Dream Recall in Patients With Primary
Alcoholism After Acute Withdrawal
Michael Schredl, Ph.D.
The present study investigated dream recall frequency of 74 male patients with primary
alcoholism after acute withdrawal.Patients ’dream recall was slightly elevated.This was
explained by their increased frequency of nocturnal awakenings and,therefore,supported
the arousal-retrievel model of dream recall.The presence of sleep apnea or myoclonia
was also associated with heightened dream recall frequency.Evidence was also found for
the salience hypothesis,i.e.low emotional balance in the evening was related with dream
recall.The finding that abstinent patients were more often concerned with their nocturnal
dreams than relapsers and cases reported in the literature are encouraging further
research in order to test whether systematic dreamwork is helpful for these patients.
(Sleep and Hypnosis 1999;1:35-40)
Volume 1, Number 1, Year 1999
