Psychopathological symptoms as a function of trauma, dreams, and inhibitions

Abstract

This study investigates the cumulative effects of lifetime traumatization on dream activities and the extent to which potentially traumatic events, dream variables, and inhibitory functions can predict the severities of psychopathological symptoms. The sample consisted of 564 young adults, whose dream experiences, trauma history, ego functions, and symptom manifestations were assessed using the Dream Intensity Scale, Dream Motif Scale, Traumatic Experiences Checklist, and Ko’s Mental Health Questionnaires, respectively. The 2 dream scales profile an individual’s phenomenological experience of dream activities by retrospectively quantifying some typical dream themes—such as being pursued and encountering a person whom is desired—and variables indicative of subjective dream intensity, for example, nightmare frequency, lucid dreaming frequency, and confusion between real and dreamed events. The overall results suggest that psychopathological symptoms can be predicted positively by emotional trauma, accumulated traumatic experiences, thematic dream content, and sexual suppression (resistance against activity, material, or conversation relating to sex) and negatively by repressive defensiveness (denial of negative attributes) and counterdependence (active resistance against relying on other people) with impressive effect sizes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)