Dreams as Clinical Clues: Exploring the Relationship Between Dream Themes and Craving, Depression, and Duration of Abstinence in Male Patients with Methamphetamine Use Disorder.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate dream themes among male patients with Methamphetamine Use Disorder (MUD) during abstinence and to examine their associations with craving, depression, and abstinence duration. The study included 45 male individuals who were previously diagnosed with MUD and were in the abstinence period and 45 healthy male individuals. Participants completed the Dream Themes Scale (DTS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Substance Craving Scale (SCS). Compared to controls, the MUD group exhibited significantly higher scores across all DTS subscales, indicating more frequent negative, anxiety, fear, frustration, and experience-related dream content (p < 0.001). SCS scores were positively correlated with negative, anxiety, and fear themes; BDI scores were correlated with frustration themes. Duration of abstinence was negatively correlated with negative, anxiety, fear themes, and influence of experiences. Regression analyses revealed that anxiety themes independently predicted craving, frustration themes predicted depression, and fear themes predicted shorter abstinence duration. Dream themes in MUD patients in the abstinence period are more negative than in healthy individuals and are closely linked to cravings, depression, and duration of abstinence. These findings suggest that dream content may serve as a sensitive psychological marker in addiction recovery and offer potential targets for therapeutic intervention.