Dream sharing and the enhancement of empathy: Theoretical and applied implications.

Abstract

This study replicated and extended a previous finding that the discussion of dreams increases the level of empathy toward the dreamer from those with whom the dream is discussed. The study addressed mediating variables for the empathy effect. Participants were recruited in dyads who already knew each other and were assigned dream-sharer and discusser roles.Each dyad used the Ullman dream appreciation technique to explore the relationship of the sharer's dreams to recent experiences in the sharer's life, with a maximum of four dream discussions per dyad (mean length of dreams = 140.15 words, mean discussion length = 23.72 minutes). The empathy of each member of a dyad toward the other was assessed using a 12-item state empathy questionnaire. Forty-four participants (females = 26, males = 18, mean age = 26.70) provided empathy scores at baseline and after each dream discussion. For below median baseline empathy scorers, empathy of discussers toward their dream-sharer increased significantly as a result of the dream discussions, with medium effect size, 𝜂 2 = 0.39. Dream-sharers had a non-significant increase in empathy toward their discusser.Change in empathy was not linear across successive discussions, and was not related to length of dream reports, nor length of discussions. These findings of post-sleep, social effects of dreaming, with possibly a group bonding function, go beyond theories of dreaming that have a within-sleep emotional or memory processing function for the individual.

Unveiling The Mother Tongue Factor in Dream Work: A Qualitative Ethnographic Exploration of Clinical Psychologists' Engagement with the Ullman's Experiential Dreamwork Group Approach

“…For instance, Askari et al (2022) found that UEDGA sessions promoted exploratory insights, action‐oriented reflections and experiential learning in healthy women, highlighting its effectiveness in facilitating personal growth and insight among the non‐clinical population, particularly females. Furthermore, empirical evidence from Blagrove et al (2021) supports the notion that dream sharing within a group enhances empathy, strengthens bonds and provides support between the dreamer and group members. In addition, Shaw's study (Shaw, 2021) revealed that participants engaged in UEDGA sessions reported improvements in creativity.…”

Dream-Sharing and Human Self-Domestication

“…In contrast to these theories of within-sleep functions of dreaming, Blagrove at al. (2019bBlagrove at al. ( , 2021 have proposed that dreams have an adaptive function at the point of being told to others, in that they enhance empathy between the dream-sharer and those with whom the dream is told and discussed.…”

“…Given the above issues, Blagrove et al (2019bBlagrove et al ( , 2021 proposed that functional and evolutionarily adaptive consequences of dream content could instead occur after sleep, as a result of the sharing of dreams, such sharing taking advantage of the long REM periods that occur for biological reasons near the end of the night. Phylogenetically, dreaming might have originated from memory consolidation or threat rehearsal or other functions, in early humans and other animals, or indeed might be no more than a spandrel, an epiphenomenon of sleep (Flanagan, 2000): the theory proposed here is that when dream-sharing started, new selective pressures began for the dream content.…”

“…The proposal for a post-sleep empathic and group bonding function to dreaming has the advantage that measurement of hypothesised behaviour changes, such as interactions and feelings of intimacy with a partner (Selterman et al, 2014), is easily undertaken. Blagrove et al (2019bBlagrove et al ( , 2021 assessed one type of behaviour, self-rated empathy towards the other member of the dream-sharer/dream-discusser pair, finding a significant increase in empathy of the person discussing the dream towards the dream-sharer, with a medium effect size. This current paper addresses a possible wider theoretical context for this proposal of adaptive effects of dreams and dream-sharing, which places dreamsharing as part of human self-domestication (HSD), which is a major theory of human social evolution, and specifically as part of the more recent language-based mechanisms for HSD.…”

“…But with their valuing comes the possibility that the telling of ordinary dreams may have occurred, and bonding and self-revelation could have resulted from this, given that the method of interpretation of dreams by relating them to waking life is evidenced by historical materials from ancient cultures (Hughes, 2000). Blagrove et al (2019bBlagrove et al ( , 2021 show that the discussion of ordinary dreams leads to increases in empathy from the discusser towards the dream-sharer, which they explain as due to the exploration of the fictional dream narrative, leading to self-disclosure by the dreamer of their waking life circumstances as a result of the discussion mapping the dream onto the dreamer's recent waking life. The mechanism proposed in these papers for the empathic effects is that the dream is fictional, as dreams only very rarely provide replays of waking life events (Fosse et al, 2003), and that it is the exploration of fiction that results in appreciating the life circumstances and emotions of the dream-sharer.…”