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Dream dimension differences during a life change.

I Trenholme, R D Cartwright, G Greenberg

Psychiatry Research May 1, 1984 DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(84)90136-7 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort Peer reviewed
Population Stably married women and women undergoing divorce
Key findings Dreams of divorcées contained more threat themes and harm avoidance, while married women's dreams more often featured affiliation and the experiment itself; depressed divorcées showed increased masochism in later dreams.

Abstract

Dreams reported from laboratory awakening of stably married women differed from those of women undergoing divorce: The former dreamed of the experiment; the latter had more threat themes. Those coping well during the divorce had more positive motives in the last dream than those who were depressed. Dreams of the nondepressed divorcées increased in anxiety from first to last dream report, whereas those of the depressed increased in masochism. Affiliation motives were common in dreams of the married subjects, while harm avoidance predominated in the divorcées' dreams. Nurturance and abasement were also common needs in the dreams of the depressed sample.