Correlations of splitting and phobic anxiety with dreaming

Dream Characteristics of Stock Brokers after a Major Market Downturn

Dream characteristics of 28 stock brokers during the second worst weekly performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the last 11 yr. were measured using the KJP Dream Inventory. Additional measures of powerlessness and stress were administered as well. Significant correlations appeared between the amount of stress brokers reported during this week and the appearance of recurring nightmares (.59), feelings of being chased (.42), and dreams’ pleasantness (–.64). The brokers’ clients’ investment performance was correlated significantly with changes in the brokers’ experience of traumatic dreams (–.51) and dreams of falling (–.43). Further, as the brokers’ own personal investments deteriorated overall, dreaming increased (.48), suggesting compensatory mechanisms. Results were discussed in terms of the relationship between onset of acute traumatic states and dreaming.

Incidence of Having Dreamed and Conservative Political Attitudes

The association of political attitudes of conservatives and reports of their having had a dream was investigated. 48 female graduate students in counseling psychology were given the KJP Dream Inventory and the Kerlinger Social Attitude Scale II. Scores on conservative political attitudes were positively correlated with having had Dreams of Falling (.40), Dream Discontentedness (.31), Dreams of Being Chased (.40), and Dreams of Being Famous (.30). Negative correlations were observed between scores showing a conservative political tendency and scores on Openness (−.35), and Uninhibitedness (−.50), as well as incidence of Dreams of Sex (−.29). The character of conservative dreaming is discussed along with the study's relevance to past and subsequent issues in research.

Perinatal Loss, Trauma, and Dream Reports

This study investigated correlations among dream characteristics and measures of trauma and perinatal bereavement as reported by women who have experienced perinatal loss. 37 women who had experienced perinatal loss were randomly selected from a perinatal support group and administered the Impact of Event Scale, the Perinatal Grief Scale, and the KJP Dream Inventory. Scores on the Impact of Events Scale (IES) correlated with Emotional Pain (.41), Despair (.37), Dreams of Death (.31), Dreams of Water (–.29), and Dreams of Being Famous (–.36). Subjects who reported higher Social Support and Emotional Expressiveness throughout their trauma showed lower scores on IES Total scores (–.52), Despair (–.62), and reported dreaming more in color (.41). Results are discussed in terms of the hypothesized role dreams may play in the grief-recovery process.

Dream recall and dream content in obsessive-compulsive patients: is there a change during exposure treatment?

Very little is known about dreams in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, especially regarding changes over the course of treatment with stimulus exposure and response prevention. By use of dream content analysis, 40 dreams of 9 obsessive compulsive (OC) inpatients were compared with 84 dreams of 10 matched OC outpatients and 63 dreams of 11 healthy control participants. Dream protocols of inpatients were collected at the beginning of treatment and after the first exposure exercises. Controls filled in dream protocols in respective intervals. Before treatment, dreams of patients showed significantly less positive contents than dreams of healthy controls. Under treatment with exposure, a significant reduction of OC themes was observed. The findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming by showing a link between day-time symptoms and OC symptoms in dreams. Contrary to expectations, however, exposure treatment does not intensify dreams.

Retrospective Dream Components and Musical Preferences

Retrospective dream components endorsed on the KJP Dream Inventory were correlated with those on the Short Test of Musical Preference for 68 graduate students in counseling psychology (11 men). Among 40 correlations, 6 were significant between preferences for Heavy Metal and Dissociative avoidance dreams (.32), Dreaming that you are dreaming (.40), Dreaming that you have fallen unconscious or asleep (.41), Recurring pleasantness (.31), and Awakening abruptly from a dream (−.31); between preferences for Rap/Hip-Hop and Sexual dreams (.27); and between preferences for Jazz and Recurring pleasantness in dreams (.33). Subjects preferring Classical music reported a higher incidence of Dreams of flying (.33) and rated higher Discontentedness in dreams (−.26). The meaning of these low values awaits research based on personality inventories and full dream reports.

