A selected sample of outpatients (n = 39) suffering from "delayed" posttrau
matic symptoms (more than 40 years after the original war traumatization) t
ook part in an investigation in which posttraumatic nightmares and anxiety
dreams were analyzed over a 4-week period on the basis of a daily systemati
c dream account. Subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire that focus
ed on different aspects of posttraumatic re-experiencing during dreams at h
ome and immediately after waking up, covering a period of 28 consecutive da
ys. All the subjects were initially screened with a standardized psychiatri
c interview, the Impact of Event Scale, the Symptom Check List-90, and the
Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. Nightmares were most strongly related to
recalled dream content and recalled dream content was strongly associated
with war experiences. The original traumatic event was often present in the
form of what seemed to be an exact replay ("replication") of the original
event. Replication and repetition were significantly correlated. The reliab
ility of reports of nightmare content proved to be good. (C) 1998 Elsevier
Science Ltd.