A Survey of Dreams in Aged Persons

Dream Recall in the Normal Aged*

“…XVII only subjects who had 4 or more REM awakenings," 5 of 6 women had 50 per cent recall or better whereas 6 of 16 men had equivalent recall. Also the REM-period dream content in the elderly was not manifestly concerned with lost resources or increased frustrations, as reported in the literature for daytime dream reports (10,11).…”

“…Barad et al (10) and Altshuler et al (11) found from daytime reports that the elderly often have dreams concerned with loss of resources and increased frustrations. This finding was not confirmed in the present study.…”

End-of-Life Experiences (ELEs) of Spiritual Nature Are Reported Directly by Patients Receiving Palliative Care in a Highly Secular Country: A Qualitative Study

“…12,18,20 Investigations into older persons’ experiences of dreaming reveal a reduced ability to recall dreams and preoccupation with negative subject matter, such as diminished resources and loss. 34 However, although the majority of the participants in this study were older, they reported often being able to easily recall their dreams and that they contained positive subject matter. This difference further emphasizes the distinctive character of end-of-life dreams.…”

Dreaming in the Depressed

“…al. (2,9) in studying the dreams of the aged have noticed a similar stereotypy, first in the latent content and then in the manifest content as the senile process intensifies.…”