Stress as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Alexithymia and Dreaming: Research Findings

A study was carried out to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and dreaming, and stress as a moderator of that relationship. The aspects of dreaming considered were the number of remembered dreams, the number of nightmares experienced, the number of instances of sleep paralysis, and the number of lucid dreams. Based on the subject literature, there was assumed to exist a positive correlation between alexithymia and the number of nightmares, as well as negative correlations between alexithymia and numbers of remembered dreams, instances of sleep paralysis, and lucid dreams. A group of 82 persons was studied (41 women and 41 men), with the use of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and Perceived Stress Scale-10 questionnaires and a modified version of the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire. There was shown to exist a negative relationship between 2 aspects of alexithymia-difficulties in verbalizing feelings and operative thinking style-and the number of remembered dreams. Significant relationships were also discovered between the level of stress and the number of nightmares experienced or the level of alexithymia, particularly with regard to difficulties in the identification and verbalization of feelings. It therefore appears that dreaming has a specific manifestation in the case of people with alexithymia and may become an important element in the diagnosis of that disorder.