Dreams Content and Emotional Load in Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients and Their Relation to Anxiety and Depression

Overview

Journal Ann Card Anaesth

Specialty Anesthesiology

Date 2018 Oct 19

PMID 30333332

Citations 5

Authors

Saeid Komasi

Ali Soroush

Habibolah Khazaie

Ali Zakiei

Mozhgan Saeidi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The assessment of a dream and its mechanisms and functions may help us to percept cognitions, emotions, and complex behaviors of patients. Hence, the present study aimed to assess (i) the rate of perceived dream and its emotional load and content and (ii) the relationship between functions of dream with anxiety and depression.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 167 cardiac patients who had undergone rehabilitation in the western part of Iran were assessed during May-October 2016. Research instrument included Beck depression inventory, Beck anxiety inventory, Schredl's dream emotions manual, and content analysis of dreams manual. The findings were analyzed through Pearson's correlative coefficient and multiple regression analysis.

Results: The mean age of participants (66.5% men) was 59.1 ± 9 years. The results indicated that the emotional content of patients' dreams included happiness (49.1%), distress (43.1%), sad (13.8%), fear (13.2%), and anger (3%). Although women report more sad dreams than men (P = 0.026), there was no difference between them in terms of other components of dreams, anxiety, and depression. Regression models showed that anxiety and depression were significantly able to predict perceived dream rates (P = 0.030) and emotionally negative dreams (P = 0.019).

Conclusion: The increased rates of depression, especially anxiety, are related to increasing perceived dreams with negative and harmful emotional load. Regarding severity and negative content of dreams are reflexes of stressful emotional daily experiences, the management of experienced psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety is concerned as an undeniable necessity.

Citing Articles

Associations Between Both Adaptive and Maladaptive Personality Constructs and Emotional Load and Content of Adult Dreams.

Komasi S, Nazari A, Faridmarandi B, Saeidi M, Bahremand M, Shadman T Indian J Psychol Med. 2024; 47(1):39-47.

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The relationship between different bispectral index and the occurrence of dreams in elective surgery under general anesthesia: protocol for a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Zhang Y, Song B, Zhu J Trials. 2023; 24(1):205.

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Circadian and Sleep Modulation of Dreaming in Women with Major Depression.

Birchler-Pedross A, Frey S, Cajochen C, Chellappa S Clocks Sleep. 2022; 4(1):114-128.

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Relationships between Dream and Previous Wake Emotions Assessed through the Italian Modified Differential Emotions Scale.

Conte F, Cellini N, De Rosa O, Caputo A, Malloggi S, Coppola A Brain Sci. 2020; 10(10).

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Risk Factors and Psychosocial Correlates of Emotionally Negative Dreams in Patients Referred to a Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre.

Saeidi M, Soroush A, Golafroozi P, Zakiei A, Faridmarandi B, Komasi S Malays J Med Sci. 2020; 27(1):97-105.

PMID: 32158349 PMC: 7053550. DOI: 10.21315/mjms2020.27.1.10.

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