A systematic change in dreams after 9/11/01
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Previous studies of dreams after trauma and stress have found increases in the power of the central image of the dream. However, it has been difficult to perform properly controlled studies of dreams before and after trauma. The present study is designed to compare dreams before and after 9/11/01 in the same persons. The assumption is that the events of 9/11 produced mild trauma or at the very least emotional arousal in everyone living in the United States. METHODS: Forty-four persons in the United States who had been recording all their dreams for years each provided 20 consecutive dreams from their records--the last 10 recorded before 9/11 and the first 10 after 9/11. These dreams were assigned random numbers and scored on a blind basis using a number of rating scales with established reliability. RESULTS: Dreams after 9/11 showed a highly significant increase in central image intensity, as well as central image proportion (number of dreams with scorable central images) but no change in dream length, dream-likeness, overall vividness, or content involving airplanes or tall buildings. There were no "exact replay" dreams picturing the actual events of 9/11 seen repeatedly on TV. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with the Contemporary Theory of Dreaming, which emphasizes the role of underlying emotion in producing central dream imagery and suggests that the intensity of the central dream imagery is related to the power of the underlying emotion.
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One study examining dreams after the 9/11 attacks found that not a single one of 880 dreams involved planes hitting tall buildings or similar scenarios, and no scenes were close to the actual attacks.
“One study examining dreams after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 found that “not a single one of the 880 dreams (440 of them after 9/11) involved planes hitting tall buildings or similar scenarios, even though all the participants had seen these events many times on television (and it was clearly an emotionally important experience). No scenes were pictured that were even close to the actual attacks”
From The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization (2021) · cites this paper as [76]
The Results say that no dream before or after 9/11 involved planes hitting the World Trade Center towers or a similar scene. Footnote a likewise says none came close to the attacks, but corrects the count: 884 dreams were scored, not 880. The claim is supported apart from that exact number. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization
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- Authors
- Hartmann, E., & Brezler, T.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hartmann, Ernest
- Venue
- SLEEP
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2008-02
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 213-218
- ISSN
- 0161-8105 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-9109
- PMC
- PMC2225570
- OpenAlex
- W2118511018
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 2.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- SLEEP (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- dreams, September 11 attacks, trauma, emotional arousal, dream content
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Dreams, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Semantics, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, September 11 Terrorist Attacks
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