Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Omega (Westport). 2021 Dec;84(2):525-550. doi: 10.1177/0030222820903850. Epub 2020 Feb 9.
Why are some dreams of the deceased experienced as comforting, while others are distressing? We propose that there are different types of dreams serving diverse functions. In particular, we considered three: processing trauma, maintaining a continuing bond, and regulating emotion. We also examined the impact of post-dream reactions on the bereaved's experience of their dreams. Participants were 216 individuals whose romantic partner or spouse had died. They provided reports of dreams of the deceased that were content analyzed and completed measures of grief intensity, posttraumatic symptoms, attachment style, internalized versus externalized continuing bonds, as well as questions about the death, and ratings of how they experienced the dream after awakening. Support was found for the three proposed functions, suggesting dreams of the deceased can actively facilitate adjustment to bereavement. In addition, there was evidence that post-dream reactions can impact both the perception of the dream and grief.
为什么有些关于逝者的梦境会让人感到安慰，而有些则令人痛苦？我们提出，有不同类型的梦境，具有不同的功能。具体来说，我们考虑了三种：处理创伤、维持持续的联系和调节情绪。我们还研究了梦后反应对丧亲者梦境体验的影响。参与者为 216 名其浪漫伴侣或配偶已去世的个体。他们提供了关于逝者梦境的报告，这些报告经过内容分析，并完成了悲伤强度、创伤后症状、依恋风格、内化与外化持续联系以及关于死亡的问题的测量，以及对他们在梦醒后如何体验梦境的评价。这三种拟议的功能都得到了支持，这表明逝者的梦境可以积极促进丧亲适应。此外，有证据表明梦后反应会影响对梦境和悲伤的感知。
