The ritual of dream interpretation in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
This study is based on the testimonies submitted by former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners to Polish psychiatrists in 1973. The respondents gave accounts of the daily camp custom of dream interpretation. The method of dream explanation in the camp was not sophisticated. It was a simple way of understanding dreams as future-oriented signs of the dreamer’s fate. However, the custom of interpreting dreams in Auschwitz can be described as a complex and multilevel ritual that had at least 3 dimensions: individual, interpersonal, and social. On the individual level, this ritual was oriented on revealing the inmates’ f...
Source: Dreaming - November 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
High thought suppressors dream more of their negative waking-life experiences than low thought suppressors.
Research has found that high thought suppressors dream more of their emotional waking-life experiences than low suppressors, in line with the dream rebound effect. The present study replicated and extended this finding. Participants (N = 62) completed the White Bear Suppression Inventory, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale and answered questions about their most recent dream. High thought suppressors dreamt more of their negative (but not positive) emotional experiences from waking-life than low thought suppressors. They also had poorer sleep quality and higher levels of depre...
Source: Dreaming - November 9, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Sensory modalities during dreams in migraine: Case-control study using a daily questionnaire.
The migrainous brain is known to have a series of peculiarity in terms of metabolism, performances, emotions, and pain perception. This particularity seems to involve also the oneiric activity. Aimed to increase our knowledge about this topic, the present study tries to investigate migraineurs’ dreams by both an analytic qualitative and a semiquantitative perspectives. With an ad hoc questionnaire compiled each day at the awakening, we explored the frequency of dreams, the involved sensory system (visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustative), and the fragmentation of sleep. We found a higher frequency of dreams among migr...
Source: Dreaming - September 14, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams: Findings from the national Australian lucid dream induction study.
Lucid dreaming is a learnable skill and has a wide range of potential applications. However, research in this area has been limited by a lack of effective and reliable lucid dream induction techniques. The present study provides a thorough investigation into 3 of the most promising cognitive lucid dream induction techniques—reality testing, wake back to bed (WBTB), and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD) technique. A sample of 169 Australian participants completed a pretest questionnaire, provided baseline logbook data in Week 1, and practiced lucid dream induction techniques in Week 2. Results showed that the ...
Source: Dreaming - September 14, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Sex dreams in married women: Prevalence, frequency, content, and drives.
Although sex dreams (SD) are of common occurrence, studies dealing with them are still restricted. SD had been reported as accompanying nocturnal orgasms in women and they were reported usually as a reflection of their actual experience. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to provide information about SD prevalence, frequency, content, and drives in a group of Egyptian married women. Overall, 211 married women answered a self-report questionnaire including 23 items covering the epidemiology of participants, sexual activity, and SD details. Overall, 106 of the participants (51.3%) experienced the occurrence of SD. ...
Source: Dreaming - August 31, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Cognitive differences in dream content between Japanese males and females using quantitative content analysis.
This study asked the question, “Are there significant content differences between male and female dream reports obtained in dream seminars conducted in Japan?” Each of the 100 female and 100 male research participants contributed 1 recent dream report during dream seminars that were held in Japan between 1990 and 1998 and in 2004. Dream reports were scored using Hall and Van de Castle’s (1966) system of content analysis. Major findings showed that Japanese males dreamed much more of male characters, whereas Japanese females dreamed more equally of female and male characters, a finding in line with Hall’s (1984) “...
Source: Dreaming - July 24, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
German versions of the Nightmare Effects Survey (NES) and the Nightmare Frequency Questionnaire (NFQ): Psychometric properties in a sample of adult chronic nightmare sufferers.
The Nightmare Effects Survey (NES) and the Nightmare Frequency Questionnaire (NFQ), 2 widely used questionnaires in nightmare research, were translated into German and tested in a sample of 86 adult chronic nightmare sufferers. Participants completed the questionnaires together with measures of nightmare- and sleep-related factors and psychopathology and kept a nightmare diary for 3 weeks. Psychometric properties were determined: The German NES showed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .898) and split-half reliability (r = .889) and a unifactorial structure (46.33% variance explained). The German NFQ and the pros...
Source: Dreaming - July 17, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
What medical students dream of: A standardized and data-driven approach.
Medical students face specific challenges during their studies. This investigation was based on the analysis of more than 600 dreams of medical students by means of the Hall and van de Castle coding system, complemented by data-driven explorative and thematic analyses. The results revealed (a) the influence of the medical students’ context (curriculum and hidden curriculum) on dream contents and (b) the importance of performance and evaluation in medical students’ dreams. Medical students’ dreams seem to be an interesting way to better understand their lived experiences and preoccupations. (PsycINFO Database Record (...
