Dream Content Analysis Research Articles

Automatic dream content analysis finds effects of gender, age, and blindness on word use.

Automatic dream content analysis finds effects of gender, age, and blindness on word use.

Exploration of dreams in Charaka Samhita – an Ayurveda text and their content analysis of prodromal dreams in various conditions

IntroductionResearch into dreams, have shown the association between increased frequency of distressing dreams, specific content themes (analysed using the Hall Van de Castle system) and greater incidence of progression of neurological conditions and dementia. The history of predicting illnesses by the content of dreams, in the western world is popularly traced backed to the ancient Greek medicine. This stimulates the curiosity if any such practices existed in the ancient medical practises of the eastern world. Ayurveda is one such traditional system of medicine, that is native to the Indian subcontinent. Charaka Samhita is one of the oldest texts on Ayurveda consisting of 8 sections and 120 chapters totally. This text was selected for the purpose of this review, with the line of enquiry such as what does Ayurveda say about dreams associated with illnesses? What are the contents of such dreams? Furthermore, the dream content analysis was done using the Hall Van de Castle system, which is probably the first time being done on an Ayurveda text content.Objectives1) To explore if, Charaka Samhita mentions, describes dreams in relation to illnesses, stages of illnesses and their prognosis. 2) To analyse content of the dreams seen in prodromal stage of illnesses.Methods1-The Charaka Samhita text was scanned chapter by chapter, to answer the questions- a) What are the types of dreams? b) Are any associated with illnesses? c)Are any dreams mentioned in the prodromal stage of illnesses? d)What do they imply? e)What are their contents? 2- The contents of prodromal dreams were analysed against the categories of Hall Van de Castle system.ResultsAs per Charaka Samhita, the types of dreams are, i) those based on what was seen ii) heard iii) reflected upon iv) desired v) imagined vi) those of prophetic type and vii) those caused by illnesses. Specific dreams in the prodromal stage, predict manifestation of specific illnesses (mild or fatal). In the diverse dream contents (18 themes mentioned) ranging from things animals to gods and demons, except the elements of the past, rest of the general categories occur, at least once. The categories characters, objects, activities and social interactions were more common than the rest.ConclusionsThus akin to the ancient Greek medicine, Ayurveda too had the practice of predicting illnesses based on the dream contents.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Dream incorporation of three different bodily stimuli

Introduction Lucid dreaming opens the possibility to rehearse sport skills within a dream while sleeping (Peters et al. 2023; Stumbrys et al. 2016). But so far, no induction techniques have been developed to induce reliable lucid dreams. One potential technique is to apply external stimulation while a person is sleeping in order to send a hint into the dream which might enhance lucidity in the ongoing dream. Several studies have tested dream incorporation rates (DIR) with different stimuli and different results (Schredl, 2018), but none with a larger sample size and a within-design. Furthermore, in this study we wanted to explore body related stimulations to evoke in future studies lucid dreams. Methods 10-Channel polysomnography and three different bodily stimulation methods were combined during three consecutive test nights with each night using one stimulation method (plus adaptation night). The three stimulation methods consisted of electrical forearm muscle stimulation (EMS), galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), and haptic vibration stimulation (HS). During REM sleep, one of the three stimuli was presented or a sham condition was applied in a counterbalanced order. The stimuli were followed by REM awakenings, resulting in corresponding verbal dream reports. With the help of those reports, the translation from a physical arm movement, vestibular sensation and vibration into the dream environment was investigated using dream content analysis. Movement of the dream arm, balance related activity and tactile or somatosensory sensations targeted the dream incorporations of EMS, GVS and HS respectively. Results Movement of the arm was present in 23.2%, 8.1% and 23.5% of EMS, GVS and HS dreams respectively. Balance-related activity was present in 6.1%, 7.9% and 5.8% of EMS, GVS and HS dreams respectively. Finally, tactile and somatosensory sensations were present in 13.6%, 0% and 6.3% of the EMS, GVS and HS dreams respectively. After correcting for sham condition, tactile and somatosensory sensations on the EMS dreams seem to be the strongest incorporation effect upon stimulation. Discussion/Conclusion We tested dream incorporation of three different stimulation methods using a within-design on a larger sample size, a method that has never been attempted before. GVS appears unsuccessful in altering dream content, but this might be confounded due to challenges in methodology. EMS evokes the most dream incorporation in the scale of tactile and somatosensory dream content followed by HS. The investigation of the incorporation of external kinesthetic stimulation into dream content represents a fundamental contribution to various scientific fields and could foster future research on lucid dream induction, enabling the further exploration of sport practice in a sleep state.

