This research detects the most common words recurring in 326 adolescents' dream language. The analyzed dreams have been previously recorded and then transcribed. Grouping words, we obtained the frequency of the main parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns). Among the nouns, far more frequently represented are terms that refer to important objects of an affective relation. Other significant nouns relate to objects linked to both familial and extra-familial environments. Words related to family relations declined in frequency as age increased and were substituted by terms that refer to relations amongfriends and to the external world and its objects. Some of these results can be usefully compared with the conclusions derivedfrom the application of other methods of content analysis. This method using dream language analysis could be applied to research concerning dream content, also through specific dictionaries (groups of words defined and classified in relation to a certain theme).

Objective: Several reports suggest psychological factors may play a role in the etiology or course of alopecia areata. However, empirical information about the interpersonal patterns of patients with alopecia areata at best is limited. The authors aimed at identifying possible differences between relationship patterns displayed by patients suffering from alopecia areata and those displayed by psychiatric patients. Methods: 36 alopecic patients and 55 psychiatric patients were enrolled in the study. The Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method is a reliable and widely adopted method for scoring relationship patterns, a basic facet of human personality. It was scored on transcriptions of psychotherapy sessions or of interviews dedicated to eliciting material for CCRT scoring, the Relationship Anecdote Paradigm (RAP) interviews. The material was rated according to the Clustered Standard Categories system. The frequencies of each CCRT component in the two samples were confronted through analysis of variance. Results: Patients with alopecia areata showed a higher frequency of the wish: ‘to oppose’, of the responses from others: ‘upset’, ‘reject’, and ‘controlling’, and of the responses of self: ‘oppose’, ‘helpful’, ‘disappointed’ and ‘self-controlled’. The ‘wish’ ‘to assert’ was observed more frequently among the patients with a psychiatric disorder. Conclusion: The present research indicates that patients suffering from alopecia areata display relationship themes different from psychiatric patients.

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