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Targets of Erotic Dreams and Their Associations With Waking Couple and Sexual Life
Abstract
Erotic dreams are common, but the ways in which they reflect waking day romantic relationships remain understudied. We examined the targets of erotic dreams reported by 470 men and 575 women in a romantic relationship as well as the associations between these targets and measures of couple and sexual life. Over 95% of all participants reported having erotic dreams. Women were more likely than men to report that their erotic dreams included their current partner, whereas men were more likely to report dreaming of someone other than their current partner, especially an acquaintance. Logistic regression analyses revealed that individuals in relationships of longer duration, with higher relationship satisfaction, greater sexual desire, and higher frequency of sexual intercourse with their partner were more likely to report erotic dreams involving their partner, whereas participants in relationships of shorter duration and with lower relationship satisfaction were more likely to report erotic dreams involving an ex-partner. Individuals reporting extradyadic sexual behaviors were less likely to have erotic dreams involving their current partner and more likely to dream about an ex-partner or an acquaintance. These results are consistent with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming showing that dream content tends to reflect waking thoughts and concerns.
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Although emotions are reported in a large majority of dreams, little is known about the factors that account for night-to-night and person-to-person variations in people’s experience of dream affect. We investigated the relationship between waking trait and state variables and dream affect by testing multilevel models intended to predict the affective valence of people’s everyday dreams. Participants from the general population completed measures of personality and trauma history followed by a three-week daily journal in which they noted dream recall, valence of dreamed emotions and level of perceived stress for the day as well as prior to sleep onset. Within-subject effects accounted for most of the explained variance in the reported valence of dream affect. Trait anxiety was the only variable that significantly predicted dream emotional valence at the between-subjects level. In addition to highlighting the need for more fine-grained measures in this area of research, our results point to methodological limitations and biases associated with retrospective estimates of general dream affect and bring into focus state variables that may best explain observed within-subject variance in emotions experienced in everyday dreams.
Waking mental well-being is assumed to be tightly linked to sleep and the affective content of dreams. However, empirical research is scant and has mostly focused on ill-being by studying the dreams of people with psychopathology. We explored the relationship between waking well-being and dream affect by measuring not only symptoms of ill-being but also different types and components of well-being. Importantly, this is the first time peace of mind was investigated as a distinct aspect of well-being in a Western sample and in relation to dream content. Healthy participants completed a well-being questionnaire, followed by a three-week daily dream diary and ratings of dream affect. Multilevel analyses showed that peace of mind was related to positive dream affect, whereas symptoms of anxiety were related to negative dream affect. Moreover, waking measures were better related to affect expressed in dream reports rather than participants’ self-ratings of dream affect. We propose that whereas anxiety may reflect affect dysregulation in waking and dreaming, peace of mind reflects enhanced affect regulation in both states of consciousness. Therefore, dream reports may possibly serve as markers of mental health. Finally, our study shows that peace of mind complements existing conceptualizations and measures of well-being.
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and its main oscillatory feature, frontal theta, have been related to the processing of recent emotional memories. As memories constitute much of the source material for our dreams, we explored the link between REM frontal theta and the memory sources of dreaming, so as to elucidate the brain activities behind the formation of dream content. Twenty participants were woken for dream reports in REM and Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) while monitored using electroencephalography. Eighteen participants reported at least one REM dream and 14 at least one SWS dream, and they, and independent judges, subsequently compared their dream reports with log records of their previous daily experiences. The number of references to recent waking-life experiences in REM dreams was positively correlated with frontal theta activity in the REM sleep period. No such correlation was observed for older memories, nor for SWS dreams. The emotional intensity of recent waking-life experiences incorporated into dreams was higher than the emotional intensity of experiences that were not incorporated. These results suggest that the formation of wakefulness-related dream content is associated with REM theta activity, and accords with theories that dreaming reflects emotional memory processing taking place in REM sleep.