Dreamland – Ein Trauminhaltserhebungsfragebogen in deutscher Sprache basierend auf der englischsprachigen Version

AbstractIn dream research there exists a multitude of dream questionnaires and dream content analysis scales. However, many of them are either limited, not standardized or validated, or require a lot of effort. At the same time there are often divergent or even contradictory results in dream research, and comparability between different studies is often limited. Large sample sizes are rare but would be necessary for representative and compelling findings. For studies analyzing large samples of dreams, short and easy-to-use questionnaires would be of great assistance. As an easy-to-use questionnaire that covers all relevant dream aspects, the Dreamland Questionnaire, was developed in 1997. The questionnaire has since been revised and partially validated. In this paper, we give an overview of the questionnaire and its underlying methodology. The questionnaire is separated into three parts measuring dream quantities and dream qualities as well as lucidity. The questionnaire further encourages the dreamer to write down their dream. In different studies it has already been used to show that dreams sampled in the laboratory and dreams sampled at home differ and that emotionality in dreams differs if rated by the dreamer themselves or by external raters. The questionnaire is also available in German.

Dreams Shared on Social Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tower of Babel or Noah's Ark?-A Group-Analytic Perspective.

Dream sharing is a universal practice, and various incentives have been identified, including emotional processing, emotional relief, and demands for containment. Shared dreams can contribute to an individual's understanding of social reality during traumatic and stressful events. The present study examined dreams shared on social network sites (SNS) during the first COVID-19 lockdown, applying a group-analytic approach. A qualitative dream content analysis conducted by a group of researchers analyzed 30 dreams shared on SNS, focusing on their contents, dominant emotions, and unique group processes. The dream content analysis yielded three meaningful and coherent themes: (1) dominant threats: enemy, danger, and COVID-19; (2) emotional fusion: confusion and despair alongside recovery and hope; and (3) group processes characterized by movement between being alone and being together. The results deepen our understanding of both unique social and psychological group processes and of people's main experiences and key psychological coping mechanisms in times of collective trauma and natural disasters. They also demonstrate the transformative potential of dreamtelling for individuals' coping experiences and building hope through the creative social relationships formed within SNS groups.

Semisupervised lexicon generation using semantic relations for dream content analysis.

Semisupervised lexicon generation using semantic relations for dream content analysis.

Aggressiveness in the dreams of drug-naïve and clonazepam-treated patients with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder

BackgroundAlthough aggressive dream content is considered a distinctive feature of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) and patients often report violent dreams during medical interviews, nonviolent behaviors (eating, drinking, urinating) and pleasant actions (e.g laughing, singing, dancing) or simply elemental, jerky limb movements are frequently observed during video-polysomnography. As a first-line pharmacological treatment, clonazepam has been shown to reduce motor symptoms during REM sleep, but its effect on dream content remains unclear. Here, we aimed to prospectively assess the dream content of individuals with drug-naïve isolated RBD (iRBD) and iRBD patients treated with clonazepam. MethodsThirteen (12 Male, 1 Female; age 65.38 ± 10.95) iRBD patients treated with clonazepam (iRBD-T), eleven (9 M, 2 F; age 68.90 ± 6.8) drug-naïve patients (iRBD-NT) and twelve (8 M, 1 F; age 63.33 ± 12.88) healthy control subjects of comparable age kept a dream diary over a 3-week period. Dream content analysis was conducted according to the Hall and Van de Castle method (HVdC). The Threat Simulation Scale (TSS) was employed to assess the frequency of threatening contents. ResultsA total of 214 dream reports were collected. No significant differences were found in the frequency of threatening dream contents between the iRBD subsamples and healthy control subjects (p = 0.732). The HVdC analysis detected higher levels of Friendliness in iRBD patients compared to the control group (p = 0.036). Increased levels of Aggressiveness were only observed when differentiating dreams in which dream enactment behaviors (DEB) were present compared to dreams without DEBs, both in the iRBD-T group (p = 0.007) and the iRBD-NT group (p = 0.012). ConclusionOur study shows no difference in the frequency of violent or threatening dreams in drug-naïve iRBD patients, clonazepam-treated iRBD patients and healthy control individuals. Aggressiveness is more frequent when DEBs are reported, suggesting motor disinhibition could require sufficiently dramatic and emotionally intense dreams, independent of clonazepam treatment.

