The psychotomimetic nature of dreams: An experimental study
Open accessAbstract
Several theories promote the similarities between dreaming and psychosis, but this has rarely been tested empirically. We assessed dreaming and waking reality using the Psychotomimetic States Inventory, a measure of psychotic-like experience originally designed for drug studies. Twenty participants completed the measure in each of two dream conditions and one waking condition. Dreams were assessed upon waking naturally and also using a movement-activated (actigraph) alarm during the night. Overall, participants reported more quasipsychotic characteristics during dreams (in both conditions) than when awake. This was most marked for paranoia and delusional thinking, but differences were also seen for perceptual abnormalities, mania, and anhedonia. The quality of dream experience seems particularly similar to psychosis in sometimes being highly self-referential and having a paranoid content. Subjective changes to cognition and affect are consistent with alterations in prefrontal cortical activity during REM sleep that mirror those of schizophrenia.
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Dreams and nightmares have a longstanding association with psychosis owing to perceived phenomenological similarity.
“Dreams and nightmares have a longstanding association with psychosis owing to perceived phenomenological similarity (Limosani et al., 2011, Mason and Wakerley, 2012).”
From The role of sleep dysfunction in the occurrence of delusions and hallucinations: A systematic review (2015) · cites this paper as Mason and Wakerley, 2012
The Introduction and Methods (page unavailable) says the phenomenological similarity between dreams and psychosis has often been remarked upon, and quotes historical examples. The paper does not separately discuss a longstanding association between nightmares and psychosis; its discussion of fearful dreams does not establish that part of the claim. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Mason, O., & Wakerley, D.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Mason, Oliver
- ORCID
- Mason, Oliver
- Venue
- Schizophrenia Research and Treatment
- Publisher
- Hindawi Limited
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 2012
- Pages
- 1-4
- ISSN
- 2090-2085 (ISSN-L)
- 2090-2093
- PMC
- PMC3420506
- OpenAlex
- W2088892297
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 0.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Schizophrenia Research and Treatment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- dreams, psychosis, delusions, perceptual abnormalities, mania, anhedonia, REM sleep, prefrontal cortex, schizophrenia, ActiGraph
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