Recent literature shows that the Coronovirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has provoked significant changes in dreaming. The current study intends to provide an update about dream variable changes during the second wave of COVID-19. A total of 611 participants completed a web survey from December 2020 to January 2021. Statistical comparisons showed that subjects had lower dream-recall frequency, nightmare frequency, lucid-dream frequency, emotional intensity, and nightmare distress during the second than the first wave of the pandemic. Dreams had a higher negative tone during the second than first wave. We revealed significant differences concerning post-traumatic growth, sleep-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and sleep measures between groups obtained as a function of the changes in the oneiric frequency between the first and second waves. We also found significant correlations between qualitative/emotional dream features and COVID-19-related factors (job change, forced quarantine, having COVID-19 infected relatives/friends, or asking for mental health help). Overall, we found that the second wave affected fewer quantitative features of dream activity and there was less emotional intensity. Moreover, we confirmed the relationship between nightmares and the high risk of PTSD when subjects were grouped as a function of the increasing/decreasing frequency. Finally, our findings are partly coherent with the continuity hypothesis between oneiric and waking experiences.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, individuals with or without mental disorders may resort to dysfunctional psychological strategies that could trigger or heighten their emotional distress. The current study aims to explore the links between maladaptive daydreaming (MD, i.e., a compulsive fantasy activity associated with distress and psychological impairment), psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety, and negative stress, and COVID-19-related variables, such as changes in face-to-face and online relationships, during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. A total of 6,277 Italian adults completed an online survey, including socio-demographic variables, COVID-19 related information, the 16-item Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16), and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21 Items (DASS-21). Based on an empirically derived cut-off score, 1,082 participants (17.2%) were identified as probable maladaptive daydreamers (MDers). A binary logistic regression revealed that compared to controls, probable MDers reported that during the COVID-19 lockdown they experienced higher levels of anxiety and depression, decreased online social relationships, and, surprisingly, stable or increased face-to-face social relationships. Given the peculiar characteristics of the pandemic context, these findings suggest that the exposure to the risk of contagion had probably exacerbated the tendency of probable MDers to lock themselves inside their mental fantasy worlds, which in turn may have contributed to further estrangement from online social relationships and support, thus worsening their emotional distress.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures taken against the spread of the contagion can be considered as traumatic events having a major impact on mental health. Dreams after undergoing traumatic experiences could "replay" traumatic scenes or have a para-therapeutic role that facilitates connections between a traumatic event and associated emotions. However, the studies carried out thus far in the field of sleep and dreams during the COVID-19 pandemic have mostly focused on sleep disorders, emotional tones, and contents of dreams. The aim of the present study was to explore, from a qualitative-quantitative perspective, the contents of dreams and the functions of dreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 1,095 subjects who decide to recount their dreams, during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak, was involved. A part of the Mannheim Dream questionnaire was also examined, considering both dream recall and the attitudes toward the dreams-both meaningful and transformative-as indicators of the dreaming process. A cluster analysis was performed on dream narratives through the T-Lab software. In all, 4 thematic clusters emerged: Escape From the Threat; The Work of Mourning, Unrecalled Dreams; COVID-19: As Manifest Content. The factorial mapping organized 3 vectors of meaning, representative of the function of dreaming: Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through; From

No abstract

No abstract

During pregnancy and the transition toward motherhood, a special time for the restructuring of the female identity and representational world, dreaming may play an important function in the psychic life. If we accept that psychological and psychosocial risk factors influence representation during pregnancy, this article explores, from a psychodynamic perspective, how the presence/absence of biological risk is represented into women's dream narration. Forty dreams of pregnant women (20 healthy pregnancies/20 at risk) were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. We performed a thematic analysis of multiple correspondences to see whether the dreams recounted by the women in the 2 different categories had any specific characteristics. Four thematic clusters resulted, which, after interpretation using factorial mapping, fall into 3 sense vectors: from the unrepresentable to the representable; from dependency to reciprocal relationships; from undifferentiated to different. The work we did enabled us to observe that in healthy pregnancies dreams have a mainly elaborative function, whereas when there are risk factors, it seems to be difficult to construct a psychic representational space.

Introduction: Within a wider international research project aimed at operationalize the psychodynamic construct of capacity to love (Kernberg, 2011), the Capacity to Love Inventory (CTL-I) is a 41-items self-report questionnaire assessing six dimensions: interest in the life project of the other, basic trust, gratitude, common ego ideal, permanence of sexual passion, loss, and mourning.Objectives: The study is aimed at validating the Italian version of the CTL-I.Method: A total sample of 736 Italian non-clinical adults was administered a checklist assessing socio-demographic variables, and the CTL-I. A Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) was conducted to examine the construct validity of the Italian version of the CTL-I. Only a part of the total sample (320 participants) was administered an additional series of concurrent measures in order to investigate the convergent validity of the CTL-I. Correlations with measures of socio-sexual orientation, quality of romance relations, and psychopathological questionnaires were examined through Pearson's correlation coefficients.Results: CFA results suggested that the Italian CTL-I fully replicated the six-factor structure of the original CTL-I. Cronbach's alpha index provided satisfactory results for all subscales and the correlations with concurrent measures were in expected direction.Conclusion: The results showed promising psychometric characteristics of the Italian version of CTL-I. Implications of the feasibility of the instrument in clinical and psychotherapeutic settings are discussed.

No abstract