title: Stability of cognition across wakefulness and dreams in psychotic major depression.
abstract: Cognitive bizarreness has been shown to be equally elevated in the dream and waking mentation of acutely symptomatic inpatients diagnosed with affective and non-affective psychoses. Although some studies have reported on dream content in non-psychotic depression, no study has previously measured this formal aspect of cognition in patients hospitalized for Psychotic Major Depression (PMD). Sixty-five dreams and 154 waking fantasy reports were collected from 11 PMD inpatients and 11 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. All narrative reports were scored by judges blind to diagnosis in terms of formal aspects of cognition (Bizarreness). Dream content was also scored (Hall/Van de Castle scoring system). Unlike controls, PMD patients had similar levels of cognitive bizarreness in their dream and waking mentation. Dreams of PMD patients also differed from those of controls in terms of content variables. In particular, Happiness, Apprehension and Dynamism were found to differ between the two groups. Whereas dream content reflects a sharp discontinuity with the depressive state, cognitive bizarreness adequately measures the stability of cognition across dreams and wakefulness in PMD inpatients.
authors: Department of Mental Health, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy; Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
authors: Simone
authors: S
authors: Cavallotti
authors: Department of Mental Health, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy; Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Castelnovo
authors: Department of Mental Health, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy; Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Ranieri
authors: Department of Mental Health, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy; Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. Electronic address: armando.dagostino@unimi.it.
authors: Armando
authors: A
authors: D'agostino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004325:Dreams / Q000523:psychology*; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D014851:Wakefulness; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive bizarreness; Dream content; Dreaming; Mood disorders; Psychosis; REM sleep