title: Dream content in complicated grief: a window into loss-related cognitive schemas.
abstract: Bereavement and its accompanying psychological response (grief) constitute potent experiences that necessitate the reorganization of cognitive-affective representations of lost significant attachment figures during both wakefulness and dreaming. The goals of this preliminary study were to explore whether the dream content of 77 adults with complicated grief (CG) differed from that of a normative sample and whether CG patients who dream of the deceased differ from CG patients who do not dream of the deceased on measures of daytime emotional distress. CG dreams were characterized by more family and familiar characters including the deceased (in women), and fewer social interactions and emotions compared to norms. Increased representations of familiar characters in CG dreams may reflect attempts to reorganize relational cognitive schemas to compensate for the loss.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA. germax@upmc.edu
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Germain
authors: Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, New York, USA.
authors: Katherine M
authors: KM
authors: Shear
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA.
authors: Colleen
authors: C
authors: Walsh
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA.
authors: Daniel J
authors: DJ
authors: Buysse
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA.
authors: Timothy H
authors: TH
authors: Monk
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA.
authors: Charles F
authors: CF
authors: Reynolds
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA.
authors: Ellen
authors: E
authors: Frank
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA.
authors: Russell
authors: R
authors: Silowash
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004325:Dreams; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors