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Video Game Play as Nightmare Protection: A Replication and Extension
Abstract
This inquiry is a replication and extension of a recent study with military gamers examining the thesis that playing video games might act as a type of nightmare protection. This hypothesis is based on the idea of a well-rehearsed defense due to game play, a numbing against violence, and the idea that memories in the 6 hours posttrauma are best interrupted with a visual cognitive task, like video game play. This replication was done using university students who had experienced a trauma in the past and had reported a dream associated with that trauma along with a recent dream. Controls were emotional reactivity and trauma history. We conclude that male high-end gamers seemed to be less troubled by nightmares while female high-end gamers were the most troubled by nightmares. So what differs between these two types of gamers? Three suggestions are considered: game genre, game sociability, and sex-role conflict. It seems that the nightmare protection hypothesis of video game play should be qualified to apply to male high-end gamers who play few casual games, play socially, and do not seem to experience sex-role conflict due to type of game play. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
... They noticed that young males who engage in a lot of war video games tended to experience less violent or frightening imagery in their dreams. Gackenbach et al. (Flockhart & Gackenbach, 2017;Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes, 2013;Gackenbach, Ellerman, & Hall, 2011) proposed that these male gamers developed adaptive dream strategies for processing violent game play. The authors subsequently proposed a "nightmare protection hypothesis" (Boyes & Gackenbach, 2016), which suggests that exposure to threatening or scary images (as in combat-centric video game play or more benignly in IRT) may allow individuals to develop defensive control over violent/frightening imagery that can then act as a form of nightmare protection (Flockhart & Gackenbach, 2017;Gackenbach et al., 2011Gackenbach et al., , 2013. ...
... Gackenbach et al. (Flockhart & Gackenbach, 2017;Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes, 2013;Gackenbach, Ellerman, & Hall, 2011) proposed that these male gamers developed adaptive dream strategies for processing violent game play. The authors subsequently proposed a "nightmare protection hypothesis" (Boyes & Gackenbach, 2016), which suggests that exposure to threatening or scary images (as in combat-centric video game play or more benignly in IRT) may allow individuals to develop defensive control over violent/frightening imagery that can then act as a form of nightmare protection (Flockhart & Gackenbach, 2017;Gackenbach et al., 2011Gackenbach et al., , 2013. ...
We pilot tested the efficacy of a virtual reality-based imagery rehearsal and rescripting treatment (ReScript) for nightmares. Nineteen community volunteers (Mage = 49 years) who varied in terms of their nightmare distress levels participated in a 4-week-long trial of ReScript therapy. Participants used VR manual controls in an Oculus headset to manipulate 3 scary or threatening images per session with 2 sessions per week. The object was to manipulate these images into less scary or threatening images so as to gain cognitive control over intrusive imagery and to lessen overall anxiety or nightmare distress or nightmare daytime effects. Images were taken from the International Affective Picture System database and varied along 3 affective dimensions (valence, arousal, and dominance) important for nightmare imagery. Results demonstrated a significant reduction (from baseline to trial end) in anxiety levels, nightmare distress, and nightmare effects (all effect sizes .63 or above), as well as a significant decrease in anxiety words and a significant increase in cognitive process words in rescripted narratives. Nightmare frequency was also significantly reduced though effect size was small. No significant side or adverse effects were reported by participants during the 4-week trial. Indeed, Depersonalization and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Checklist scores significantly declined and mood function tests improved over the 4-week trial. We conclude that ReScript may be a safe and effective short-term therapy for nightmare distress but should next be tested with a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
... Specifically, high end female gamers did not appear to get the same advantage as their male counterparts in being protected from their nightmares by frequent game play. We went on to replicate these findings using the same study design on a student sample (Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes, 2013). We concluded that male high end gamers seem to be less troubled by nightmares than female high end gamers. ...
... In two subsequent studies (Boyes & Gackenbach, 2014; Ditner, 2015), we examined these differences in responses to nightmares among high end male and female gamers. Our results, which are consistent with previous research (Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes, 2013), indicate that male and female gamers are playing different types of video games. Males played more combat centric games, which may be nightmare inoculating. ...
Lucid dreaming has been said to be within the capability of all individuals (LaBerge, 1985). Based on analyses of the incidence of this dream experience among university students and among persons with an expressed interest in dreaming, a majority have reported experiencing at least one lucid dream during their lifetime, and about 20% have reported experiencing lucid dreams with relative frequency. Our goal in this chapter is to describe and to integrate what has been learned through research about individuals who experience lucid dreams. To this end we will present data derived from the study of four separable but not unrelated functional domains for which subject differences associated with lucid dreaming, or lucidity, have been found. These functional domains are (1) oculomotor/equilibratory; (2) visual/imaginal; (3) intellectual/creative, and (4) personal/interpersonal. The extent of individual differences in lucid dreaming and the methods by which these differences have been investigated will also be discussed. Because methodology is an integral part of research into individual differences, methodological considerations will first be presented.
... Nevertheless, many of the world's leading researchers historically and currently subscribe to the notion that dreams can be metaphors for waking life, picturing waking-life experiences and emotions in non-literal, figurative ways (e.g., Jung, 1948a,b;Lakoff, 1993;Hartmann, 1996a;Domhoff, 2003). Some common agreements between researchers exist, including: dream metaphors picture abstract concepts in concrete terms; these metaphors are specialized to the dreamer and thus to understand the metaphor it is necessary to elicit the input of the dreamer; and emotions guide the metaphorical imagery of the dream (e.g., Freud, 1900;Jung, 1948a;Hall, 1953;Lakoff, 1993;Hartmann, 1996aHartmann, , 1999aKunzendorf, 2007). ...
... In her work, Ellis shows how re-entering and bodily experiencing a dream can enable the dreamwork to move forward, perhaps by empowering the dreamer to "manipulate their internal imagery system." There are parallels here between this Focus-Oriented Dreamwork (FOD) and Gackenbach's findings that high-end gamers seem to have a defense mechanism in their dreams whereby when they have dreams of being attacked they are able to respond in kind because they have rehearsed this behavior in waking life (Gackenbach et al., 2011(Gackenbach et al., , 2013. What FOD clients and high-end gamers have in common is that they have rehearsed their adaptive behaviors during wakefulness in lived, bodily, immersive experiences, which then translate into their dream behaviors. ...
In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep, including consolidation into long term memory structures and integration into pre-existing memory networks; that dreaming reflects these emotion assimilation processes; and that the associations between memory fragments activated during sleep give rise to measureable elements of dream metaphor and hyperassociativity. The latter are a direct reflection, and the phenomenological experience, of emotional memory assimilation processes occurring during sleep. While many theories previously have posited a role for emotion processing and/or emotional memory consolidation during sleep and dreaming, sleep theories often do not take enough account of important dream science data, yet dream research, when conducted systematically and under ideal conditions, can greatly enhance theorizing around the functions of sleep. Similarly, dream theories often fail to consider the implications of sleep-dependent memory research, which can augment our understanding of dream functioning. Here, we offer a synthesized view, taking detailed account of both sleep and dream data and theories. We draw on extensive literature from sleep and dream experiments and theories, including often-overlooked data from dream science which we believe reflects sleep phenomenology, to bring together important ideas and findings from both domains.
... Although the commercial video game did not explicitly include evidence-based anxietyreduction techniques, analyses revealed a significant anxiety reduction, as reported by the children and their parents, to the point that the magnitude of improvements was equal to the one reached after neurofeedback sessions. Finally, commercial video games such as Tetris have also been proposed as a protective mechanism against nightmares connected to traumatic events in military personnel [99] and a practical visuospatial task interfering with the recursion of sensory imagery from traumatic events [100]. ...
Video games have been increasingly used as a form of therapy for various mental health conditions. Research has shown that video games can be used to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction. One of the main benefits of video games in therapy is that they can provide a sense of engagement and immersion that traditional therapy methods may lack. Additionally, video games can teach valuable skills such as problem solving, decision making, and coping strategies. Video games can also simulate real-life scenarios, allowing individuals to practice and improve social skills in a safe and controlled environment. Furthermore, video games can provide feedback and track progress objectively and quantifiably. This paper proposes an approach, the Video Game Therapy ® (VGT ®) approach, where game experience is put at the center of the therapy in a tailored way, connecting the individual patient's personality, the therapy's goals, and the suggested type of video game through the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).VGT ® 's core assumption is that playing video games could facilitate patients in reaching conditions where traditional methodologies and therapeutic approaches could work best. VGT ® was elaborated according to the Adlerian therapy vision and, consequently, the different phases of Adlerian therapy and VGT ® match. Despite the use of video games in psychotherapy might have some adverse effects in specific cases, VGT ® is currently used in three associations with positive results in promoting emotional experimentation and literacy, social feeling, sense of identity, and activating cognitive processes. Future developments include expanding the use of VGT ® further to validate such results from a statistical point of view.
