A preliminary study of dream-telling among mentally healthy elderly: no adverse effects on life or sleep quality

• Published in: International journal of geriatric psychiatry Vol. 15; no. 10; pp. 917 - 930
• Main Authors: Funkhouser, Arthur T, Cornu, Claude M, Hirsbrunner, Hans-Peter, Bahro, Marcel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.10.2000; Wiley
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; dream epoch; dream recall; dream tone; dream-telling among healthy elderly; Dreams; Female; Humans; Interview, Psychological; intrapsychic boundaries; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Recall; Miscellaneous; Pilot Projects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Reference Values; Self Disclosure; Sleep; sleep quality; Social Support; Surveys and Questionnaires; Switzerland; Telephone; Treatments; Switzerland; Human; Dream; Evaluation; Sleep; Psychometrics; Duration; Recall; Interpretation; Elderly; Psychological well being; Quality of life
• ISSN: 0885-6230; 1099-1166
• DOI: 10.1002/1099-1166(200010)15:10<917::AID-GPS218>3.0.CO;2-8

While there have been several studies about dreams and dreaming among the elderly, there does not seem to have been any study of the effects of regular dream‐telling (without interpretation). Listening to dreams could become a regular part of caring for the elderly and infirm. The effects of regular dream‐telling in mentally healthy elderly clinical research volunteers were measured on several variables using standardized testing and self‐report: life satisfaction, intrapsychic boundaries, sleep quality, sleep duration, dream recall, dream tone, and dream epoch, and were compared with two control groups. The six variables showed no significant differences among the three groups, indicating that dream‐telling produced no adverse effects. The present findings seem to imply that dream‐telling is not dangerous for mentally healthy individuals and may thus serve as a baseline for future studies involving geriatric patients with mental disorders or elderly undergoing significant life‐events, e.g., bereavement or retirement, using the method of regular dream‐telling. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.