Living in a bad dream – examining the association between depersonalisation traits and the bodily self in waking and dreaming
Matt P D Gwyther, Bigna Lenggenhager, Jennifer Windt, Jane E. Aspell, Anna Ciaunica
May 4, 2023 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/gp6n3 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 514 |
| Population | Healthy participants with depersonalisation traits |
| Measures | Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS), body boundary scores, trust in interoceptive signals |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Higher depersonalisation traits were associated with more frequent outside-observer dream perspectives, distinct bodily sensations in dreams, altered bodily perception in dreams, nightmares, and higher dream recall. In waking states, higher depersonalisation scores correlated with weaker body boundaries and lower trust in interoceptive signals. The authors suggest the dream state may be a 'spared space' where people can temporarily retrieve their sense of self and bodily presence. |
Abstract
Depersonalisation (DP) is characterized by fundamental alterations to the sense of self that include feelings of detachment and estrangement from one’s body. We conducted an online study in healthy participants (n=514) with DP traits to investigate and quantify the subjective experience of body and self during waking and dreaming, as the vast majority of previous studies focussed on waking experience only. Investigating dreams in people experiencing DP symptoms may help us understand whether the dream state is a ‘spared space’ where people can temporarily ‘retrieve’ their sense of self and sense of bodily presence. We found that higher DP traits - i.e. higher scores on the Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS) - were associated with more frequent dream experiences from an outside observer perspective (r = .28) and more frequent dream experiences of distinct bodily sensations (r = .23). We also found that people with higher CDS scores had more frequent dream experiences of altered bodily perception (r = .24), more frequent nightmares (r = .33) and higher dream recall (r = .17). CDS scores were negatively correlated with body boundary scores (r = -.31) in waking states and there was a negative association between CDS scores and the degree of trust in interoceptive signals (r = -.52). Our study elucidates the complex phenomenology of DP in relation to bodily selfhood during waking and dreaming and suggests avenues for potential therapeutic interventions in people with chronic depersonalisation (depersonalisation -derealisation disorder).
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cites 30
- Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self Trends in Cognitive Sciences October 12, 2013
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- Self-disturbance and schizophrenia: structure, specificity, pathogenesis (Current issues, New directions). Schizophrenia Research 2014
- How does it feel to lack a sense of boundaries? A case study of a long-term mindfulness meditator. Consciousness and Cognition December 1, 2015
- Self-specific processing in the meditating brain: a MEG neurophenomenology study. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2016
and 25 more in the library