Dreaming 15 (4)

A new issue of Dreaming is out, including articles on both methodological as well as clinical and theoretical approaches.

Dreaming

Volume 15, Issue 4

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Gender Role Conflict and the Process and Outcome of Dream Work With Men.

Rochlen, Aaron B.; Hill, Clara E.

The current study evaluated how men with variable levels of gender role conflict responded to single-session, therapist-facilitated dream work using the C. E. Hill (1996, 2004) model of dream work. Overall, men reported positive benefits from participating in the dream session, similar to data in other studies. Men who reported higher gender role conflict on the Gender Role Conflict Scale discussed related gender role conflict themes during dream work, although gender role conflict was not related to session outcome. Reasons for these results are explored, and ideas for future research are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Reliability and Stability of Dream Recall Frequency.

Schredl, Michael; Fulda, Stephany

Although a large number of studies investigating factors affecting dream recall frequency (DRF) have been carried out, research investigating the reliability and stability of DRF is scarce. Dream diaries of 196 participants kept over at least 28 days were analyzed. The results of the present study indicate that a time period of 2 weeks was sufficient to obtain reliable measurements of interindividual differences in DRF. Despite the high day-to-day fluctuations of dream recall, the stability of this variable was very high. Studies that investigate the stability of DRF by means of other methodological approaches (e.g., questionnaire scales, laboratory awakenings) and over longer time periods (e.g., 1 year) should be carried out to complement the present findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Sleep Paralysis-Associated Sensed Presence as a Possible Manifestation of Social Anxiety.

Simard, Valérie; Nielsen, Tore A.

Sensed presence (PRES), the illusory, often fearful impression of someone being present, is the most frequent type of imagery accompanying isolated sleep paralysis (ISP). Because of numerous similarities between PRES and social anxiety, the authors hypothesized that individuals who reported having had PRES during ISP would have higher levels of social anxiety than would either subjects who reported ISP without PRES or controls with neither experience. Forty-five university students (16 ISP + PRES, 10 ISP, 19 controls) were administered validated questionnaires measuring social anxiety, depression, and specific phobias. A one-way analysis of variance revealed that ISP + PRES subjects had higher social anxiety than ISP subjects ( p = .013). The effect size for this analysis was large (.598). However, an analysis of covariance controlling for depression and specific phobias revealed a smaller intergroup difference (effect size = .464), a finding apparently due to elevated depression scores among ISP + PRES subjects (p

The Weaning of Perpetua: Female Embodiment and Spiritual Growth Metaphor in the Dream of an Early Christian Martyr.

Davis, Patricia M.

The early Christian martyr Perpetua was a nursing mother who weaned her child while she was in prison awaiting execution. Scholars consider her dreams both authentic and historically significant. Perpetua prophesied her martyrdom on awakening from a dream that ended with an anomalous image of a shepherd providing her cheese from a sheep that he was milking. It is proposed that the transposition of solid food where milk was expected reflects both Perpetua’s embodied experience and the child-weaning metaphor in Christian scriptures. Perpetua’s contemporaries Hippolytus of Rome, Bishop and Martyr and Clement of Alexandria referred to cheese as the solid food of milk, and Origen linked solid food to martyrdom. Thus, Perpetua prophesied her martyrdom because she was given not milk but cheese, that is, solid food. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

A Method for Recognizing and Describing the Links Among Dream Sources.

Barcaro, Umberto; Cavallero, Corrado; Navona, Carlo

A method is described for the identification of possible links among dream sources and the study of their possible significance. The analysis is based on the automatic recognition of word root recurrences in text files, including dream reports and associations. Two tools are then applied: graph representation and grammar analysis. Graph representation of the detected links provides a quantitative description of some of their basic features. Grammar changes for recurrent word roots can imply remarkable context changes. A plausible explanation of the identified context changes can evidence interesting phenomena connected to the significance of links among dream sources. Two examples of application of the method are given, 1 taken from the literature and the other from sleep lab data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)