Contextualizing images in dreams: More intense after abuse and trauma

A contextualizing image (CI) is a powerful central image in a dream which c an be seen as picturing, or providing a picture-context for the dominant em otion of the dreamer Thus the paradigmatic dream, "I was overwhelmed by a t idal wave," contextualizes the dominant emotion of fear/terror or helplessn ess. This study examined the question of whether Us, scored on a blind basi s, are especially frequent and intense in persons who ha ve suffered abuse, and in persons who have suffered a recent acute trauma. Two sets of dream data were studied. A single "most recent dream" was obtai ned from each of 306 students. The contextualizing image (CI) score measuri ng presence and intensity of a contextualizing image, scored on a blind bas is, was higher among students who reported any abuse (physical or sexual, c hildhood or recent) compared to those who reported no abuse. Second, a total of 451 dreams were collected in periods after trauma from t en persons who had experienced a variety of different acute traumas. In fou r of the ten cases, a series of dreams before as well as immediately after trauma were available. In all four of these, the CI score was higher after trauma than before, but the difference was statistically significant in onl y one case. The CI scores in the ten trauma subjects overall were found to be significantly higher than the Cl scores in the overall student group. In each of the ten trauma cases, the mean CI score was higher than the mean C l score of the student group. The differences were even greater with higher t values, when the 10 trauma cases were compared with the group of student s who had reported no abuse. Since the student group differed greatly from the trauma group in sex distribution, age, and other ways, an age and gende r matched subgroup of the students was formed. CI scores in the trauma grou p were significantly higher than in this matched control group. The emotions rated as contextualized by the dream images tended towards mor e negative than positive emotions. Fear/terror and helplessness/vulnerabili ty were especially prominent. However, this was true in the dreams of stude nts who reported no abuse, as well as those of students who reported abuse and the dreams of the group who had experienced trauma. The students who re ported abuse tended to picture less of the positive emotions. Only the two most severely traumatized of the trauma cases showed an unusual amount of t error and helplessness contextualized. Overall, the CI score-representing i ntensity of the image-differentiated the groups better than did the type of emotion.