Although sex dreams (SD) are of common occurrence, studies dealing with them are still restricted. SD had been reported as accompanying nocturnal orgasms in women and they were reported usually as a reflection of their actual experience. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to provide information about SD prevalence, frequency, content, and drives in a group of Egyptian married women. Overall, 211 married women answered a self-report questionnaire including 23 items covering the epidemiology of participants, sexual activity, and SD details. Overall, 106 of the participants (51.3%) experienced the occurrence of SD. The most common frequency of SD was once/month occurring in 25.6% of the participants; most common content seen was kissing (39.6%), most commonly occurring in familiar places (62.3%), most common persons seen were husbands (33.6%), feeling pleasure after it (54.7%) with increased emotional satisfaction (46.2%). The most common drive to have SD was to be in a sexually stimulating situation (51.8%). Occurrence of SD was more common in women aged 20-29, in those having a university degree and in house wives. SD was proportional to coital frequency and the frequency of orgasm. It is concluded that SD is not uncommon in married women where sexual thoughts and motives are represented. (PsycINFO Database Record
The idea that dreaming is a simulation of the waking world is currently becoming a far more widely shared and accepted view among dream researchers. Several philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists have recently characterized dreaming in terms of virtual reality, immersive spatiotemporal simulation, or realistic and useful world simulation. Thus, the conception of dreaming as a simulated world now unifies definitions of the basic nature of dreaming within dream and consciousness research. This novel concept of dreaming has consequently led to the idea that social interactions in dreams, known to be a universal and abundant feature of human dream content, can best be characterized as a simulation of human social reality, simulating the social skills, bonds, interactions, and networks that we engage in during our waking lives. Yet this tempting idea has never before been formulated into a clear and empirically testable theory of dreaming. Here we show that a testable Social Simulation Theory (SST) of dreaming can be formulated, from which empirical predictions can be derived. Some of the predictions can gain initial support by relying on already existing data in the literature, but many more remain to be tested by further research. We argue that the SST should be tested by directly contrasting its predictions with the major competing theories on the nature and function of dreaming, such as the Continuity Hypothesis (CH) and the Threat Simulation Theory (TST). These three major theories of dreaming make differing predictions as to the quality and the quantity of social simulations in dreams. We will outline the first steps towards a theory-and-hypothesis-driven research program in dream research that treats dreaming as a simulated world in general and as a social simulation in particular. By following this research program it will be possible to find out whether dreaming is a relatively unselective and thus probably non-functional simulation of the waking world (CH), a simulation primarily specialized in the simulation of dangerous and threatening events that present important challenges for our survival and prosperity (TST), or whether it is a simulation primarily specialized in training the social skills and bonds most important for us humans as a social species (SST). Whatever the evidence for or against the specific theories turn out to be, in any case the conception of dreaming as a simulated world has already proved to be a fruitful theoretical approach to understanding the nature of dreaming and consciousness.
Continuity between waking life and dreaming has typically been studied via the quantitative analysis of dream reports, which has illustrated that dreaming reflects waking-life experiences, thoughts, and emotions. However, there are currently no reliable methods of analyzing dreams for the more subjective aspects of dreams, such as those dreams that are metaphorically related to the dreamer's waking life, which require dreamer input. We conducted a qualitative study involving in-depth semistructured interviews with 4 participants. The interview schedules were based on Schredl's (2010) dream group technique. Using thematic analysis we developed 3 themes that describe continuity between waking life and dreams: " experiential continuity" (between waking-life experiences/thoughts and dreams), " emotional continuity" (between waking-life emotions and dreams), and " representative continuity" (metaphorical and generic representations of waking life in dreams). Rather than being dichotomous, participants experienced continuity in gradations. A fourth theme (" attitudes toward continuity" ) explored how attitudes toward continuity influenced continuity experiences.
