Coping with Stress: The Feasibility of an Integrative Dream Review Paradigm to Promote Psychological Adjustment

Abstract

People coping with stressful life events often report difficulty sleeping and that elements of the stressful events are present in their dreams. Although dream interpretation has long been used as a therapeutic tool in psychoanalysis, the process has not been subject to rigorous experimental study. Accordingly, little is known about how the analysis of dreams (after a stressful life event) may aid in the recovery from this experience. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether a standardized dream interpretation paradigm could promote improved psychological adjustment following a stressful life event. To investigate this possibility, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Although the small sample size did not allow for adequate randomization or reliable quantitative data, qualitative analysis of stream-of-consciousness (SOC) recordings revealed results consistent with the study's hypotheses. The results are discussed in terms of understanding how dream interpretation may aid in recovery from stressful events.