The Effect of Dream (Stage REM) Deprivation on Adaptation to Stress

Abstract

The role of dreaming in the assimilation and mastery of new experiences was examined in this study. Previous work had shown that a film of an autopsy can evoke measurable psychologic and physiologic indices of anxiety. Adaptation to the experience was indicated by lower levels of anxiety during a second viewing of the film. We examined the effect of dream (Stage REM) deprivation on adaptation to the second viewing. Between the first and second viewings, 9 subjects were dream deprived, 5 had normal sleep and 6 were awakened from non-REM sleep. For those who showed a significant anxiety response to the first viewing, the dream deprived group showed significantly less adaptation to the second viewing than the other two groups. These results support the hypothesis that dreaming aids adaptation to anxiety-provoking stimuli.The concept that dreaming serves to fulfill wishes, presented by Freud in the Interpretation of Dreams, eclipsed all previous theories about dreaming, but subsequent writers have frequently commented on the limitations of this hypothesis as a total theory of dream function. Maeder(l), Garma (2) and Piaget (3) have proposed that dreaming is involved in adaptation to traumatic (anxiety-arousing) experiences. French and Fromm (4) elaborated this concept into a theory that dreaming is concerned with the formulation of solutions to current "focal conflicts" of the dreamer.Studies based on current psychophysiologic concepts of sleep have also led to the idea that dreaming during stage REM sleep* is involved in processing new experiences. Breger (5) formulated dreaming as a working over and inteFrom the Boston Veterans Administration

A role for sleep in brain plasticity

“…Moreover, REM sleep increases the negative reaction to previously viewed pictures with negative content [115]. These results are in accordance with a long history of evidence suggesting that REM sleep and possibly REM sleep dreaming in particular contributes to the processing of affective memories [116][117][118][119]. In addition, shortenings of sleep latencies and increases in REM densities have been reported in major depression [120,121], the state of bereavement [120,122], war-related anxiety [123] and more generally in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [124].…”

Wake-promoting agent modafinil worsened attentional performance following REM sleep deprivation in a young-adult rat model of 5-choice serial reaction time task

“…This observation is consistent with the knowledge that REM dreaming has been recognized to have stress-relieving abilities. Since REMD affected the younger individuals more serious than the older ones, the former would ultimately be experiencing more stress (Greenberg et al 1972).…”

Effects of experimental sleep deprivation on anxiety-like behavior in animal research: Systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Since then, several studies have addressed the relationship between sleep deprivation and anxiety, and the results suggest sleep deprivation is an anxiogenic condition (Baum et al, 2014;Goldstein et al, 2013;Matzner et al, 2013;Minkel et al, 2012;Motomura et al, 2013;Schuh-Hofer et al, 2013). Such effects have been mainly observed as a consequence of total sleep deprivation (Babson et al, 2010;Minkel et al, 2012;Sagaspe et al, 2006;Selvi et al, 2007;Vardar et al, 2007), but also due to REM sleep deprivation (Greenberg et al, 1972;Nielsen et al, 2010) and to sleep restriction (Talbot et al, 2010;Wu et al, 2008).…”