This literature review suggests that romantic breakups may lead to bereavement symptoms including intrusive thoughts and attempts to suppress them and insomnia as well as morbidity factors including broken heart syn-drome and immune dysfunction. Although the broken heart syndrome has mimicked real heart attacks, an-giograms revealed no clogged arteries or permanent heart damage. Compromised immune function may result from reduced vagal activity and increased cortisol and catecholamines leading to increased inflammatory cyto-kines and decreased natural killer cell activity. The model proposed here is that romantic breakups result in the loss of a person as a regulator of stimulation and arousal modulation that can then lead to these physiological and biochemical effects. These data highlight the complexity of romantic breakups, heartbreak and bereavement and the need for multi-variable research on these systems both before and after the breakups occur. Romantic breakups can be followed by symptoms of heart-break and bereavement (Prigerson & Jacobs, 2001; Raphael, Minkov, & Dobson, 2001; Davis, Shaver, & Vernon, 2003), typically, these symptoms have been associated with a loss from death, although they can also occur following other losses like divorce and romantic breakups (Prigerson & Jacobs, 2001; Davis et al., 2003). This review of research from these different literatures sug-gests that romantic breakups, like the losses following death or divorce, can lead to bereavement symptoms including intrusive thoughts, difficulty controlling intrusive thoughts and insomnia as well as heartbreak syndrome and compromised immune function. Studies on bereavement symptoms, heartbreak syn-drome and immune dysfunction are followed by a summary of research on romantic breakups and their symptoms. A potential underlying mechanism model is then presented, suggesting that it is the loss of the person as a regulator of stimulation and arousal modulation that can result in physiological and bio-chemical dysregulation including reduced vagal activity, in-creased cortisol and catecholamines and compromised immune function. Limitations of this literature are then suggested as well as future research including multi-variable studies that could assess these systems both before and after the breakups occur.
The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that waking life is continuous with dreams, but many of the factors that have been postulated to influence wake–dream continuity have rarely been studied. The present study investigated whether certain factors—emotional and stressfulness intensity, and certain types of experiences—influence the likelihood of a waking-life experience being incorporated into a dream. Participants (N = 32) kept dream diaries and waking-life experience logs for 14 consecutive days, and waking-life experiences were matched to dream reports. Waking-life experiences that were incorporated into dreams were significantly more emotional, but no more stressful, than those that were not incorporated into dreams. Major daily activities were incorporated significantly less than the combination of personally significant experiences, major concerns, and novel experiences. Results are discussed in terms of dream functionality, particularly in relation to a postulated emotional memory assimilation theory of dream function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper addresses claims that dreams can be a source of personal insight. Whereas there has been anecdotal backing for such claims, there is now tangential support from findings of the facilitative effect of sleep on cognitive insight, and of REM sleep in particular on emotional memory consolidation. Furthermore, the presence in dreams of metaphorical representations of waking life indicates the possibility of novel insight as an emergent feature of such metaphorical mappings. In order to assess whether personal insight can occur as a result of the consideration of dream content, 11 dream group discussion sessions were conducted which followed the Ullman Dream Appreciation technique, one session for each of 11 participants (10 females, 1 male; mean age = 19.2 years). Self-ratings of deepened self-perception and personal gains from participation in the group sessions showed that the Ullman technique is an effective procedure for establishing connections between dream content and recent waking life experiences, although wake life sources were found for only 14% of dream report text. The mean Exploration-Insight score on the Gains from Dream Interpretation questionnaire was very high and comparable to outcomes from the well-established Hill (1996) therapist-led dream interpretation method. This score was associated between-subjects with pre-group positive Attitude Toward Dreams (ATD). The need to distinguish "aha" experiences as a result of discovering a waking life source for part of a dream, from "aha" experiences of personal insight as a result of considering dream content, is discussed. Difficulties are described in designing a control condition to which the dream report condition can be compared.
This study was designed to systematically compare and contrast the psychometric properties of three scales developed to measure sexual satisfaction and a single-item measure of sexual satisfaction. The Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS), Global Measure of Sexual Satisfaction (GMSEX), and the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale-Short (NSSS-S) were compared to one another and to a single-item measure of sexual satisfaction. Conceptualization of the constructs, distribution of scores, internal consistency, convergent validity, test-retest reliability, and factor structure were compared between the measures. A total of 211 men and 214 women completed the scales and a measure of relationship satisfaction, with 33% (n = 139) of the sample reassessed two months later. All scales demonstrated appropriate distribution of scores and adequate internal consistency. The GMSEX, NSSS-S, and the single-item measure demonstrated convergent validity. Test-retest reliability was demonstrated by the ISS, GMSEX, and NSSS-S, but not the single-item measure. Taken together, the GMSEX received the strongest psychometric support in this sample for a unidimensional measure of sexual satisfaction and the NSSS-S received the strongest psychometric support in this sample for a bidimensional measure of sexual satisfaction.
