OBJECTIVE: Despite the repeated suggestion in the literature of an association between impoverished dream processes and alexithymia, little systematic research has been conducted. METHODS: Eight nonclinical adults scoring in the alexithymia range and eight nonclinical adults scoring in the nonalexithymia range on a measure of alexithymia were awakened for dream reports during their second,...
In two studies, we tested two hypotheses about the relationship of alexithymia to dreaming; that dreams of alexithymic people are barren and rarely recalled, and that the dreams are unregulated and nightmarish. Study 1 was a retrospective survey of dreaming among several hundred young adults, and Study 2 was a 1-week, prospective diary study of 153 young adults in which recall, content, and...
According to DSM IV criteria, sleep disturbances are incorporated in the definition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These include the re-experiencing symptoms (nightmares, criteria B) and a hyperarousal state (difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep, criteria D). PTSD patients commonly complain of sleep disturbances. Moreover, insomnia, restless sleep and trauma-related dreams...
What can we conclude from the above quotations? Certainly nothing regarding the nature of eroticism in the lucid dream state. Rather, they illustrate that the experience of lucid dreaming is subject to individual variation. This should not be surprising, since lucid dreaming, like all forms of conscious experience, is comprised of a flow of subjective events created by brain processes using...
It is widely supposed in the scientific and popular literature on dreams that flying in dreams is of mostly delightful character. Domhoff (1996) recently emphasised the highly positive feelings experienced in flying dreams although he mentions a turn to apprehension later in the dream ("crashing", "coming down"). In my research (an interview-sample of flying dreams) I met flying experiences in...
Using dream diary procedures and statistically controlling for age and gender, the present study investigated the relationship between Hartmann's (1991) boundary concept and various aspects of dreaming. Results with a sample of young adults confirmed earlier findings that persons with thin boundaries recall dreams (including nightmares) more often, report dreams that are more negative and...
Nightmares that replicate traumatic events are among the criteria that define posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, there has been limited systematic assessment of the content of dreams in PTSD. A PTSD dream rating instrument was developed to operationalize features attributed to dreams associated with combat-related PTSD that incorporated dimensions from the dream content analysis...
This article describes the development of an instrument, the Assessment of Dream Experience. This instrument was developed within the context of Rogers's conceptual model, the science of unitary human beings, and was designed to measure dreaming as a beyond waking experience. A detailed description of the instrument and its psychometric properties is presented. Recommendations for future use...
The central feature of traditional Aboriginal religion which is reiterated throughout Australia, in spite of regional variations and the vastness of this continent is the Dreaming and its integral link between humans, land, and all that lives on the land. Variously referred to as Dreamtime, Eternal Dreamtime and, the Law, the Dreaming is the sacred knowledge, wisdom and moral truth permeating...
This paper reviews past and current research into the dreams and dreaming of people over 65 years of age. Recent studies have shown, for example, that frequency of dream recall declines with age in both men and women, but that the main decrease occurs in early middle age and is thus unlikely to be connected with aging effects.The results of studies having to do with dream tone, active/passive...