Viral simulations in dreams: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on threatening dream content in a Finnish sample of diary dreams
Ville Loukola, Jarno Tuominen, Santeri Kirsilä, Annimaaria Kyyhkynen, Maron Lahdenperä, Lilja Parkkali, Emilia Ranta, Eveliina Malinen, Sanni Vanhanen, Katariina Välimaa, Henri Olkoniemi, Antti Revonsuo, Katja Valli
Consciousness and Cognition February 8, 2024 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2024.103651 (opens in new tab) via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, dreams did not become more threatening or nightmarish overall compared to before the pandemic. Analysis of 1,132 pandemic-era dreams and 166 pre-pandemic dreams found no differences in the number of threatening events, disease-related threats, or severity of threats between the two periods. However, the minority of dreams that directly referenced the pandemic did contain more threats, disease-related threats, and severe threats. The findings suggest the pandemic's impact on dream content was limited to a subset of dreams rather than causing a general increase in threatening dream content.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,298 |
| Population | Dreams collected from participants via prospective two-week dream diary |
| Duration | Two-week dream diary |
| Keywords | Pandemic Dream Psychology Contradiction Content measure theory |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key finding | No overall increase in threatening dream content during the pandemic, but dreams with direct pandemic references had more threats and severe threats. |
Abstract
Previous research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected dreaming negatively. We compared 1132 dreams collected with prospective two-week dream diary during the pandemic to 166 dreams collected before the pandemic. We hypothesized that the pandemic would increase the number of threatening events, threats related to diseases, and the severity of threats. We also hypothesized that dreams that include direct references to the pandemic will include more threatening events, more disease-related threats, and more severe threats. In contradiction with our hypotheses, results showed no differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic samples in the number of threats, threats related to diseases, or severe threats. However, dreams with direct references to the pandemic had more threats, disease-related threats, and severe threats. Our results thus do not suggest a significant overall increase in nightmarish or threatening dream content during the pandemic but show a more profound effect on a minority of dreams.