... In addition to veteran samples (Gackenbach, Ellerman, & Hall, 2011;Orsillo et al., 2007), ERNS has been used to measure emotional response in trauma-exposed youth offender samples (Bennett & Kerig, 2014;Bennett, Modrowski, Kerig, & Chaplo, 2015;Kerig, Bennett, Thompson, & Becker, 2012; and in a trauma-exposed university student sample (Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes, 2013). Previous studies typically noted adequate to good Cronbach's alpha for each subscale. ...
The objective of this study was to identify the relationship of emotional reactivity with depression and anxiety symptoms among adults diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI) and to explore gender differences in these relationships. Cross-sectional data were collected from intensive case management services recipients (N = 150). Hierarchical multiple regression was used to identify the associations of self-reported positive emotions, fear, sadness, and anger to depression and anxiety, while testing the interaction of gender with emotional response. Compared with men, women reported significantly higher depressive and anxiety symptoms and greater reactivity to sadness and fear. Emotional response variables explained 35.5% of the variance in depression and 38.7% in anxiety. Gender did not moderate the relationship between emotional response and depression; however, gender did moderate the relationship between reactivity to positive emotions and anxiety. Self-reported emotional response may provide clinicians with insight into the severity and presentation of co-occurring anxiety and depressive symptoms among adults with SMI. Increasing the experience of positive emotions among women with SMI may contribute to reduced anxiety symptoms. Therapists and rehabilitation counselors may consider the interplay between mood and anxiety symptoms and emotional response styles to reduce the burden of psychiatric distress among people with SMI.
... Video games help combat soldiers experience fewer trauma-related nightmares (Gackenbach et al. 2013), and casual games can alleviate symptoms of depression (Russoniello et al. 2013) and anxiety (Fish et al. 2014). Granic et al. (2014) and Marston and Smith (2012) recommend that teams of psychologists, clinicians, and game designers work together to develop approaches to mental health care that integrate video game playing with traditional therapy. ...
This chapter considers the role of entertainment media in education, health, and quality of life. Because of its potential to affect our well-being, entertainment can be seen as a public health issue. When freely chosen, entertainment can produce desired states such as relaxation or arousal and can induce the range of human emotions that enrich daily life. The emotional and social satisfactions provided by entertainment are supplemented by their impact on executive functioning and health.
Entertainment serves the range of “uses and gratifications” familiar to media students (cognitive, social, emotional/physiological).
Among the cognitive benefits of entertainment media are the maintenance or improvement of problem solving and enhanced perceptual skills. Listening to music or watching television can produce positive cognitive effects. Music, in addition to its mood management function, also affects brain development, language, and cognitive development.
One undeniable feature of play is fun. Positive emotions, including humor, contribute to a sense of well-being and health.
Video gaming can be beneficial for brain development and functioning. The positive effects of video gaming may also prove relevant in therapeutic interventions targeting psychiatric disorders, particularly depression. Studies of the noninstitutionalized elderly suggest that digital games can speed reaction time and may positively influence executive function and have social and emotional benefits. Exergames are a substitute for physical exercise when outdoor play is not feasible.
If entertainment is a public health issue, it is largely in the area of mental health that it has its greatest impact. Enjoying music, a film, a video game, or a You Tube video can improve mood, strengthen friendships, and increase competence.
Digital entertainment media have been used in basic scientific research. Games can teach STEM subjects efficiently by reaching a large audience.
... Here, the most adequate way to collect dreams is to audio-tape the report and to transcribe it afterwards. Without any doubt, these first-hand oral accounts are the most direct and authentic representation of the original dream experience (Gackenbach et al., 2013) but specific tools are necessary to analyse the report (e.g. Casagrande et al., 2008). ...
In studies with focus on the phenomenon of dreaming a variety of methodologies have been used. Besides the classical techniques of collecting dreams in dream diaries also a variety of questionnaires and database systems are in use. As an example, we present here the multidimensional dream questionnaire “Dreamland”. With these techniques, and depending on the research question, different aspects of dreaming are assessed and analyzed. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of these techniques hinders objectivity and reproducibility of the results of dream content analysis. In addition, also the diversity of interpretations and theoretical concepts about the origin or the meaning of dreams and dreaming contributes to these limitations. Future research on dream content analysis should be more focused on questions about the combination and integration of these diverse methodological approaches and techniques. Moreover, linguistic approaches offer new possibilities in dream content analysis.
