Does COVID-19 impact the frequency of threatening events in dreams? An exploration of pandemic dreaming in light of contemporary dream theories.

Abstract

Ninety-one dreams collected during the Covid-19 pandemic (the epidemic-situation sample) were compared with ninety-one dreams collected before the start of the epidemic (the non-epidemic-situation sample). The dreams were classified according to their content, using methods based on previous studies. The frequency of themes was compared to predictions that would be anticipated by three contemporary theories of dreaming: 1) threat simulation theory (TST); 2) incorporation continuity hypothesis (ICH); and 3) social simulation theory (SST). The epidemic-situation sample dreamed more of threatening events than the non-epidemic-situation sample (supporting the TST) and more of non-aggression threatening events, possibly due to the hyperassociation during sleep. However, the epidemic-situation sample did not show a greater prevalence of illness events in dreams (not supporting the ICH). Additionally, there was no significant difference in social neutral and positive events in dreams between the two samples as would have been predicted by the SST.