Abstract
Dreams are thought to respond to self- and socially-relevant situations that evoke strong emotions and require rapid adaptation. First pregnancy is such a situation during which maternal mental representations (MMR) of the unborn baby, the self and significant others undergo remodeling. Some studies suggest that dreams during pregnancy contain more MMR and are more dysphoric, but such studies contain important methodological flaws. We assessed whether dreamed MMR, like waking MMR, change from the 7th month of pregnancy to birth, and whether pregnancy–related themes and non-pregnancy characteristics are also transformed. Sixty non-pregnant and 59 pregnant women (37 early and 22 late 3rd trimester) completed demographic and psychological questionnaires and 14-day home dream logs. Dream reports were blindly rated according to four dream categories: (1) Dreamed MMR, (2) Quality of baby/child representations, (3) Pregnancy-related themes, (4) Non-pregnancy characteristics. Controlling for age, relationship and employment status, education level and state anxiety, women in both pregnant groups reported more dreams depicting themselves as a mother or with babies/children than did non-pregnant women (all p = 0.006). Baby/child representations were less specific in the late 3rd than in the early 3rd trimester (p = 0.005) and than in non-pregnant women (p = 0.01). Pregnant groups also had more pregnancy, childbirth and fetus themes (all p = 0.01). Childbirth content was higher in late than in early 3rd trimester (p = 0.01). Pregnant groups had more morbid elements than did the non-pregnant group (all p < 0.05). Dreaming during pregnancy appears to reflect daytime processes of remodeling MMR of the woman as a mother and of her unborn baby, and parallels a decline in the quality of baby/child representations in the last stage of pregnancy. More frequent morbid content in late pregnancy suggests that the psychological challenges of pregnancy are reflected in a generally more dysphoric emotional tone in dream content.
Highlights
First pregnancy is an important transitional phase during which a mental reorganization leads to development of a woman’s maternal identity and future maternal competencies (Ammaniti and Trentini, 2009; Slade et al, 2009)
Pregnant women were divided into two groups: early 3rd trimester (7 months or
3rd trimester women scored higher on this factor than did non-pregnant women, thereby replicating earlier findings (Gillman, 1968; Van De Castle and Kinder, 1968; Winget and Kapp, 1972; Sered and Abramovitch, 1992; Blake and Reimann, 1993; Dagan et al, 2001; Van et al, 2004; Nielsen and Paquette, 2007). This result generally supports the view that, in being focused principally on the maternal role during pregnancy, dreams are continuous with daytime concerns, thoughts, fantasies, and so forth (Schredl, 2012)
Summary
First pregnancy is an important transitional phase during which a mental reorganization leads to development of a woman’s maternal identity and future maternal competencies (Ammaniti and Trentini, 2009; Slade et al, 2009). Empirical research indicates that the nature and qualities of MMR (e.g., their richness, specificity, and emotional tone) are principally rooted in the woman’s internalized representations of the self and the other (Priel and Besser, 2001) They are likely influenced by contextual factors such as actual relationships with her partner and family (Pajulo et al, 2001), psychological state (Pajulo et al, 2001; Theran et al, 2005), perceived fetal movements (Zeanah et al, 1990), ultrasound procedures (ViauxSavelon et al, 2012), and high-risk environmental factors (Theran et al, 2005; Ammaniti et al, 2013). Third trimester pregnant women have distinct, differentiated and emotionally invested MMR (Ammaniti et al, 1992), with a substantial presence of fearful imagery and worries about the child and the self as a mother (Vizziello et al, 1993; Leckman et al, 2004) These MMR display peak levels of richness and specificity by the 7th month of pregnancy with a subsequent decline up to www.frontiersin.org
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