Just as our dreaming reality is constructed, our waking reality may also be constructed. While our waking reality influences our lives the most, other constructed realities also have impact. Yet, never before has such a large part of the population been so widely affected by another constructed reality beyond dreaming; specifically, our technologically constructed digital reality through video game play. One potential consequence of video game play is breaking the illusion or 'frame' of our dreams as reality through various dream experiences. Many of the world's wisdom traditions believe that waking reality is an illusion, and now this idea is supported by modern digital physics. While being aware of the illusory nature of waking reality is difficult, it may be easier to break the framework of perception or 'wake up' to the true nature of reality in alternative realities, such as digital and dreaming. This chapter will review the evidence collected in the video game and dream laboratory to explore how video game play is breaking the frame within dreaming realities.
This chapter contains a summary of the research in support of a hypothesis that video-gameplay grants some gamers protection from nightmares. Secondarily, the effects that video games have on our dreams are described and how that alters our emotional processing and regulation in waking life. Evidence is presented in support of these effects for male high-end gamers alone—not their female counterparts. The nightmare protection effect may be related to threat simulation theories, which suggest that humans have a basic need to virtually rehearse threatening situations as a survival adaptation. Violent video-gameplay may subvert this process and offload the need to rehearse threat in dreams by providing a suitable virtual environment within the media. Results from research on students and active-duty soldiers who are also gamers are explored, and they support the nightmare protection hypothesis.
Just as our dreaming reality is constructed, our waking reality may also be constructed. While our waking reality influences our lives the most, other constructed realities also have impact. Yet, never before has such a large part of the population been so widely affected by another constructed reality beyond dreaming; specifically, our technologically constructed digital reality through video game play. One potential consequence of video game play is breaking the illusion or 'frame' of our dreams as reality through various dream experiences. Many of the world's wisdom traditions believe that waking reality is an illusion, and now this idea is supported by modern digital physics. While being aware of the illusory nature of waking reality is difficult, it may be easier to break the framework of perception or 'wake up' to the true nature of reality in alternative realities, such as digital and dreaming. This chapter will review the evidence collected in the video game and dream laboratory to explore how video game play is breaking the frame within dreaming realities.
This chapter considers the role of entertainment media in education, health, and quality of life. Because of its potential to affect our well-being, entertainment can be seen as a public health issue. When freely chosen, entertainment can produce desired states such as relaxation or arousal and can induce the range of human emotions that enrich daily life. The emotional and social satisfactions provided by entertainment are supplemented by their impact on executive functioning and health.
Entertainment serves the range of “uses and gratifications” familiar to media students (cognitive, social, emotional/physiological).
Among the cognitive benefits of entertainment media are the maintenance or improvement of problem solving and enhanced perceptual skills. Listening to music or watching television can produce positive cognitive effects. Music, in addition to its mood management function, also affects brain development, language, and cognitive development.
One undeniable feature of play is fun. Positive emotions, including humor, contribute to a sense of well-being and health.
Video gaming can be beneficial for brain development and functioning. The positive effects of video gaming may also prove relevant in therapeutic interventions targeting psychiatric disorders, particularly depression. Studies of the noninstitutionalized elderly suggest that digital games can speed reaction time and may positively influence executive function and have social and emotional benefits. Exergames are a substitute for physical exercise when outdoor play is not feasible.
If entertainment is a public health issue, it is largely in the area of mental health that it has its greatest impact. Enjoying music, a film, a video game, or a You Tube video can improve mood, strengthen friendships, and increase competence.
Digital entertainment media have been used in basic scientific research. Games can teach STEM subjects efficiently by reaching a large audience.
Early work on the nightmare protection hypothesis found that males who play combat-centric video games frequently did not experience nightmares in the same way as their counterparts. Rather, their dreams involved fighting back and feeling empowered. However, this effect did not occur for female high-end gamers in a follow-up study with students. The current study was conducted to explore this sex difference. It was hypothesized that the difference may be a result of in-dream coping responses, stereotype threat or preferred game genres. This study utilized an online survey containing 5 questionnaires to address the different hypotheses, including gathering a recent nightmare and coping response to this nightmare. Results, which are consistent with previous research, indicate that males and females are playing different types of video games. Males were playing more combat-centric games, which may be nightmare inoculating. For females, casual games may not be providing the nightmare protection as they do in males. No support was found for stereotype threat with the current measure. Early support was found for differences in waking and in-dream coping styles. Overall, continued evidence of sex differences in nightmare inoculations was found and some light was shed on what may be causing these differences.
