creators_name: Saez-Uribarri, Iñigo
creators_id: inisaezu@bilbao.com
type: journalp
datestamp: 2010-10-26 18:23:28
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:57:46
metadata_visibility: show
title: Anxiety upon Awakening and Attributes of Dream Characters
ispublished: pub
subjects: cog-psy
subjects: evol-psy
subjects: psy-ling
full_text_status: public
keywords: Content analysis, dreams, nightmares, questionnaires, sleep, state anxiety
note: This article has been localized of Spanish
abstract: Objective: To explore the attributes of dream characters related to anxiety upon awakening, and the possibility of using these attributes to construct a questionnaire administered to dreamers as an alternative to traditional methods of dream content coding via trained judges, such as those of Hall and Van de Castle and Gottschalk-Gleser. Method: A sample of 169 volunteers rated their dream characters with adjectives. Character attributes related to anxiety upon awakening were analysed through an exploratory factor analysis with orthogonal rotation. Results: With 37 character attributes a KMO sampling adequacy index of 0.83 was obtained and 33.87% of the variance was explained. Four factors were extracted: Psychological Threat, Auxiliary, Terrifying Threat and Spectator/Victim. Their corresponding alpha coefficients ranged between 0.85 and 0.73 and three of the factors presented significant (p £ 0.05)correlations with the anxiety of subjects upon awakening. Conclusions: Our results indicate that self-report questionnaires about subjects’ dreams are a reliable and valid alternative for assessing dream content. Information obtained about the characters allows for the assessment of the dream and provides indicators which allow for a simple interpretation, which does not contain biases due to the assessor or the ability of the subject to create a report.
date: 2008
date_type: published
publication: Vigilia-Sueño
volume: 20
number: 2
publisher: SES - Sociedad Española de Sueño
pagerange: 61-72
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: Hall CS, Van de Castle RL. The content analysis of dreams. New York: Meredith Publishing Company;1966.
Kahn D, Pace Schott E, Hobson JA. Emotion and Cognition: Feeling and Character Identification in Dreaming. Conscious Cogn. 2002;11:34–50. doi:10.1006/ccog.2001.0537.

Ichiyama MA, Gruber RE. Interpersonal behavior and structure of dreaming. Psychol Rep. 1992;70:1219–22.

Nielsen TA, Stenstrom P. What are the memory sources of dreaming? Nature. 2005;437(27):1286–9. doi:10.1038/nature04288.

Maggiolini A, Azzone P, Provantini K, Viganò D, Freni S. The words of adolescents’ dreams: a quantitative analysis. Dreaming. 2003;13(2):107–17.

Mcnamara P, Mclaren D, Smith D, Brown, A, Stickgold R. A “Jekyll and Hyde” within aggressive versus friendly interactions in REM and Non REM dreams. Psychol Sci. 2005;16:130–6. doi:10.1111/j.0956 7976.2005.00793.x.

Schredl M, Hofmann F. Continuity between waking activities and dream activities. Conscious Cogn. 2003;12:298–308.

Domhoff GW. Finding meaning in dreams. New York: Plenum Press;1996.

De Gennaro L, Ferrara M, Cristiani R, Curcio G, Martiradonna V, Bertini M. Alexithymia and dream recall upon spontaneous morning awakening. Psychosom Med.2003;65:301–6. doi: 10.1097/01.PSY.0000058373.50240.71.

Bertolo H, Paiva T, Pessoa L, Mestre T, Marques R, Santos R. Visual dream content, graphical representation and EEG alpha activity in congenitally blind subjects. Cogn Brain Res. 2003;15:277–84. 

Zlotowicz M. Las pesadillas del niño. Barcelona: Herder Ed;1982.

Gottschalk LA., Winget CN, Gleser GC. Manual of instructions for using the Gottschalk-Gleser content analysis scales. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press;1969.

Lebovits AH, Holland JC. Use of the Gottschalk Gleser Verbal Content Analysis Scales with medically ill Patients. Psychosom Med. 1983;45(4):305–20.

Stompe T, Ritter K, Ortwein Swoboda G, Schmid Siegel B, Zitterl W, Strobl R et al. Anxiety and Hostility in the manifest dreams of schizophrenic patients. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2003;191(12):806–12. doi: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000100924.73596.b8.

Foulkes D. Gramática de los sueños. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica Ed;1978.

Foulkes D, Cavallero C. Introduction. In: Foulkes D, Cavallero C Eds. Dreaming as cognition. Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf;1993.p.1–17.

Pesant N, Zadra, A. Working with dreams in therapy: What do we know and what should we do? Clin Psychol Rev. 2004;24:489–512. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2004.05.002.

Koptagel G. Communicative function of dreams in the therapeutic process. Turk Psikiyatri Derg. 2006;17(3):1–7. Available at: http://www.turkpsikiyatri.com/C17S3/en/communicativeFunction.pdf .

Figueroa G. Triunfo, culpa y muerte reconsiderados: la interpretación de un sueño en “Fresas salvajes” de Ingmar Bergman. Rev Chil Neuropsiquiatr. 2002;40:210–37.

García-Mas A, Medinas M, Llinàs J, Rossiñol A. Los sueños de fase MOR: apariencia sensorial, extrañeza, y representación cognitiva. Vigilia-Sueño. 2001;13(2):159-66.

Jimenez MA, Ramirez F, Mingote C, Rallo J. Metodología de estudios del contenido manifiesto de los sueños. Rev AEN. 1988;8(25):267–80.

Saez-Uribarri I. Evaluación de la ansiedad en despertares con actividad onírica [Internet]. Cogprints; 22nd December, 2006 [Retrieved on: 22nd December, 2006]. Available at: http://cogprints.org/5324. 

Spoormaker VI, Schredl M, Van Den Bout J. Nightmares: from anxiety symptom to sleep disorder. Sleep Med Rev. 2006;10:19–31. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2005.06.001.

Kaiser HF. An index of factorial simplicity. Psicometrika, 1974; 39: 31–6.

Schredl M, Piel E. Gender differences in dreaming: Are they stable over time? Pers Individ Dif. 2005;39:309–16.

Valli K, Revonsuo A, Pälkäs O, Ismail KH, Ali KJ, Punamäki R-L. The threat simulation theory of the evolutionary function of dreaming: Evidence from dreams of traumatized children. Conscious Cogn. 2005;14:188–218.
citation:   Saez-Uribarri, Iñigo  (2008) Anxiety upon Awakening and Attributes of Dream Characters.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/7069/4/Dream_Characters.pdf