no significant association was found with positive dream emotions. These findings may be explained by the continuity hypothesis and the affect network dysfunction model, suggesting that waking emotional tendencies may be reflected in dream content and emotional processing during sleep.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares, and Suicidal Ideation in a College Student Sample Undergraduate students at a large, public university in the southeastern United States | 2011 | Observational cross-sectional survey | n = 583 |
| Prevalence and Correlates of Frequent Nightmares: A Community-Based 2-Phase Study Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese adults from the community, mean age 40.9 years (SD 5.5,... | 2010 | Cross-sectional survey with subsequent clinical evaluation (two-phase design) | n = 8,558 |
| Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Adults (general population sample) | 2003 | Cross-sectional survey with structural equation modeling | n = 444 |
| The Phenomenology of Lucid Dreaming: An Online Survey Respondents to an online survey about lucid dreams | 2014 | Online survey | n = 684 |
| Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Representative sample of German adults | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 919 |
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- Measuring nightmare and bad dream frequency: impact of retrospective and prospective instruments Journal of Sleep Research May 13, 2008
- Dreaming correlates of alexithymia among sleep-disordered patients. Dreaming March 1, 2011
- Alexithymia, Depression, Trait-anxiety and Their Relation to Self-reported Retrospective Dream Experience American Journal of Applied Psychology 2019
- Alexithymia and aspects of dreaming: Differential associations of alexithymia facets with dream variables. International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie February 1, 2024
- Nightmare frequency and nightmare distress: Socio-demographic and personality factors. Sleep Science 2019
and 6 more in the library