Cirucci (2013a) hypothesized that video game players would display similarities to social media users and that this relationship should be examined. This inquiry compared university students who varied in the degree to which they use social media (SMU) and play video games (VGP) on several dream indices and 1 personality inventory. Dreams have been shown to be continuous with waking mentation (Schredl, 2003) and to regulate negative emotions (Levin & Nielsen, 2009). Thus, they may offer a relatively unobstrusive measure of reactions to media use. Although there were meaningful differences between the 4 groups (high VGP/high SMU; high VGP/low SMU; low VGP/high SMU; low VGP/low SMU), most analysis resulted in no differences in dreams. Differences seemed to support the nightmare protection thesis of video game play such that high-end gamers, no matter the degree of social media use, suffered less from these negative types of dreams. Additionally, the high VGP/high SMU group had the thinnest psychological boundaries and thus were perhaps most susceptible to media effects. While at the same time this group of high-end media users showed the least negative self concepts in their recent dream content. This was reflected in their typical dream reports as well.
This literature review focuses on the confirmed, suspected, and speculative effects of violent and non-violent video game exposure on negative and positive outcomes. Negative outcomes include aggressive feelings, aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior, physiological arousal, and desensitization, whereas positive outcomes include various types of learning. Multiple theories predict, and empirical findings reveal, that violent video game exposure is causally related to a host of negative outcomes and a few positive outcomes. Some non-violent video games have been causally related to some specific positive learning effects as well as certain types of visual cognition (e.g., spatial rotation abilities) and may be associated with some negative effects on executive control and attention disorders.
Chronic nightmares pose a significant problem for many individuals affected by trauma. The present study attempts to extend current knowledge on the nature, characteristics, and associated sequelae of chronic nightmares. Data were collected from 94 trauma-exposed, treatment-seeking participants (74 women and 20 men). These data suggest that most participants reported their nightmares to be similar or dissimilar to their traumatic experience rather than exact replications (replicative). Not surprisingly, though, nightmare-related distress was positively related to the degree of similarity between their nightmare and their trauma, with replicative nightmares eliciting the greatest distress. Persons with a current diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were more likely to report problems related to nightmares and sleep disturbance than persons without current PTSD. Nonetheless, even after controlling for PTSD-related symptomatology, frequency and severity of nightmares significantly predicted some distress outcomes (e.g., poor sleep quality), suggesting that nightmares contribute to psychological distress above and beyond PTSD symptoms. Implications for future research, and for the treatment of nightmares and PTSD, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Soldiers who play video games to varying degrees were solicited to fill out a survey on dreams and gaming. A prescreening filtered out those who were not soldiers, who did not game, and who were suffering from various psychological problems in the last six months. The remaining soldiers filled out these inventories: general and military demographics, history of video game play, Emotional Reactivity and Numbing Scale (ERNS), and a Trauma Inventory. They were then asked to provide two dreams, one recent and one that was impactful from their military service. Following the military dream they filled out Impactful Dreams Questionnaire (IDQ) about that dream only. Dream content analysis was conducted using threat simulation, war content, and lucid/control/gaming content. High- and low-end frequency gamer groups were identified and compared on these dream content scales. Because the nightmare literature shows that affect load and distress are predictors of nightmare suffering, ERNS and Trauma history were covariates in the ANCOVA's on gamer group × dream type. It was found that the high-end gaming group exhibited less threat and war content in their military dreams than the low-end group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested the new threat simulation theory of the biological function of dreaming by analysing 592 dreams from 52 Ss (aged 19–38 yrs) with a rating scale developed for quantifying threatening events in dreams. The main predictions were that dreams contain more frequent and more severe threats than waking life does; that dream threats are realistic; and that they primarily threaten the Dream Self who tends to behave in a relevant defensive manner in response to them. These predictions were confirmed and the theory empirically supported. It is suggested that the threat simulation theory of dreaming may have wider implications for theories about the function of consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Revonsuo proposes an evolutionary theory of dreaming in which dreams allow an individual to prepare for real world threats in the safety of the virtual setting of the dream world. Based upon previous work examining the