Abstract
Romantic relationships are an important part of human life and thus, according to the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, one’s romantic partner should show up in dreams quite frequently. The present study is based on 1612 dream reports provided by 425 students. The findings confirmed the hypothesis that partner dreams are more frequent than ex-partner dreams and, thus, support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. Moreover, interactions with ex-partners within the dream were more often negatively toned compared to dreamed interactions with the partner. Unexpectedly, we also found more positive emotions and friendliness in ex-partner dreams compared to partner dreams, indicating that partner dreams are more mundane. To conclude, dreams reflect important aspects of romantic partnerships and their break-ups and, thus, can be very helpful in psychotherapy.
Highlights
Romantic relationships are an important part of human life [1]
The findings confirmed the hypothesis that partner dreams are more frequent than ex-partner dreams and, support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming
Interactions with ex-partners within the dream were more often negatively toned compared to dreamed interactions with the partner
Summary
Romantic relationships are an important part of human life [1]. Based on the continuity hypothesis of dreaming [2,3], one’s romantic partner should show up quite frequently in dreams since emotionally intense experiences are more likely to be incorporated into dreams [4,5]. Single-case studies [6,7], dream content analytic studies [8,9,10], and studies using retrospective estimates about the frequency of partner dreams in relation to all remembered dreams [11,12] showed that about 20 to 30% of all dreams of persons with stable partnerships include the partner. Regarding the content of ex-partner dreams, erotic topics and meeting/talking to the partner/ex-partner were frequent in comparison to partner dreams but shared activities were less common in ex-partner dreams, whereas being separated was more common in ex-partner dreams compared to partner dreams [15]. The mean length of the 1612 dream reports was 148.98 words ± 98.90 with a range from 11 to 654.20
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