To investigate the dimensional structure of dreams, the Typical Dreams Questionnaire (TDQ) was administered to 1181 first-year University students in three Canadian cities. A profile of themes was found that varied little by age, gender or region; however, differences that were identified could be interpreted as due to developmental milestones, personality attributes or sociocultural factors. Factor analysis produced a solution consisting of 16 coherent factors that were differentially associated with demographic variables and that accounted for 51% of the variance. Women loaded primarily on negative factors (failure, loss of control, snakes-insects), men primarily on positive factors (magic-myth, alien life). Results support the concept of typical dream themes as consistent over time, region and gender and as reflecting the influence of fundamental dream dimensions that may be influenced by sociocultural, personality, cognitive or physiological factors.
Although the variability of dream content is large, typical dream themes that occur quite often and are reported by many people can be identified (e.g., being chased, falling, flying, failing an examination, being unable to find a toilet or restroom). The present study is an investigation of the stability of the rank order of the dream themes and of gender differences in the content of dreams. The authors administered A. L. Zadra and T. A. Nielsen's (1997) Typical Dream Questionnaire to 444 participants. The findings indicated that most of the 55 dream themes occurred at least once in most of the participants' lifetimes. In addition, the correlation coefficients for the rank order of the themes were very high; that is, the relative frequencies were stable. The gender differences in the present study were in line with content analytic findings; for example, men reported dreams about physical aggression more often than did women. Overall, previous research and the present data indicate that available research results of the measurement of typical dream themes are reliable and valid. The question of the meaning of these themes or the relationship between typical dream contents and waking life experiences, however, has not yet been answered and is open to future research.
The main purpose of the current research was to develop an abbreviated form of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) with nonparametric item response theory. The authors conducted 5 studies, with a total participation of 8,256 married or cohabiting individuals. Results showed that the item characteristic curves behaved in a monotonically increasing function for all items of the brief 4-item version of the DAS (DAS-4). The DAS-4 proved to be informative at all levels of couple satisfaction. Compared with the 32-item version of the DAS (DAS-32), it was as effective in predicting couple dissolution and was significantly less contaminated by socially desirable responding. In addition, structural equation modeling demonstrated that the underlying latent construct measured by the DAS-4 was very stable over a 2-year period. This brief version has the advantage of being less time consuming and constitutes a promising alternative to the original DAS-32 for clinicians and researchers.
The aim of this study was to describe the experiences related to sexual dreams in a sample of nursing degree students from the University of Almería, Spain. The research instrument used was an adapted version of the Sexual Dream Experience Questionnaire. This questionnaire is composed of 32 items, divided into 4 dimensions: Joyfulness, Aversion, Familiarity, and Bizarreness. The main results highlighted differences in relation to sex—men have more sexual dreams than women and place more importance on them. While foreplay is involved in the erotic dreams of both men and women, regular partners rarely appear in them. Male dreams tend to include more sexual partners than female dreams and the percentage of men or women who had dreamed about being raped or abused in their sexual dreams was very low. Ultimately, students showed a strong desire to have sexual dreams.
One of the prepositions of the Threat Simulation Theory (TST) suggests that the experience of threatening
events in waking life would be associated with the experience of oneiric threats, which is consistent with the Continuity hypothesis. Following on that proposition, dream diaries and daily event diaries of the day preceding the dreams were collected from 40 female and 40 male undergraduate students who rated the intensity of anger and fear experienced during the day and in the course of their dreams. The severity and frequency of threatening events in both conditions was evaluated by two independent judges on a scale developed on the basis of the severity component of Revonsuo’s Dream Threat Scale. There were significant correlations between the severity of threatening day events and the severity of threats in dream diaries (r(80) = .22, p = .048), and between the frequency of daytime threats and dream threats (r(80) = .41, p = .001). There were also significant correlations between pre-sleep anger and anger in dreams (r(80) = .39, p = .01, and between fear before bedtime and the severity of dream threats (r(80) = .33, p =.003). In addition, different gender-specific relationships emerged, coincident with the consistently observed predominance of negative emotions in women’s dreams. These findings provide some support for both the Threat Stimulation Theory and the Continuity hypothesis. Further exploration over a longer time frame is required to better understand the relationship between these emotions experienced in waking and dreams.
