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Mutual dreaming.

American Psychological Association
Dreaming
Authors:
Patrick McNamara at Northcentral University
Patrick McNamara
Luke Dietrich at UNSW Sydney
Luke Dietrich
Brian Teed
Brian Teed
Brian Teed
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Abstract

We seek to open a discussion on the phenomenon of shared or mutual dreams. We provide a descriptive content analysis of a nonrandom sample of reports of mutual dreaming. Bracketing claims that mutual dreams are veridical, we assess the hypothesis that mutual dreams are associated with attempts to enhance emotional attachment relationships. Content analyses of 102 mutual dream narratives are studied. Mutual dream reporters were 24% male, 37% female, and 38% unspecified. Mutual dreamers (person reported to have shared the dream with the primary reporter) were 36% male, 57% female, and 7% unspecified. Ninety-two percent of mutual dreams were between 2 people. Twenty-seven percent of these were between friends, 42% relatives, 27% significant others, and 4% nonfamiliar people. Dreamers did not typically speak together during the dream and 48% had the dream while in different locations. Mean similarity ratings for dream settings, themes, characters, events, and objects were all above 4.0 where 5.0 indicated identical content. Mean intimacy ratings between the 2 dreamers was 3.16 where 6 indicated the highest intimacy. The most frequent themes concerned family and friendship relationships. Mutual dreams tend to occur in close dyadic relationships, be very similar in content, and occur when related dreamers are separated and not feeling very intimate. “Noticing” or constructing mutual dreams may therefore be related to a need for emotional closeness or attachment in relationships.
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Mutual Dreaming
Patrick McNamara
Boston University School of Medicine/VA New England Healthcare System,
Boston, Massachusetts, and Northcentral University
Luke Dietrich-Egensteiner and Brian Teed
VA New England Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts
We seek to open a discussion on the phenomenon of shared or mutual dreams.
We provide a descriptive content analysis of a nonrandom sample of reports of
mutual dreaming. Bracketing claims that mutual dreams are veridical, we assess the
hypothesis that mutual dreams are associated with attempts to enhance emotional
attachment relationships. Content analyses of 102 mutual dream narratives are
studied. Mutual dream reporters were 24% male, 37% female, and 38% unspecified.
Mutual dreamers (person reported to have shared the dream with the primary
reporter) were 36% male, 57% female, and 7% unspecified. Ninety-two percent of
mutual dreams were between 2 people. Twenty-seven percent of these were between
friends, 42% relatives, 27% significant others, and 4% nonfamiliar people. Dreamers
did not typically speak together during the dream and 48% had the dream while in
different locations. Mean similarity ratings for dream settings, themes, characters,
events, and objects were all above 4.0 where 5.0 indicated identical content. Mean
intimacy ratings between the 2 dreamers was 3.16 where 6 indicated the highest
intimacy. The most frequent themes concerned family and friendship relationships.
Mutual dreams tend to occur in close dyadic relationships, be very similar in content,
and occur when related dreamers are separated and not feeling very intimate.
“Noticing” or constructing mutual dreams may therefore be related to a need for
emotional closeness or attachment in relationships.
Keywords: mutual dreaming, shared dreams, twin dreams, lucid dreams, REM sleep
A mutual dream occurs when at least two people claim to have had the same
dream. Cherise (2014) posted this example in 2014 to https://www.psychologytoday
.com/blog/dream-catcher/201106/twin-dreams.
Patrick McNamara, Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Depart-
ment of Neurology, VA New England Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, and Graduate School,
Northcentral University; Luke Dietrich-Egensteiner and Brian Teed, Research, VA New England
Healthcare System.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patrick McNamara, Department of
Neurology, VA New England Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue, A9-45, Boston, MA
02130. E-mail: mcnamar@bu.edu or pmcnamar3@gmail.com
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
87
Dreaming © 2017 American Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 27, No. 2, 87–101 1053-0797/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/drm0000048
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