Comparing personal insight gains due to consideration of a recent dream and consideration of a recent event using the Ullman and Schredl dream group methods

Article

Edwards, Christopher L., Malinowski, J., McGee, Shauna L., Bennett, Paul D., Ruby, Perrine M. and Blagrove, Mark T. 2015. Comparing personal insight gains due to consideration of a recent dream and consideration of a recent event using the Ullman and Schredl dream group methods. Frontiers in Psychology. 6, p. Art. 831. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00831
AuthorsEdwards, Christopher L., Malinowski, J., McGee, Shauna L., Bennett, Paul D., Ruby, Perrine M. and Blagrove, Mark T.
Abstract

There have been reports and claims in the psychotherapeutic literature that the
consideration of recent dreams can result in personal realizations and insight. There
is theoretical support for these claims from work on rapid eye movement (REM)
sleep having a function of the consolidation of emotional memories and the creative
formation of connections between new and older memories. To investigate these
claims, 11 participants (10 females, one male) reported and considered a recent
home dream in a dream discussion group that following the “Appreciating dreams”
method of Montague Ullman. The group ran 11 times, each participant attending and
participating once. A further nine participants (seven females, two males) reported
and considered a recent home dream in a group that followed the “Listening to the
dreamer” method of Michael Schredl. The two studies each had a control condition
where the participant also reported a recent event, the consideration of which followed
the same technique as was followed for the dream report. Outcomes of the discussions
were assessed by the participants on the Gains from Dream Interpretation (GDI) scale,
and on its counterpart, the Gains from Event Interpretation scale. High ratings on the
GDI experiential-insight subscale were reported for both methods, when applied to
dreams, and for the Ullman method Exploration-Insight ratings for the dream condition
were significantly higher than for the control event condition. In the Ullman method,
self-assessment of personal insight due to consideration of dream content was also
significantly higher than for the event consideration condition. The findings support the
view that benefits can be obtained from the consideration of dream content, in terms
of identifying the waking life sources of dream content, and because personal insight
may also occur. To investigate the mechanisms for the findings, the studies should be
repeated with REM and non-REM dream reports, hypothesizing greater insight from the
former.

Keywordsdreams; insight; sleep; REM sleep; psychotherapy; psychopathology
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Journal citation6, p. Art. 831
ISSN1664-1078
Year2015
PublisherFrontiers Media
Publisher's version
License
CC BY
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00831
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00831
Publication dates
Print18 Jun 2015
Publication process dates
Deposited03 Jul 2017
Accepted01 Jun 2015
Copyright information© 2015 The authors. This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. it is reproduced with permission.
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