Body Schema Self-Awareness and Related Dream Content Modifications in Amputees Due to Cancer.

Purpose: the evaluation of body image perception, pain coping strategies, and dream content, together with phantom limb and telescoping phenomena in patients with sarcoma who underwent surgery for limb amputation. Material and Methods: consecutive outpatients were evaluated at T0 (within 3 weeks after surgery) and T1 (4–6 months after surgery) as follows: demographic and clinical data collection; the Groningen Questionnaire Problems after Arm Amputation; the West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory; the Body Image Concern Inventory, a clinical trial to identify telescoping; and a weekly diary of dreams. Dream contents were coded according to the Hall and Van de Castle coding system. Results: Twenty patients completed the study (15 males and 5 females, mean age: 53.9 ± 24.6, education: 7.8 ± 3.4). All subjects experienced phantom limb and 35% of them experienced telescoping soon after surgery, and 25% still after 4–6 months. Both at T0 and T1, that half of the subjects reported dreams about still having their missing limbs. At T1 the patients’ perceptions of being able to deal with problems were lower, and pain and its interference in everyday life were higher yet associated with significant engagement in everyday activities and an overall good mood. The dream content analysis highlighted that males were less worried about health problems soon after amputation, and women showed more initial difficulties that seemed to be resolved after 4–6 months after surgery. Conclusions: The dream content analysis may improve clinicians’ ability to support their patients during their therapeutic course.

Analysis of dream contents of patients with anxiety disorders and their comparison with dreams of healthy participants.

Analysis of dream contents of patients with anxiety disorders and their comparison with dreams of healthy participants.

Dream recall frequency and content in women

In several large-scale studies, sex is related to the frequency of dream recall, on average, women tend to recall their dreams more often than men. Studies on EEG analysis and its correlation with dreams in women are scarce. We aimed to evaluate REM dreams´ recall frequency and content and their emotional characteristics in healthy young women. 20 young women adults’, nonclinical volunteers, without any history pf psychoactive medication and psychiatric disorders performed two consecutive nights of complete Video-Polysomnography recording. REM awakenings dreams were collected, after 10 consecutive minutes of uninterrupted REM. For every dream described, we applied the Hall and Van Castle method of quantitative and systematic dream content analysis and compared to published normative Hall and Van Castle data. The differences of this Portuguese women group and normative USA data obtained in female college students concern mostly dreaming about family, with dead and imaginary characters, while having increased rates of failure and striving. The cultural influences are a possible explanation.

Wish I could see you without closing my eyes: Thematic Analysis of dream content of grieved parents with the perspective of religious, cultural and psychological dimension

Most bereaved individuals encounter vivid and profoundly meaningful dreams highlighting the presence of the deceased who can embody and influence the grieving process. In eastern society especially in Pakistan, psychological literature on dreams during grief has been generally ignored. The current study aimed to investigate the presence of recurring themes in the dreams that embodied the deceased child as a character. Semi-structured interviews were held with 4 bereaved couples in Pakistan. Their age ranges from 24 to 48 years. Causes of death include accident, homicide, illness, and suicide. Each of the respondents stated their dreams that occurred following the death of their loved one and volunteered to share it with the researcher. Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to identify and describe meaningful patterns from the interview transcripts. Considering the lack of research into this topic, the aim was to look for pragmatic perceptions. Keywords: dreams, grieved parents, deceased child, dream analysis, thematic analysis

Does global warming affect dream content? Analyzing a 30-yr. dream series

The continuity hypothesis of dreaming postulates that dreams reflect waking life, e.g. preoccupations, experiences, thoughts; however, other topics like seasonal changes have been studied very rarely. A long dream series recorded between 1984 and 2015 (over 30 years) including 11,808 dreams showed that “cold” elements like snow, ice, and hail occurred less often over time and, thus, indicates that dreams might provide clues regarding global changes. Using modern tools for digital dream content analysis might enable researchers to validate this preliminary finding using other large data sets.