dreams of video game players, it was hypothesized that high-end gamers would experience fewer threat simulation dreams because of frequent threat resolution rehearsal during game play. Subjects were asked to report a night before dream and fill out surveys regarding their gaming history, media use, and dream experiences. Using a factor analysis, support for the main hypothesis was found. Individuals with a history of game play experienced fewer threat severity variables in their dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In an attempt to replicate a classificatory study reported by D. Kuiken and S. Sikora (1993), 36 volunteers (aged 18–45 yrs) reported a dream that was as impactful as their most impactful dream during the preceding month and then the 1st dream that they recalled at least 4 days later. Cluster analysis revealed 5 classes of dreams, each with a characteristic profile of emotions, goals, concerns, movement styles, sensory phenomena, self-reflectiveness, and dream endings. Four of these classes substantially correspond to the dream types identified in the original study: existential dreams (distressing dreams concerned with separation and personal integrity), anxiety dreams (frightening dreams concerned with threats to physical well-being), transcendent dreams (ecstatic dreams concerned with magical accomplishments), and mundane (unimpactful) dreams. A 5th class of moderately impactful dreams, new to this study and referred to as alienation dreams, expressed emotional agitation and concerns about interpersonal efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Background:
Flashbacks (intrusive memories of a traumatic event) are the hallmark feature of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, however preventative interventions are lacking. Tetris may offer a 'cognitive vaccine' [1] against flashback development after trauma exposure. We previously reported that playing the computer game Tetris soon after viewing traumatic material reduced flashbacks compared to no-task [1]. However, two criticisms need to be addressed for clinical translation: (1) Would all games have this effect via distraction/enjoyment, or might some games even be harmful? (2) Would effects be found if administered several hours post-trauma? Accordingly, we tested Tetris versus an alternative computer game--Pub Quiz--which we hypothesized not to be helpful (Experiments 1 and 2), and extended the intervention interval to 4 hours (Experiment 2).
Methodology/principal findings:
The trauma film paradigm was used as an experimental analog for flashback development in healthy volunteers. In both experiments, participants viewed traumatic film footage of death and injury before completing one of the following: (1) no-task control condition (2) Tetris or (3) Pub Quiz. Flashbacks were monitored for 1 week. Experiment 1: 30 min after the traumatic film, playing Tetris led to a significant reduction in flashbacks compared to no-task control, whereas Pub Quiz led to a significant increase in flashbacks. Experiment 2: 4 hours post-film, playing Tetris led to a significant reduction in flashbacks compared to no-task control, whereas Pub Quiz did not.
Conclusions/significance:
First, computer games can have differential effects post-trauma, as predicted by a cognitive science formulation of trauma memory. In both Experiments, playing Tetris post-trauma film reduced flashbacks. Pub Quiz did not have this effect, even increasing flashbacks in Experiment 1. Thus not all computer games are beneficial or merely distracting post-trauma - some may be harmful. Second, the beneficial effects of Tetris are retained at 4 hours post-trauma. Clinically, this delivers a feasible time-window to administer a post-trauma "cognitive vaccine".
Problems with nightmares are reported by a sizable proportion of individuals with a history of trauma and by approximately 5% to 8% of the general population. Chronic nightmares may represent a primary sleep disorder rather than a symptom of a psychiatric disorder, and direct targeting of nightmares is a feasible clinical approach to the problem. Of the treatments proposed, imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) has received the most empirical support. An up-to-date account of this cognitive-imagery approach shows how to treat nightmares during 4 roughly 2-hr sessions. The main points covered in each therapy session and their underlying rationale are presented. Dismantling protocols are suggested to discern active ingredients of IRT and to develop flexible applications based on patients' needs.
Nightmares are usually defined as frightening dreams that awaken the sleeper. This study uses the waking criterion to distinguish between nightmares and bad dreams and investigated the variety and intensity of emotions reported in each form of disturbing dream. Ninety participants recorded their dreams for 4 consecutive weeks and, for each dream recalled, noted the emotions present and their intensities on a 9-point scale. Thirty-six participants reported at least one nightmare and one bad dream over the 4 weeks covered by the log, while 29 reported having had at least one bad dream but no nightmares. Nightmares were rated as being significantly (p < 0.001) more intense than bad dreams. Thirty percent of nightmares and 51% of bad dreams contained primary emotions other than fear. The findings support the claim that awakening can serve as an indirect measure of nightmare intensity and raise important implications for the operational definition of nightmares.
