Dreams and Nightmares in Personality Disorders.

Research on dreaming in people with personality disorders is limited, but studies of borderline personality disorder show that these patients experience negatively toned dreams and more frequent nightmares, and these characteristics are not caused by co-occurring depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. The review suggests future research directions, noting that current findings make this area of study promising. Clinical recommendations focus on treating the commonly co-occurring nightmare disorder.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Although the relationship between dreaming and psychopathology has been studied quite extensively, research on dreaming in patients with personality disorders has been very scarce. In patients with borderline personality disorder, negatively toned dreams and heightened nightmare frequency have been found-characteristics not determined by co-morbid depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. The review includes suggestions for future studies as the existing results clearly indicate that this line of research is most interesting. Lastly, clinical recommendations especially regarding the treatment of the often found co-morbid nightmare disorder will be given.