The estimation of sleep quality in different stages and cycles of sleep

Dream content in NREM and REM sleep correlates with the subjective experience of having slept immediately before awakening. The estimation of depth of sleep depends on the quality of the NREM sleep stages. The presence of dreaming in a given sleep stage is more important for the subjective experience of having slept than the duration of the sleep episode before the awakening. Neurotic insomniac patients more often deny mental activity when awoken from NREM and REM sleep, than do healthy subjects. These data suggest that spontaneous awakenings in different sleep stages, especially in the first sleep cycle, correlate with the insomniac's tendency to underestimate sleep duration and quality.     

Children's dreams viewed through the prism of Maslow's hierarchy of needs

During a regular free writing time in class, children in Kindergarten through sixth grade in various areas of the city were given the writing prompt, ‘My dreams for the world’. Writing samples were collected from an elementary school in an affluent area of the city, an elementary and a middle school in a low socio-economic area, and an elementary school located on an Air Force base. Writings were analysed using an expanded version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and rated on a scale according to the content. This was done individually by two of the researchers and then discussed for final agreement on rating. The samples were coded for age/grade level, gender, and school. A ‘Maslow Average’ was calculated for each writing sample, along with a ‘Maslow Highest’. The hypotheses tested were that Maslow score and Maslow highest were influenced by gender, income, ethnicity, and grade.     

Dreams,reality and memory: confabulations in lucid dreamers implicate reality-monitoring dysfunction in dream consciousness

Introduction. Dreams might represent a window on altered states of consciousness with relevance to psychotic experiences, where reality monitoring is impaired. We examined reality monitoring in healthy, non-psychotic individuals with varying degrees of dream awareness using a task designed to assess confabulatory memory errors – a confusion regarding reality whereby information from the past feels falsely familiar and does not constrain current perception appropriately. Confabulatory errors are common following damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Ventromedial function has previously been implicated in dreaming and dream awareness.

Methods. In a hospital research setting, physically and mentally healthy individuals with high (n = 18) and low (n = 13) self-reported dream awareness completed a computerised cognitive task that involved reality monitoring based on familiarity across a series of task runs.

Results. Signal detection theory analysis revealed a more liberal acceptance bias in those with high dream awareness, consistent with the notion of overlap in the perception of dreams, imagination and reality.

Conclusions. We discuss the implications of these results for models of reality monitoring and psychosis with a particular focus on the role of vmPFC in default-mode brain function, model-based reinforcement learning and the phenomenology of dreaming and waking consciousness.     

Prevalence and correlates of disturbed dreaming in children

Relatively little is known about nightmares and other forms of disturbed dreaming in children. This article reviews the literature on the prevalence and correlates of nightmares in children and highlights key methodological issues in the field. Results show that regardless of how they are defined and measured, nightmares affect a significant proportion of children of all ages and there is some evidence to suggest that nightmare frequency may peak around the age of 10. Gender differences in nightmare frequency, with girls reporting more nightmares than do boys, tend to appear between the ages of 10 and 15. Although nightmares are associated with a range of psychosocial difficulties (e.g., stress, behavioural problems), elevated anxiety and concomitant sleep-related disorders (e.g., sleepwalking) are among the most robust correlates of nightmares. Very few studies have examined nightmare treatment in children, but promising results have been obtained with imagery rehearsal therapy. Overall, research in the field has been hampered by inconsistent definitions for nightmares, by extensive variability in questionnaire items used to measure nightmare frequency, and by a lack of awareness of how using parents versus children as respondents may impact results. Longitudinal studies are needed to better understand how nightmares and their correlates evolve during childhood and adolescence, to delineate their clinical significance, and to develop effective and age-appropriate treatment strategies.     

Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model

Previous research has indicated that personality factors such as openness to experience, creativity, visual memory, attitude toward dreams, and sleep behavior is related to home dream recall frequency (DRF). However, a study investigating all areas simultaneously within one sample in order to determine the percentage of variance explained by all variables and to take intercorrelations between the influencing factors into account has not been performed till now. The present study with 444 participants fills this gap. Using several indicators for each of the variables mentioned above, a structural equation model was tested. Although the model fit was satisfying, the four factors which were significantly related to DRF: personality (openness to experience, thin boundaries, absorption), creativity, nocturnal awakenings, and attitude toward dreams, explained only 8.4% of the total variance. As this value is considerably lower than those of studies investigating a single influencing factor and using similar measurement instruments in similar samples, one might speculate about possible expectancy effects in these previous studies, an effect which has been demonstrated for DRF in the laboratory setting. In addition, the small percentage of explained variance of each single factors (<3%) may indicate that other, in this study unmeasured, variables such as sleep duration (state aspect), introspection, and cognitive functioning immediately upon awakening (sleep inertia) show substantial covariance with the interindividual differences in DRF. Future studies should focus on longitudinal aspects in order to differentiate between state versus trait factors (although methodologic issues, e.g. the effect of the measurement technique on DRF itself, have to be clarified) and investigate additional variables which might be associated with DRF (see above).     

Dreams and exposure therapy in PTSD

Exposure therapy is a well-established treatment for PTSD that requires the patient to focus on and describe the details of a traumatic experience. Nightmares that refer to or replicate traumatic experiences are prominent and distressing symptoms of PTSD and appear to exacerbate the disorder. With this apparent paradox in mind, exposure therapy and the literature on sleep and PTSD are reviewed in the context of the relationship between therapeutic exposure and exposure to trauma-related stimuli that occurs in dreams. It is concluded that nightmares that replay the trauma and disrupt sleep do not meet requirements for therapeutic exposure, whereas other dreaming may aid in the recovery from trauma.     

The conceptualisation of dreams by adults with intellectual disabilities: relationship with theory of mind abilities and verbal ability

Background Empirical studies suggest that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have difficulties in conceptualising dreams as perceptually private, non‐physical, individuated and potentially fictional entities. The aim of the current study was to replicate the results found by Stenfert Kroese et al. using a comparative sample size, and to examine putative cognitive correlates of accurate dream conceptualisation [receptive language and 1st order theory of mind (ToM) abilities]. Method Conceptualisation of dreams, real objects and photographs was assessed with a structured closed‐question interview schedule, together with receptive language, and ToM abilities. Results Findings from the current study replicated those of previous research, finding that many adults with ID tend to think that dreams take place around them, can be witnessed by others, can be touched and manipulated, can be shared by others and are about real events. The ability to accurately conceptualise dreams was found to increase along with receptive language ability, and there was a non‐significant association between ToM ability and the ability to understand that dreams can be about potentially fictional entities. Conclusions Some individuals with ID have a different understanding of mental phenomena such as dreams, which has implications for several aspects of care and support, particularly relating to mental health and therapeutic work.     

Images of Life on the Verge of Death: Dreams and Drawings of People With AIDS

topic . Dreams of people with AIDS help illuminate unconscious activities that can be used to guide the people to a peaceful death
purpose . To explore dreams of people with AIDS in an attempt to understand unconscious processes
source . Dreams and drawings of three people with AIDS
conclusions . Dreams and drawings can be used to understand the unconscious processes of people with AIDS and to help them toward a peacqful death