The Scientific Study of Dream Content. The Hall/Van de Castle System of Content Analysis. The Quality of the Data. Normative Findings on American College Students. Age Differences in Dream Reports. Crosscultural Similarities and Differences. Consistency and Change in Long Dream Series. The Continuity between Dreams and Waking Life in Individuals and Groups. The Repetition Dimension in Dreams and Waking Cognition. Appendix A: The Hall/Van de Castle Coding Rules. Appendix B: The Coding of a Sample Dream Series. Appendix C: Instructions for Reporting Dreams in Written Form. Appendix D: Statistical Appendix. Appendix E: Normative Tables. Index.
This research extends previous investigations on dreams with sexual imagery while beginning the empirical investigation across cultures and between genders. To extend previous cultural research, sexual dream imagery and frequency between Italian and Canadian men and women were examined. The first study consisted of two samples of 267 dreams (112 male and 155 female) from Trent University, Canada and Tor Vergata University, Italy. The second study consisted of two samples of 100 dreams with sexual content (50 male and 50 female) from Canadian and Italian students. Computer textual analysis of dream content categories revealed that sexual imagery and frequency of sexual dream content was consistent with previous research. New findings were found between the two cultures and across gender. For dreams in general, differences were found between Italian males and Italian females, and, between Italian females and Canadian females. These studies show that both cultural and gender differences are relevant for dreams with sexual imagery. Further investigations are warranted and should be extended to other cultural groups now that the protocol has been established through these studies. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Typical dreams are defined as dreams with similar contents reported by a high percentage of dreamers. Up to now, the frequencies of typical dream themes have been studied with questionnaires, indicating that the rank order of 55 typical dream themes is quite stable over different sample populations. The study presented here is the first to look at the frequencies of typical dream themes in a large sample of diary dreams reported by 425 students (321 women, 64 men; mean age 23 years). Overall, almost all typical dream themes were found in the diary dreams, even though some themes occurred very rarely. The rank correlation between diary data and questionnaire data is relatively high, but for some typical dream themes like "Trying again and again to do something" and "Falling" the ranks differed considerably. Future research should adopt various ways of identifying typical dream themes (e.g. qualitative analysis of large dream samples, themes dreamers themselves identify as typical) and develop a more precise definition for each theme. This would be the prerequisite for empirical studies investigating the question why these dream themes are typical, i.e. how these dreams are related to the waking-life experiences of the dreamer.
This study examines the prevalence of men’s sexual behaviors, erotic dreams, and nocturnal emissions and the continuity between diurnal and nocturnal sexuality. On the strength of the findings generated from a survey of 306 young male adults, several important implications are highlighted. Pornography consumption and masturbation with ejaculation are almost universal habits for young men. The form of sexual acts that sleepers dream about reflects the type and incidence of their pornography use and sexual behaviors during wakefulness. Erotic dreams and nocturnal emissions appear to serve as complements to waking-life sexuality. The choice of sexual objects and interactions in the formation of dream images is neither random nor rational, but is egoistic in nature. The most common sexual object that men dream about is not their girlfriend but is their female classmate or acquaintance; receiving sex pleasure by means of the penis being manually or orally stimulated is more likely to happen than giving the parallel sex pleasure to the object in erotic dreams. Certain typical dreams, the manifest content of which does not present any erotic elements, are physiologically arousing to the extent that they can induce the expulsion of semen. In other words, activities commonly occurring in dreams—especially for those about the urgent need to empty one’s bladder and rummaging around for a toilet—can carry the same sexual connotations for men at the biological level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined the degree to which erotic and wet dreams are modulated by sexual behaviors and the use of pornography in waking life. The sample contained 52 young male adults that were invited to complete a questionnaire concerning their frequencies of sexual fantasy, sexual behaviors, pornography consumption, erotic dreams, and nocturnal emissions. The results suggest that the more often men watch pornography, the more frequently they masturbate to ejaculate and the less likely they are to experience nocturnal emissions. Moreover, people who are sexually active during wakefulness do not seem to dream more about sex. However, the type of pornography use seems to have a significant effect on the erotic content that people dream. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
Gender differences in the proportion of sexual fantasies involving someone other than a current partner (extradyadic fantasies) were explored using an anonymous questionnaire administered to 349 university students and employees (ages 18 to 70) who reported that they were currently in heterosexual relationships. Eighty‐seven percent of the sample (98% of men and 80% of women) reported having extradyadic fantasies in the past 2 months. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that, compared to women, a larger percentage of men's sexual fantasies were extradyadic even after controlling for the effects of relationship length, number of prior sex partners, any prior incidents of actual extradyadic sexual behavior or “cheating” on the current partner, and socioeconomic status. In addition, it was found that the proportion of extradyadic fantasies increased as a function of relationship length for both genders, while prior incidents of extradyadic sexual behavior and a larger number of prior partners were associated with a higher proportion of extradyadic fantasies for women only.
