Related Experiment Videos
Changes in manifest dream affect during psychoanalytic treatment.
Milton Kramer1, Myron L Glucksman
1Maimonides Medical Center, USA. Milton1929@yahoo.com
Summary
Dream reports in psychoanalytic therapy show increasing positive affect over time. Affect is consistently present in either dreams or their associations, supporting its centrality in dream interpretation.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychoanalysis
- Dream Research
Background:
- Affective states are crucial for understanding psychological processes, including dreams.
- The relative importance of affect versus narrative in dream development is debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the frequency and valence of affect in manifest dream content.
- To examine affect in dream associations when affect is absent in the dream report itself.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of the first and last manifest dream reports from 24 patients undergoing psychoanalytic treatment.
- Evaluation of affect and its valence in dream reports and, if necessary, in their associations.
Main Results:
- Affect was present in 58.3% of dream reports.
- Dream affect valence shifted towards more positive during treatment (19.2% to 53.3%).
- Associations to affect-absent dreams contained affect 94.1% of the time, with overall affect presence at 97.9%.
Conclusions:
- Psychotherapeutic treatment likely contributes to the observed positive shift in dream affect.
- Affect's central role in dream formation and interpretation is supported when considering both dream reports and their associations.