Adolescents’ dreams under COVID-19 isolation

Based on the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, we have studied the effects of quarantine/isolation on the dreams of Italian adolescents during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 235 subjects (73.2% girls;ages 12–18 years, M = 16.08, SD = 1.7) was involved. Participants were asked to complete part of the MADRE Questionnaire, as well as to report their Most Recent Dream by responding to specific questions related to this dream content (e.g., positive vs. negative emotions, realism/bizarreness, and presence of sensory impressions). Results indicated that participants most strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic reported the strongest effects on their dreams, as well as longest dreams. Results also indicated that girls recall dreams more often than boys, in addition to reporting higher emotional intensity, predominantly negative emotions, and more nightmares, including recurrent ones. Finally, the most recent dreams were set in both indoor and outdoor settings, with many family members and friends present. They were marked by strong negative emotions, especially related to dangerous, violent, and frustrating situations. In sum, the findings of this study indicate that the method of quali-quantitative dream content analysis is a very informative approach for studying the effects of significant contextual and catastrophic events on people’s inner lives. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

The Dreamland: Validation of a Structured Dream Diary.

Validated instruments for the analysis of dream contents are still scarce. Therefore, the aim of this study was to validate the Dreamland Questionnaire (DL-Q) by comparing its results to those of the Hall and van de Castle Coding System (HVDC). Twenty-two participants voluntarily filled in a written dream report as well as our DL-Q questionnaire, in total 30 dreams were collected with both measures. Written reports were analyzed with the HVDC and results of the two instruments were compared using Pearson correlations. Results showed that correlations were high for dominant characters, pleasantness of dream content, and body-related experiences. However, some DL-Q items showed low correlations and others could not be compared directly, as the HVDC did not include the same set of items. The DL-Q showed satisfactory validity and reliability as a measure of dream criteria and may serve as an effective tool for diagnosis and evaluation and facilitate future clinical and research studies. Nevertheless, some items could not be compared as part of this study and should be validated in future investigations.

Pandemic Dreams: Network Analysis of Dream Content During the COVID-19 Lockdown.

We used crowdsourcing (CS) to examine how COVID-19 lockdown affects the content of dreams and nightmares. The CS took place on the sixth week of the lockdown. Over the course of 1 week, 4,275 respondents (mean age 43, SD = 14 years) assessed their sleep, and 811 reported their dream content. Overall, respondents slept substantially more (54.2%) but reported an average increase of awakenings (28.6%) and nightmares (26%) from the pre-pandemic situation. We transcribed the content of the dreams into word lists and performed unsupervised computational network and cluster analysis of word associations, which suggested 33 dream clusters including 20 bad dream clusters, of which 55% were pandemic-specific (e.g., Disease Management, Disregard of Distancing, Elderly in Trouble). The dream-association networks were more accentuated for those who reported an increase in perceived stress. This CS survey on dream-association networks and pandemic stress introduces novel, collectively shared COVID-19 bad dream contents.

Gender Differences in the Dream Content of Children and Adolescents: The UK Library Study

Abstract Although gender differences in the dreams of adults have been studied extensively, large-scale studies in children and adolescents are scarce. The UK Library Study collected 1,995 most recent dreams of children and adolescents. Boys reported more physical aggression and fewer female characters in their dreams, whereas indoor settings were more prominent in girls’ dreams, results that are consistent with the findings in adults and the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. The study indicates that dream content analysis is a valuable tool for studying the inner world of children and adolescents because dreams reflect their waking life experiences, thoughts, and concerns. It would be informative to include measures of waking life aggression, frequency of social contacts, and leisure time activities to provide evidence for direct links between waking and dreaming.