Research in the second half of the twentieth century may finally have succeeded in constraining the boundaries of reasonable discussion about dreams and dreaming. Largely owing to physiological discoveries and psychophysiological methods for the representative sampling of human dreamlife, we now have a body of observations that delimits plausible explanations and theories.For example, we now know that neither REM sleep nor its dreaming is a sporadic, fleeting response to intense psychic needs or peripheral organ states, but rather is an autonomous, cyclically recurring process which consumes relatively much of our sleep, indeed of our lives. We also know that the content of representatively sampled dreams of both adults (Snyder, 1970) and children (Foulkes, 1982) is generally realistic and mundane, rather than fantastic and bizarre. From this finding, and from direct com parisons of representatively sampled laboratory-collected dreams with spon taneously remembered home dreams (e.g. Foulkes. 1979). it has become apparent that the idea of dreaming as being full of strange and discontinuous imagery is a stereotype based on limited acquaintance with our own dreamlife. Specifically, our most ordinarily memorable dreams seem to be those relatively few that are particularly emotionally engaging, particularly unrealistic, or particularly odd in their imagery or thematic sequence. This leads us to underestimate the orderliness of a process that typically functions plausibly and coherently, in a similar if not identical manner to that which we believe (perhaps also stereotypically) characterises our non-dreaming experience.Thus, studies of representatively sampled dreaming have shown that dream imagery itself typically is realistic or plausible (Dorus, Dorus, & Rechtschaffen, 1971). that dream speech typically is both grammatically correct and appropriate to the imagined situation in which it is embedded (Heynick, 1983). that the feelings accompanying dream imagery typically are appropriate to the imagined situations which they accompany (Foulkes, Sullivan, Kerr, & Brown, 1988), and that, overwhelmingly often, dreams progress over time in a continuous rather than a discontinuous way (Foulkes & Schmidt, 1983).Such data indicate the need to radically revise or replace most older dream theories from the clinical tradition. Given the role that physiologists and physiological methods played in the development of these data, it was perhaps inevitable that dream theories would begin to be framed in reductionist terms. And, since the 19505, there have been many attempts to “explain” dream phenomena through their reduction to neurophysiological processes (e.g. Crick & Mitchison, 1983; Hobson & McCarley, 1977)
The improvement of various cognitive skills associated with video game play has been well documented; however, the development of consciousness implications have not been considered. In the present study several potential indicators of consciousness development, including and especially lucid dreaming frequency, were examined as a function of video game play. In the first study, high video game players were more likely to report lucid dreams, observer dreams, and dream control when dream recall frequency and motion disorientation during play were controlled. There were no similar differences in other consciousness development indices. In the second study, a slightly different pattern of results occurred because of respondents all being frequent players. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The authors provide empirical data to help answer the question of what distinguishes “big dreams” (Jung, 1974) from ordinary dreams. Reported here are the results of a multifaceted quantitative analysis of 162 most recent dreams and 162 most memorable dreams gathered from the same group of individuals. This matched collection of recent and memorable dream reports was analyzed by a novel combination of three quantitative methods: Hartmann's (1998, 2008) research on central images, Hall and Van de Castle's (1966) content analysis, and Bulkeley's (2009b) word search approach. Using these different methods of analysis on the same two sets of dreams provided an unusually detailed portrait of the basic patterns of big dreams. The results suggest that big dreams are distinguished by a tendency toward “primal” qualities of form and content: more intense imagery, more nature references, more physical aggression, more family characters, more fantastic/imaginary beings, and more magical happenings, along with less high-order cognition and less connection to ordinary daily surroundings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
"Big dreams" are hard to define. This paper considers "big" dreams under several more easily definable subcategories: memorable dreams; important dreams (labeled by dreamer); significant dreams; and impactful dreams. Past studies are reviewed, and five new preliminary studies are presented showing that a powerful Central Image (CI) distinguishes "big" dreams in all subcategories. 1) Dreams labeled "important" by the dreamer have higher CI intensity than dreams labeled "unimportant." 2) Dreams labeled "especially significant" have especially high CI intensity. 3) Impactful dreams (leading to a new discovery) have a very high CI intensity. 4) The dreams of people who score very "thin" on the Boundary Questionnaire (BQ)--sometimes called "dream-people"--have higher CI intensity than the dreams of people who score "thick." 5) In a separate, larger group, there is a significant positive correlation between CI intensity and "thinness." It appears that CI intensity is an important measure of the "bigness" of dreams. The present results are consistent with the Contemporary Theory of Dreaming which states that dreams involve making connections guided by emotion, that the Ci of the dream pictures the emotion, and that CI intensity measures the power of the underlying emotion. "Big" dreams are dreams with great emotional power and have powerful Central Images. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Notes that a contextualizing image (CI) is a powerful central image in a dream which can be seen as picturing, or providing a picture-context for, the dominant emotion of the dreamer. Two sets of dream data were studied. One "most recent dream" was obtained from each of 306 students (aged 18–52 yrs). The CI score measuring presence and intensity of a contextualizing image, scored on a blind basis, was higher among Ss who reported any abuse (physical or sexual, childhood or recent) compared to those who reported no abuse. Second, dreams were collected from 10 Ss who had experienced a variety of acute traumas. In 4 of the 10 cases, the CI score was higher after trauma than before, but the difference was statistically significant in only 1 case. The CI scores in the 10 trauma Ss overall were found to be significantly higher than the CI scores in the overall student group. CI scores in the trauma group were also significantly higher than in an age and gender matched control subgroup of the students. The emotions rated as contextualized by the dream images tended towards more negative than positive emotions. However, this was true in the dreams of students who reported no abuse, as well as those of students who reported abuse and the dreams of the group who had experienced trauma.
