Exploring the Dream Content of Blind Individuals: A Phenomenological Study
Farwa Shafique, Kehkashan Arouj, Muhammad Martib Ali, Sajid Mehmood Alvi, Naveed Gani, Tahir Mehmood
Intercontinental Journal of Social Sciences May 20, 2024 DOI: 10.62583/8z3xx998 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | Visually impaired individuals in Pakistan, comprising congenitally blind and late-blind participants |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Dreams of visually impaired participants were predominantly non-visual, based on auditory, tactile, and kinaesthetic impressions; late-blind participants reported occasional visual imagery while congenitally blind participants reported purely non-visual dreams. Daydreaming shaped imagined situations and future desires, and dreams were highly social, with people identified by voice, behaviour, and emotional attachment rather than appearance. |
Abstract
This study explores the dream experiences of visually impaired individuals in Pakistan, with particular emphasis on sensory perception, daydreaming, emotional regulation, and optimism. A qualitative research design was employed by a phenomenological approach that would be used to capture the lived experiences of the visually impaired people. The sampling method was a purposive sample of 16 participants who were semi-structured interviewed, comprising of both congenitally blind and late-blind. Thematic analysis was considered to analyse the data in accordance with the framework of Braun and Clarke. The analysis of the results shows that the content of dreams in blind people is mainly of non-visual character, as it is based on auditory, tactile, and kinaesthetic impressions. Those who became blind later in life said that they saw a visual image a few times every now and then, but those who were born blind said that they had a dream experience that was purely non-visual. Besides, daydreaming was also discovered to have a significant role in influencing internal experiences, allowing the participants to build imagined situations and dwell upon future desires. The dreams were also highly socialised and people were identified by voice, behaviour and emotional attachment other than external appearance. The research finds a conclusion that the dream experience of the visually impaired individuals is complex and multidimensional, which is influenced by the process of adaptation to the sensory stimuli and the process of emotion.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other as a Nightmare: The Israeli-Arab Encounter as Reflected in Children's Dreams in Israel and the West Bank Jewish and Arab fifth to seventh graders living in various settings in Israel and the... | 1989 | Qualitative content analysis | n = 212 |
| Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1 Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in... | 1990 | Survey interview study | n = 442 |
| Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective | 2011 | Phenomenological study | |
| Partial memory reinstatement while (lucid) dreaming to change the dream environment. Lucid dreamers | 2020 | Qualitative study | |
| Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death‐related dreams during the COVID‐19 pandemic Global survey participants | 2022 | Longitudinal mixed-methods study | n = 2,240 |