The present study investigated the prevalence profile and frequencies of typical dream themes experienced by Chinese people. The Typical Dreams Questionnaire was administered to 348 university students in Hong Kong. The results demonstrated that the prevalence profile of the typical dream themes for the Chinese participants resembled those profiles previously reported by Western studies. In addition, the present study found large positive correlations between the rank-ordered prevalence and frequency scores of the typical dream themes. This implied that the most prevalent themes were also more likely to be the most recurrent themes and vice versa. Therefore, typical dream themes not only are shared by many people but also tend to be repeatedly experienced within a person. This result supports the postulation that typical dreams are distinguished by both their universality and recurrence.
Los sueños sexuales son bastante comunes y muchos estudios indican que los varones refieren mayor frecuencia de sueños eróticos que las mujeres. Un exploración sistemática en cuanto a si la frecuencia de los sueños eróticos se relaciona con el comportamiento sexual o la fantasia en el estado de vigilia – como se predijo por la hipótesis de la continuidad de sonar – aún no ha sido llevada a cabo. En total, 70 estudiantes respondieron a un cuestionario sobre el comportamiento en estado de vigilia y el contenido del sueño. Los resultados indican que la frecuencia de los sueños eróticos se relaciona con la cantidad de tiempo gastado con las fantasias sexuales en la vida de vigilia, pero no con el coito ni la masturbación. De nuevo, el varón refiere mayor número de sueños eróticos que la mujer, pero esto no se explica únicamente por una mayor cantidad de tiempo dedicado a actividades sexuales en el estado de vigilia. Si estudios retrospectivos son mas válidos para evaluar la frecuencia de los sueños eróticos en comparación con un enfoque analítico del contenido de los sueños, deberían estudiarse en en el futuro.
This study aimed to qualitatively assess the content of sexual dreams and determine their
relationship to waking life sexual experience and fantasy. Dream reports were collected from 97 female
and 33 male university students with a mean age of 20.6 years who, in addition to reporting their most
recent dream with sexual content, completed the Index of Sexual Fantasy (Hurlbert & Apt, 1993), the
Sexual Daydreaming Scale (Giambra, 1978), and two surveys to account for sexual and orgasmic
behaviour and experience. Reports of sex dreams were dominated by references to clothing and
emotion, with the most common targets of sexual relations being friends and/or acquaintances.
Aggression was present in 19% of the collected dreams and 8% contained direct references to rape.
Men were observed to report greater daytime sexual fantasizing with more frequent reports of multiple
partners, sexual propositions, and sexual thoughts in their dreams. Findings offer partial support for
the continuity hypothesis of dreaming (Hall & Nordby, 1972) in relation to human sexuality, at least
within the current subsample of young men. It is suggested that many sex dreams may serve as an
outlet for sexual fantasies and desires. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
This study reports on the development of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, a new measure for assessing the quality of marriage and other similar dyads. The 32 item scale is designed for use with either married or unmarried cohabiting couples. Despite widespread criticisms of the concept of adjustment, the study proceeds from the pragmatic position that a new measure, which is theoretically grounded, relevant, valid, and highly reliable, is necessary since marital and dyadic adjustment continue to be researched. This factor analytic study tests a conceptual definition set forth in earlier work and suggests the existence of four empirically verified components of dyadic adjustment which can be used as subscales [dyadic satisfaction, dyadic cohesion, dyadic consensus and affectional expression]. Evidence is presented suggesting content, criterion related, and construct validity. High scale reliability is reported. The possibility of item weighting is considered and endorsed as a potential measurement technique, but it is not adopted for the present Dyadic Adjustment Scale. It is concluded that the Dyadic Adjustment Scale represents a significant improvement over other measures of marital adjustment, but a number of troublesome methodological issues remain for future research.
