The psychotomimetic nature of dreams: an experimental study.
Oliver J Mason, Dominic Wakerley
Schizophrenia research and treatment March 26, 2012 DOI: 10.1155/2012/872307 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Within-subjects experimental comparison Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Participants who completed measures in two dream conditions and one waking condition |
| Measures | Psychotomimetic States Inventory |
| Key findings | Participants reported more psychotic-like experiences during dreams than when awake, most notably paranoia and delusional thinking, with differences also for perceptual abnormalities, mania, and anhedonia. The authors argue that dream experience resembles psychosis in its self-referential and sometimes paranoid quality, and that these subjective changes are consistent with prefrontal cortical alterations during REM sleep that mirror those of schizophrenia. |
Abstract
Several theories promote the similarities between dreaming and psychosis, but this has rarely been tested empirically. We assessed dreaming and waking reality using the Psychotomimetic States Inventory, a measure of psychotic-like experience originally designed for drug studies. Twenty participants completed the measure in each of two dream conditions and one waking condition. Dreams were assessed upon waking naturally and also using a movement-activated (actigraph) alarm during the night. Overall, participants reported more quasipsychotic characteristics during dreams (in both conditions) than when awake. This was most marked for paranoia and delusional thinking, but differences were also seen for perceptual abnormalities, mania, and anhedonia. The quality of dream experience seems particularly similar to psychosis in sometimes being highly self-referential and having a paranoid content. Subjective changes to cognition and affect are consistent with alterations in prefrontal cortical activity during REM sleep that mirror those of schizophrenia.
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- The paradoxical psychological effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) Psychological Medicine February 5, 2016
- Graph analysis of dream reports is especially informative about psychosis Scientific Reports January 15, 2014
- Quantifying auditory impressions in dreams in order to assess the relevance of dreaming as a model for psychosis PLoS One March 12, 2020
- Nightmare experience and personality disorder functioning styles in healthy volunteers and nightmare disorder patients Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic September 1, 2020
- Salience attribution and its relationship to cannabis-induced psychotic symptoms. Psychological Medicine December 2016
and 1 more in the library
Cites 5
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- The psychotomimetic states inventory (PSI): measuring psychotic-type experiences from ketamine and cannabis. Schizophrenia Research August 2008
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