Source: Dreaming - July 13, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Dreams, myth, and power.
This article examines the first and third of these theories, and links both of these understandings of dreams to myth. A myth is a narrative freighted with cultural understanding, conceived such that a whole society lives a myth’s importance. Put differently, myths are meaning-making processes that describe and explain phenomena. Dreams often work to bring myths into focus; this focus sometimes powers political change. The influence of dreams on Hindu, Hebrew, Christian, Islamic, and scientific myths details this phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Dreaming)
Source: Dreaming - June 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Experiences of nursing students regarding sexual dreams.
The aim of this study was to describe the experiences related to sexual dreams in a sample of nursing degree students from the University of Almería, Spain. The research instrument used was an adapted version of the Sexual Dream Experience Questionnaire. This questionnaire is composed of 32 items, divided into 4 dimensions: Joyfulness, Aversion, Familiarity, and Bizarreness. The main results highlighted differences in relation to sex—men have more sexual dreams than women and place more importance on them. While foreplay is involved in the erotic dreams of both men and women, regular partners rarely appear in them. Male...
Source: Dreaming - June 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Mutual dreaming.
We seek to open a discussion on the phenomenon of shared or mutual dreams. We provide a descriptive content analysis of a nonrandom sample of reports of mutual dreaming. Bracketing claims that mutual dreams are veridical, we assess the hypothesis that mutual dreams are associated with attempts to enhance emotional attachment relationships. Content analyses of 102 mutual dream narratives are studied. Mutual dream reporters were 24% male, 37% female, and 38% unspecified. Mutual dreamers (person reported to have shared the dream with the primary reporter) were 36% male, 57% female, and 7% unspecified. Ninety-two percent of mu...
Source: Dreaming - June 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Dreams, myth, and power.
This article examines the first and third of these theories, and links both of these understandings of dreams to myth. A myth is a narrative freighted with cultural understanding, conceived such that a whole society lives a myth’s importa nce. Put differently, myths are meaning-making processes that describe and explain phenomena. Dreams often work to bring myths into focus; this focus sometimes powers political change. The influence of dreams on Hindu, Hebrew, Christian, Islamic, and scientific myths details this phenomenon. (PsycIN FO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Dreaming)
Source: Dreaming - June 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Hughes, John F. Source Type: research
Experiences of nursing students regarding sexual dreams.
The aim of this study was to describe the experiences related to sexual dreams in a sample of nursing degree students from the University of Almer ía, Spain. The research instrument used was an adapted version of the Sexual Dream Experience Questionnaire. This questionnaire is composed of 32 items, divided into 4 dimensions: Joyfulness, Aversion, Familiarity, and Bizarreness. The main results highlighted differences in relation to sex—men h ave more sexual dreams than women and place more importance on them. While foreplay is involved in the erotic dreams of both men and women, regular partners rarely appear in them. Ma...
Source: Dreaming - June 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Guti érrez-Puertas, Lorena; Márquez-Hernández, Verónica V.; Aguilera-Manrique, Gabriel Source Type: research
Mutual dreaming.
We seek to open a discussion on the phenomenon of shared or mutual dreams. We provide a descriptive content analysis of a nonrandom sample of reports of mutual dreaming. Bracketing claims that mutual dreams are veridical, we assess the hypothesis that mutual dreams are associated with attempts to enhance emotional attachment relationships. Content analyses of 102 mutual dream narratives are studied. Mutual dream reporters were 24% male, 37% female, and 38% unspecified. Mutual dreamers (person reported to have shared the dream with the primary reporter) were 36% male, 57% female, and 7% unspecified. Ninety-two percent of mu...
Source: Dreaming - June 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: McNamara, Patrick; Dietrich-Egensteiner, Luke; Teed, Brian Source Type: research
Such stuff as dreams are made on: Dream language, LIWC norms, and personality correlates.
We describe the language features of dream narratives from 3 large samples of normal persons using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), a computer text analysis program. Compared with LIWC norms from waking narratives, LIWC dream narratives showed more use of function words in general, common words, past tense verbs, relativity (particularly space), inclusion, leisure, friend, and home words, and less use of second-person pronouns, present and future verbs, causation words, large words, and assent words. Dream narratives did not contain more negative emotion words. These patterns were consistent across investigators, samp...
Source: Dreaming - May 15, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
