Contributions of specific sleep stages to cognitive processes are increasingly understood. Non-REM sleep is particularly implicated in episodic memory consolidation, whilst REM sleep preferentially consolidates and regulates emotional information, and gives rise to creativity and insight. Dream content reflects these processes: non-REM dreams are more likely to picture episodic memories,...
Introduction: We would like to present the case of a young patient with acute stress disorder and recurrent nightmares following the psychological trauma caused by a severe road traffic accident. The comprehensive therapy carried out at the Department of Traumatology included medication, trauma processing and a psychological method whose aim is to cease the development of nightmares. Case...
Metacognitive reflections on one's current state of mind are largely absent during dreaming. Lucid dreaming as the exception to this rule is a rare phenomenon; however, its occurrence can be facilitated through cognitive training. A central idea of respective training strategies is to regularly question one's phenomenal experience: is the currently experienced world real, or just a dream? Here,...
Objectives: Nightmares were related to emotion and behavioral problems and also emerged as one of the core features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our study aimed to investigate the associations of frequent nightmares with sleep duration and sleep efficiency among frontline medical workers in Wuhan during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Methods: A total of 528...
The continuity hypothesis of dreaming postulates that dreams reflect waking life, e.g. preoccupations, experiences, thoughts; however, other topics like seasonal changes have been studied very rarely. A long dream series recorded between 1984 and 2015 (over 30 years) including 11,808 dreams showed that “cold” elements like snow, ice, and hail occurred less often over time and, thus, indicates...
Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) is effective for trauma-related nightmares and is also a challenge to patients in finding access to their traumatic memories, because these are saved in non-verbal, visual, or audiovisual language. Art therapy (AT) is an experiential treatment that addresses images rather than words. This study investigates the possibility of an IRT-AT combination. Systematic...
In order to control the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Austria was put under national lockdown beginning on March 13, 2020, forcing its inhabitants to live in home confinement. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of the lockdown on sleep and dream behavior in Austrian citizens. 77 participants (50 women, M age = 40.88 years, S D age = 13.72) filled in an online questionnaire...
Child maltreatment has been identified as a significant problem, both within India and outside. According to UNICEF, over the last decade, there has been a growing recognition about this, but the problem has remained unresolved largely due to being underreported and undocumented. Previous research in this area has reported inconsistent gender differences across the world. Besides, there are...
Background/aims: Hypocretin promotes wakefulness and modulates REM sleep. Alterations in the hypocretin system are increasingly implicated in dementia. We evaluated relationships among hypocretin, dementia biomarkers, and sleep symptoms in elderly participants, most of whom had dementia. Methods: One-hundred twenty-six adults (mean age 66.2 ± 8.4 years) were recruited from the Emory Cognitive...
LUCID DREAMING: FROM PHENOMENOLOGY TO THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH. In this critical review, we discuss lucid dreaming, that is, the dream periods in which one is aware of dreaming. During a lucid dream, experiences are correctly recognized by the dreamer as a dreamlike type. This occurs thanks to the activation of self-awareness, accompanied by a more accurate memory of some events or...
wiadome nienie (lucid dreaming -LD) to taki rodzaj snu, w ktrym nicy ma wiadomo tego, e ni (dowiadcza marzenia sennego). wiadomo uzyskan podczas LD okrela si jako dwumodaln, poniewa zawiera cechy wiadomoci pierwszorzdowej, takie jak percepcja, emocje, oraz wiadomoci drugorzdowej, takie jak samorefleksja, zdolno do mylenia abstrakcyjnego czy metapoznanie. Celem pracy jest scharakteryzowanie...
Both imagery rescripting and imaginal exposure have been proven to be effective in the treatment of chronic nightmares when compared to a waitlist condition. Little is known about their comparative efficacy and their efficacy compared to an active control. The aims of this study were to compare the two treatments to one another and to positive imagery as an active control, and to explore...
The interactions between epilepsy and sleep are numerous and the impact of epilepsy on cognition is well documented. Epilepsy is therefore likely to influence dreaming as one sleep-related cognitive activity. The frequency of dream recall is indeed decreased in patients with epilepsy, especially in those with primary generalized seizures. The content of dreams is also disturbed in epilepsy...
An upsurge in dream and nightmare frequency has been noted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and research shows increases in levels of stress, depression and anxiety during this time. Growing evidence suggests that dream content has a bi-directional relationship with psychopathology, and that dreams react to new, personally significant and emotional experiences. The first lockdown...
Study objectives: The diagnosis of a nightmare disorder is based on clinically significant distress caused by the nightmares, eg, sleep or mood disturbances during the day. The question what factors might be associated with nightmare distress in addition to nightmares frequency is not well studied. Methods: Overall, 1,474 persons (893 women, 581 men) completed an online survey. Nightmare...
Many have reported odd dreams during the pandemic. Given that dreams are associated with mental health, understanding these changes could provide crucial information about wellbeing during the pandemic. This study explored associations between COVID-19 and dream recall frequency (DRF), and related social, health, and mental health factors. We conducted a cross-sectional web survey of 19,355...
Objectives/Background: Despite Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) being considered the first-line treatment for insomnia, it is not without its challenges. As such it is worthwhile to consider, and test, alternative or adjuvant management options. Methods/Participants: The aim of the present study was to examine whether Lucid Dreaming Training for insomnia (LDT-I) impacted on...
Some studies highlighted that patients with narcolepsy type-1 (NT1) experience high lucid dream frequency, and this phenomenon has been associated with a creative personality. Starting from the well-known "pandemic effect" on sleep and dreaming, we presented a picture of dream activity in pharmacologically treated NT1 patients during the Italian lockdown. Forty-three NT1 patients completed a...
In this case report, we explain the story of a woman diagnosed with severe PTSD, suffering from recurrent nightmares involving a traumatizing event. She participated in 6 week lucid dreaming training to help her reduce her nightmare frequency. Our descriptions include her dream reports as well as the results of the psychological assessment conducted. In only 6 weeks, she was able to begin to...