Retrospective reports of dream characteristics and preferences for organic vs. junk foods

The authors investigated correlations between retrospective dream characteristics, food preferences, and eating attitudes. Graduate students (7 men, 42 women) at Santa Clara University were administered the MEGA food scale and the KJP Dream Inventory. High intake of organic food was positively correlated with reports of multiple dream factors. Conversely, high scores on preferences for fast food, potato chips, and carbohydrates were negatively correlated with several factors. Findings are discussed in terms of the hypothesis that certain foods may influence dreaming.

Evaluating the awakening criterion in the definition of nightmares: how certain are people in judging whether a nightmare woke them up?

There is debate about whether to include in the definition of nightmares a criterion that the imagery or emotions of the nightmare caused the person to wake up. This study investigates whether people believe that they can judge this cause of awakening. 42 participants recorded for 14 nights whether they had a dream, and decided for each dream whether it had or had not woken them. They then rated on a 5-point scale (where 1 = very certain and 5 = very uncertain) how certain they were in their decision of whether or not the dream woke them. Participants' mean certainty was high for decisions that the dream woke them (mean certainty = 1.60), and for very unpleasant dreams this mean certainty that the dream woke them was very high (mean certainty = 1.27). Dreams judged to have caused awakening were found to be more unpleasant than dreams judged not to have caused awakening. Although the inclusion of the awakening criterion did not increase the association of nightmare frequency with anxiety, there may be other advantages in the use of the awakening criterion.

Empathy and frequency of answers to questions about dreams after September 11th

The investigators sought to examine correlations for 31 men and women, counseling graduate students and residents of the San Francisco Bay Area and their relation to the attacks on the USA on September 11, 2001. Empathy and traumatic dream reports have been examined in studies primarily on relations between therapists and clients. Studies of the effects of traumatic events on empathy and on dreams have been minimal. It was hypothesized that highly empathic individuals might have reacted differently to these events than less empathic subjects. Using the KJP Dream Inventory and the Emotional Empathy Scale, rated empathy correlated significantly with reported frequency of dream occurrence (.39), frequency of repetitive traumatic dreaming (.38), and the frequency of dream discontentedness (.37).

Dream characteristics of stock brokers after a major market downturn

Dream characteristics of 28 stock brokers during the second worst weekly performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the last 11 yr. were measured using the KJP Dream Inventory. Additional measures of powerlessness and stress were administered as well. Significant correlations appeared between the amount of stress brokers reported during this week and the appearance of recurring nightmares (.59), feelings of being chased (.42), and dreams' pleasantness (-.64). The brokers' clients' investment performance was correlated significantly with changes in the brokers' experience of traumatic dreams (-.57) and dreams of falling (-.43). Further, as the brokers' own personal investments deteriorated overall, dreaming increased (.48), suggesting compensatory mechanisms. Results were discussed in terms of the relationship between onset of acute traumatic states and dreaming.

Risk-Taking, Death Anxiety, and Dreaming

Dream characteristics of 29 women from a graduate program were correlated with scores on the Sensation-Seeking and Death Anxiety scales. Significant positive correlations were obtained between Sensation Seeking and dream frequency (.38), meaningful dreams (.38), and Openness and depth of dreaming (.39) as well as between Thrill-seeking and dream frequency (.41) and meaningful dreams (.41). Death Anxiety scores positively related to the occurrence of nightmares (.37), representations of death in dreams (.55), and recurring nightmares (.38), but no support was found for a relationship between death anxiety and Sensation Seeking.

Analysis of factor structure in a dream inventory

Intercorrelations of responses to the KJP dream inventory, initially a checklist of dream elements, were factor analyzed from a database from 65 graduate majors in psychology. Six factors were identified within the checklist: repetitive traumatic dreaming, reoccurring pleasantness, openness or depth, discontentedness, dissociative avoidance, and uninhibitedness. Scoring criteria were developed for each subscale.

Fear of fat and the dream process: a correlational investigation

Dream characteristics of 27 women from a graduate counseling program were correlated with the Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale. Significant positive correlations were obtained for scores with recurrent nightmares (.38) and dreaming one is dreaming (.40). An inverse relationship was noted between sexual content of dreams and scores for fear of fat (-.41). Results were discussed in terms of associations among dissociation, body image, and the dream process.