Abstract Mkid 3

We report here the case of a 74-year-old woman suffering from chronic degenerative
disease at initial stage that reported a deficit of cerebral activity in the frontal lobes,
particularly in the dorsolateral pre-frontal and operculo-insular portions, for which there
are neuropsychological and neuroimaging data available, as well as data on dreaming
and dream bizarreness. While the patient reports no changes in sleep quality and in
dreaming activity (she can still dream), she reports changes in the bizarreness and length
of her dreams (both reduced) and in the frequency of nightmares (increased). Since the
cerebral areas in which our patient shows a deficit are involved in some functions (e.g.,
moral decision-making abilities, inhibition and suppression of inappropriate response
tendencies, etc.) covered by superego and dream censorship concepts, we suggest that
the reduction of dream bizarreness may be interpreted in the light of Freud’s explanation
of dream bizarreness as a result of a deficit in censorship activity.