Many studies have reported gender differences in nightmare frequency. In order to study this difference systematically, data from 111 independent studies have been included in the meta-analysis reported here. Overall, estimated effect sizes regarding the gender difference in nightmare frequency differed significantly from zero in three age groups of healthy persons (adolescents, young adults, and middle-aged adults), whereas for children and older persons no substantial gender difference in nightmare frequency could be demonstrated. There are several candidate variables like dream recall frequency, depression, childhood trauma, and insomnia which might explain this gender difference because these variables are related to nightmare frequency and show stable gender differences themselves. Systematic research studying the effect of these variables on the gender difference in nightmare frequency, though, is still lacking. In the present study it was found that women tend to report nightmares more often than men but this gender difference was not found in children and older persons. Starting with adolescence, the gender difference narrowed with increasing age. In addition, studies with binary coded items showed a markedly smaller effect size for the gender difference in nightmare frequency compared to the studies using multiple categories in a rating scale. How nightmares were defined did not affect the gender difference. In the analyses of all studies and also in the analysis for the children alone the data source (children vs. parents) turned out to be the most influential variable on the gender difference (reporting, age). Other results are also presented. Investigating factors explaining the gender difference in nightmare frequency might be helpful in deepening the understanding regarding nightmare etiology and possibly gender differences in other mental disorders like depression or posttraumatic stress disorder.
Nightmares are common, occurring weekly in 4%-10% of the population, and are associated with female gender, younger age, increased stress, psychopathology, and dispositional traits. Nightmare pathogenesis remains unexplained, as do differences between nontraumatic and posttraumatic nightmares (for those with or without posttraumatic stress disorder) and relations with waking functioning. No models adequately explain nightmares nor have they been reconciled with recent developments in cognitive neuroscience, fear acquisition, and emotional memory. The authors review the recent literature and propose a conceptual framework for understanding a spectrum of dysphoric dreaming. Central to this is the notion that variations in nightmare prevalence, frequency, severity, and psychopathological comorbidity reflect the influence of both affect load, a consequence of daily variations in emotional pressure, and affect distress, a disposition to experience events with distressing, highly reactive emotions. In a cross-state, multilevel model of dream function and nightmare production, the authors integrate findings on emotional memory structures and the brain correlates of emotion.
Recent research has highlighted the role of hyperresponsivity and numbing of emotions in posttraumatic stress disorder. Preliminary research suggests that emotional numbing symptoms impact the development, maintenance, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, research in this area has been hindered, in part, due to the absence of a psychometrically sound, conceptually based measure of emotional numbing. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Emotional Reactivity and Numbing Scale in a sample of 92 trauma-exposed men and women veterans. Results provide preliminary support for the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity of the measure. Implications for future research are discussed.
Previous studies of dreams after trauma and stress have found increases in the power of the central image of the dream. However, it has been difficult to perform properly controlled studies of dreams before and after trauma. The present study is designed to compare dreams before and after 9/11/01 in the same persons. The assumption is that the events of 9/11 produced mild trauma or at the very least emotional arousal in everyone living in the United States.
Forty-four persons in the United States who had been recording all their dreams for years each provided 20 consecutive dreams from their records--the last 10 recorded before 9/11 and the first 10 after 9/11. These dreams were assigned random numbers and scored on a blind basis using a number of rating scales with established reliability.
Dreams after 9/11 showed a highly significant increase in central image intensity, as well as central image proportion (number of dreams with scorable central images) but no change in dream length, dream-likeness, overall vividness, or content involving airplanes or tall buildings. There were no "exact replay" dreams picturing the actual events of 9/11 seen repeatedly on TV.
These results are consistent with the Contemporary Theory of Dreaming, which emphasizes the role of underlying emotion in producing central dream imagery and suggests that the intensity of the central dream imagery is related to the power of the underlying emotion.