Many researchers are advocating the so-called "continuity hypothesis" of dreaming which simply states that dreams reflect waking-life experiences. For deriving specific hypotheses, Schredl (2003) formulated a mathematical model that specifies factors that affect the probability that certain waking-life experiences are incorporated into subsequent dreams. The findings of the present diary study indicate that emotional intensity but not emotional tone of the waking-life events affects the incorporation into subsequent dreams. It seems very promising to investigate factors that affect the continuity between waking and dreaming with different methodological paradigms in order to arrive at a comprehensive, empirically tested, and precise continuity hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The so-called continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that waking experiences are reflected in dreams. The formulation of the continuity hypothesis is very broad and vague, however, so that it seems necessary to investigate factors which might affect the incorporation rate of waking-life experiences. A review of the different research paradigms, e. g. assessing temporal references of dream elements, studying the effects of the pre-sleep situation on dreams, will be presented. Various methodological issues which limit the generalizability of the findings in this area will also be addressed. After this overview, several factors such as (a) the time interval between waking-life experience and dream occurrence, (b) emotional involvement, (c) the type of waking-life experience, (d) personality traits and (e) the time of the night (time interval between sleep onset and dream onset) for which empirical data indicates an influence on incorporation rates of waking-life experiences will be listed. A mathematical model is proposed which should enable researchers to identify influencing factors and their interactions making a more precise formulation of the continuity hypothesis possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews C.E. Hill's cognitive-experiential model for working with dreams. Developed over many years by Hill and her students, the approach integrates aspects from several existing dream theories, such as Freudian, Jungian, Gestalt, phenomenological, client-centered, and behavioral, to create a theoretically consistent, three-staged model. Using this approach, therapists collaborate with clients to help them explore their dreams, gain insight into the meaning of their dreams, and take action to resolve issues in their waking life. The book discusses the theoretical basis of the model and provides instructions for implementing it in practice. Through the use of valuable clinical examples, chapter authors present extensions of the model in specific settings and populations, such as groups, men, the bereaved, and nightmare sufferers. The last part of the book describes how to train therapists to use the model and provides a detailed review of the model's empirical research. This approach offers therapists and their clients a structured but flexible method for maximizing the therapeutic benefits of working with dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
The present study was the first to explore dreams with sexual imagery in relation to the following waking day characteristics: infidelity (partner cheating or the target cheating), relationship satisfaction, romantic jealousy, and intimacy. Questionnaires were completed by 98 female undergraduate students. As expected, significant correlations were found with those who reported having a partner cheat on them with cognitive, emotional, and behavioural jealousy, and, dream infidelity. Findings also reveal that people who scored high in romantic jealousy also had dream imagery of infidelity and dream meaning (discovery) associated with infidelity. Dream infidelity was also associated with low relationship intimacy in waking day. Findings imply that The Storytelling Method of Dream Interpretation is useful for linking the interpretation of sex dreams to relevant waking day romantic relationship issues. Research implications and future directions are discussed.
Although sexual dysfunction is common in psychiatric patients, quantification of sexual dysfunction is limited by the paucity of validated, user-friendly scales. In order to address this problem, the authors have developed the Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale (ASEX), a five-item rating scale that quantifies sex drive, arousal, vaginal lubrication/penile erection, ability to reach orgasm, and satisfaction from orgasm. Possible total scores range from 5 to 30, with the higher scores indicating more sexual dysfunction. This study assesses the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the ASEX.
Although a potentially helpful therapeutic tool, dream interpretation or dream work is only used occasionally in most forms of psychotherapy. Despite an interest from clinicians and clients alike in using dreams within therapy, many therapists feel unprepared to attend to their clients' dreams. The main goals of this article are to make clinicians aware that integrating dreams into their clinical practice is both accessible and potentially valuable and to allow them to make an informed decision as to what role they want dream work to play in therapy. The paper begins with a brief overview of some of the more common approaches to dream work. The literature on the usefulness and effectiveness of the clinical use of dreams is then reviewed. Finally, based on the integration of the clinical and empirical literature, several guidelines for conducting dream work are presented.
The individual and his dreams
- C S Hall
- V J Nordby
Hall, C. S., & Nordby, V. J. (1972). The individual and his dreams. New American Library.