The Relationship of the Manifest Content of Dreams to Duration of Childbirth in Primiparae

Abstract

This report compares manifest dream content during pregnancy with subsequent duration of childbirth in primiparae. One hundred pregnant women were screened in a prenatal clinic to rule out potential complications of labor due to mechanical causes or disease processes. Recent dreams obtained from 70 of these women were scored for anxiety, threat, hostility, motility and themes of pregnancy. The scoring of the manifest dream content was compared with the duration of subsequent childbirth as assessed by Friedman's criteria. Both anxiety and threat were significantly most frequent in the dreams of the short labor group (under 10 hours) and least frequent in the dreams of the prolonged labor group (over 20 hours). The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the function of dreaming as an adaptive mechanism for coping with an impending normal life crisis.The influence of psychologic factors on labor, and especially on the duration of childbirth in women having their first babies, has been investigated by obstetricians, psychologists and psychiatrists for many years (1-6). Fears and anxieties about the inevitable delivery and the new role of motherhood have been considered important contributing causes in prolonged labor in which mechanical or medical reasons are absent. The demonstration that the epinephrine blood level rises with fear and anxiety (7, 8) and that such increases interfere with uterine contractions (9) offers a possible mechanism to explain how such psychologic factors interact with and influence uterine physiology during labor.The assessment of the role of psychic conflict in childbirth is complicated because denial and repression are defense mechanisms used frequently by pregnant women to avoid facing their fears and anxieties. Cramond (10) described suppression and repression as typical characteristics of the "dysfunction temperament" in women with uterine dysfunction during labor. Kennedy (11) pointed out difficulties in eliciting and measuring anxiety, fear and tension in pregnant women which he hypothesized caused or contributed to the syndrome of inefficient uterine action during labor.In this study, we have used the dreams of pregnant women in an attempt to circumvent their defenses to obtain data on underlying fears and anxieties.Childbirth, with its ubiquitous concerns, provides a fertile soil for the action of psychogenic influences. The expectant mother's attitude toward her coming infant, her readiness for motherhood, her changing selfimage and her whole life situation contribute to the psychic influences on her delivery. Expectations and fears of childbirth are intensified with the beginning of labor, and previously existing psychic conflicts are often reactivated.

Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study

“…A composite factor that included representations of the woman as a mother and of babies and children was the only MMR factor to differentiate groups. As expected, 3rd trimester women scored higher on this factor than did non-pregnant women, thereby replicating earlier findings (Gillman, 1968; Van De Castle and Kinder, 1968; Winget and Kapp, 1972; Sered and Abramovitch, 1992; Blake and Reimann, 1993; Dagan et al, 2001; Van et al, 2004; Nielsen and Paquette, 2007). This result also generally supports the view that, in being focused principally on the maternal role during pregnancy, dreams are continuous with daytime concerns, thoughts, fantasies, and so forth (Schredl, 2012).…”

“…In this respect, a small number of systematic studies (Blake and Reimann, 1993; Van et al, 2004; Nielsen and Paquette, 2007) indicate that the vast majority of pregnant women (67–88%) report having at least one dream relating to a baby, pregnancy, or childbirth. Some others report that 30–62% of pregnant women's dreams refer to at least one of these maternal elements (Gillman, 1968; Van De Castle and Kinder, 1968; Winget and Kapp, 1972; Sered and Abramovitch, 1992) and that such dreams increase in frequency with advancing gestational age (Blake and Reimann, 1993). While such pregnancy dreams typically refer to the mother's physical well-being and to the sex of the unborn baby (Sered and Abramovitch, 1992), they also often contain elements of misfortune, injury or threat toward the baby, the mother or the father (Blake and Reimann, 1993; Van et al, 2004), and marital and familial issues (e.g., fear of losing the partner, dependency-independency issues with their own mother) (Van De Castle and Kinder, 1968).…”

Breastfeeding Toward resolution of the unsatisfying birth experience

“…To a certain extent, this has to happen before birth. If it does not, birth will be experienced “as a painful separation, as though a part of the body were being lost.” 5 Like women who deliver prematurely, those who have inductions, augmentations, cesareans, or other operative deliveries may feel that they just were not ready. They may grieve over an untimely separation.…”

Dreams that work: The relation of dream incorporation to adaptation to stressful events.

“…In the second study, that of Winget and Kapp (1972), the authors report that there was a significant relation between the frequency of dreams with anxiety in the manifest content, and duration of childbirth. Anxiety was present in over 80% of the dreams of women who delivered in less than 10 hours, but was present in only 25% of the dreams of those with prolonged labor–over 20 hours.…”