Nightmare frequency versus nightmare distress: relations to psychopathology and cognitive style

Abstract

The hypotheses that psychopathology is related to nightmare distress but not nightmare frequency and that cognitive style is related to nightmare frequency were examined. The sample consisted of 85 subjects (58 women and 27 men) who completed several measures: a sleep and dream inventory, Symptom Check List-90-R, Fear Survey Schedule-II, Beck Depression Inventory, an abbreviated version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Vividness of Visual Imagery, an absorption scale, a social desirability scale, and the Boundaries Questionnaire. The results strongly support the first hypothesis but only slightly the second. Such findings underscore the need to differentiate nightmare frequency from suffering (waking distress associated with nightmares) and suggest that although frequency may be related to an intensification of dreaming process, suffering is related to waking emotional adjustment.