Therapeutic Effects of the Dreams of Nursing Home Residents in Poland

The aim of this research was to test Ernest Hartmann's hypothesis that dreams have quasitherapeutic potential. I have examined 100 elderly people from nursing homes in Poland using both quantitative (Hall/Van de Castle coding system) and qualitative analyses. The results show clearly that their dreams differ from the Hall and Van de Castle norms, especially with respect to a considerably more frequent appearance of familiar and friendly characters (usually close family members) and positive emotions. This fact, contrasting with the feeling of loneliness and failure declared by most residents, suggests that their dreams perform the simplest possible therapeutic function: The dreams do not enable the dreamer to adjust to his or her new life situation, but, by denying the present situation, they "bring" the dreamer back to his or her happy past. A definite majority of the dreams entailed meetings with those close to them (alive or not) and most often described memories of real events. It is interesting that these memories are not nostalgic or unhappy for the dreamers; on the contrary, they make them more comfortable and happier in their present situation. It seems that to successfully accept a situation of exclusion (being put into a nursing home) depends on the effectiveness with which one is able to transfer one's interest from the present and the future to the past and that dreams can be truly helpful in this.