Nightmares and nondisturbed dreams impact daily change in negative emotion.

Dreaming, Vol 32(3), Sep 2022, 292-313; doi:10.1037/drm0000213The current naturalistic study used a novel multilevel lagged regressed change analysis to compare how different dream types predict distinct patterns of change in negative emotion during next-day wakefulness. For up to 21 mornings, 191 adults used an online dream log to report whether they had dreamed and—if so—which emotional content categories of dream they had experienced; next, they rated their current level of negative emotion. Aligning with theory suggesting a behavior-dependent emotional processing function of dreaming, it was hypothesized that nondisturbed dreams and bad dreams would aid in emotional processing because the dreamer stays asleep, whereas idiopathic nightmares would inhibit emotional processing because the dreamer wakes up and ceases sleep-dependent processing. As predicted, nondisturbed dreams predicted next-day decreases in negative emotion. Surprisingly, idiopathic nightmares also predicted next-day decreases in negative emotion, whereas bad dreams did not predict change in negative emotion. Bad dreams and nightmares within the same night predicted next-day increases in negative emotion. These findings are discussed in relation to dream memory functioning as an emotional integration mechanism that can support change toward wakeful emotional equilibration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Source: Dreaming - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research