Dream content analysis using Artificial Intelligence

We developed a dream content analysis system (DCAS) based on an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that was trained using a relatively large corpus of over 35,000 dreams. This sample of dreams were supplied by 424 female and 211 male users over 4 years who had posted them at the dream posting website and app Dreamboard.com. Building upon previous dream content ontologies developed by Hall, Van de Castle, Domhoff and Bulkeley, forty-seven reliably identified dream themes emerged from repeated application of algorithm and agent training procedures. DCAS reproduced most of the key dream content themes from these previous ontologies but also returned some unexpected findings. Mixed-model estimation detected significant male-female content differences for 34 dream themes, with female dreams evidencing higher incidence percentages for most themes, but effect sizes were small. Mixed-model logistic regression identified those themes that best predicted self-reported positive or negative mood associated with dreams. We conclude that the AI-based DCAS algorithm developed here is a promising tool for detailed analyses of dream content patterns.

A Novel Approach to Dream Content Analysis Reveals Links Between Learning-Related Dream Incorporation and Cognitive Abilities.

Can dreams reveal insight into our cognitive abilities and aptitudes (i.e., “human intelligence”)? The relationship between dream production and trait-like cognitive abilities is the foundation of several long-standing theories on the neurocognitive and cognitive-psychological basis of dreaming. However, direct experimental evidence is sparse and remains contentious. On the other hand, recent research has provided compelling evidence demonstrating a link between dream content and new learning, suggesting that dreams reflect memory processing during sleep. It remains to be investigated whether the extent of learning-related dream incorporation (i.e., the semantic similarity between waking experiences and dream content) is related to inter-individual differences in cognitive abilities. The relationship between pre–post sleep memory performance improvements and learning-related dream incorporation was investigated (N = 24) to determine if this relationship could be explained by inter-individual differences in intellectual abilities (e.g., reasoning, short term memory (STM), and verbal abilities). The extent of dream incorporation using a novel and objective method of dream content analysis, employed a computational linguistic approach to measure the semantic relatedness between verbal reports describing the experience on a spatial (e.g., maze navigation) or a motor memory task (e.g., tennis simulator) with subsequent hypnagogic reverie dream reports and waking “daydream” reports, obtained during a daytime nap opportunity. Consistent with previous studies, the extent to which something new was learned was related (r = 0.47) to how richly these novel experiences were incorporated into the content of dreams. This was significant for early (the first 4 dream reports) but not late dreams (the last 4 dream reports). Notably, here, we show for the first time that the extent of this incorporation for early dreams was related (r = 0.41) to inter-individual differences in reasoning abilities. On the other hand, late dream incorporation was related (r = 0.46) to inter-individual differences in verbal abilities. There was no relationship between performance improvements and intellectual abilities, and thus, inter-individual differences in cognitive abilities did not mediate the relationship between performance improvements and dream incorporation; suggesting a direct relationship between reasoning abilities and dream incorporation. This study provides the first evidence that learning-related dream production is related to inter-individual differences in cognitive abilities.

Dream Content in Patients With Sleep Apnea: A Prospective Sleep Laboratory Study.

Few studies have addressed dreaming in patients with sleep apnea. We hypothesized that respiratory events and subsequent oxygen desaturation act as an important physiological trigger and may thus influence dream content in patients with a sleep-related breathing disorder. Seventy-six patients (28 women, mean age 54 years, range 20-82) who underwent polysomnography because of suspected sleep apnea participated in this study. Dream reports and dream questionnaires were collected immediately after first morning awakening, at 5:30 AM, at the sleep laboratory. Dream content analysis with respect to possible respiratory-related content was performed. Patients were stratified into primary snoring, mild, moderate, and severe sleep apnea groups. In 63 patients sleep apnea was diagnosed (mild n = 31, 49.2%, moderate n = 13, 20.6%, severe n = 19, 30.2%), and 13 subjects in whom a sleep-related breathing disorder was not confirmed were included as a control group with primary snoring. There was no significant difference in respiratory-related dream topics between patients and controls. Also, no influence of respiratory parameters measured during polysomnography on dream content was detectable. We failed to detect a difference in dream content between patients with sleep apnea and controls. Further studies are required to determine whether these results indicate that the incorporation of respiratory events into dreams is absent in patients with sleep apnea or represents a bias due to the collection of dream content in the early morning hours.

Content analysis of Chinese dreams—Pleasure or pain?

Content analysis of Chinese dreams—Pleasure or pain?