Health dreams, health-related worries, and being ill: A questionnaire study

Abstract

Connecting dreams with somatic illness has a long tradition; e. g., physicians like Hippocrates or Galen used dreams for diagnosing and curing illnesses. The present study investigated the relationship between illness, health-related worries, and health-related dreams in a sample of 178 persons. The findings indicate that having a minor illness and especially health-related worries increased the percentage of health-related dreams. Diary studies are needed to support this preliminary finding. As the emotional tone of dreams is also affected by health, it would be very interesting to see if working with dreams or Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (in case of nightmares) is beneficial for patients suffering severe medical illnesses.