Hearing impairment and nightmares: a theoretical insight.
Maria Francisca Rego, Ivone Duarte, Rui Nunes
SpringerPlus December 18, 2015 DOI: 10.1186/s40064-015-1579-1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Trauma Dissociation Deafness Nightmares |
| Key points | Argues that nightmares in the deaf population are an understudied issue, with no documented studies to the authors' knowledge, and that this gap is significant because of deaf individuals' difficulty verbally expressing nightmare content. The authors propose that greater exposure to interpersonal trauma, higher dissociation rates, and more negative dream imagery in deaf people are connected, with dissociation acting as a defence mechanism and nightmares as an adaptive coping strategy. |
Abstract
The aim of this article is to address the issue of nightmares in the deaf population, given that there are no documented studies on this matter to the best of our knowledge. The study of nightmares in the deaf population is of high relevance given their specific characteristics (impossibility of verbalisation) and the lack of studies with this population. Nightmares are dreams of negative content that trigger an awakening associated with a rapid return to a full state of alert and a persistent feeling of anxiety and fear, which may cause significant distress. Various studies show that the deaf population has dreams with more negative imagery and emotions, are more exposed to interpersonal traumas and have higher rates of dissociation, than hearing people. These concepts seem to be connected given that, in the presence of traumatic events, dissociation may act as a defence mechanism and nightmares may operate as an adaptive coping strategy.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- The continuity and discontinuity between waking and dreaming: A Dialogue between Michael Schredl and Allan Hobson concerning the adequacy and completeness of these notions heiDOK (Heidelberg University) 2011
- The sensory construction of dreams and nightmare frequency in congenitally blind and late blind individuals. Sleep Medicine February 18, 2014
- Dreaming and insight. Frontiers in Psychology 2013
- Waking and dreaming: related but structurally independent. Dream reports of congenitally paraplegic and deaf-mute persons. Consciousness and Cognition December 13, 2010
- Variety and intensity of emotions in nightmares and bad dreams. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease April 1, 2006
and 2 more in the library