Typical dreams of Chinese elderly people during COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the dream themes of Chinese elderly people during COVID-19 and its relationship with death anxiety. In this study, 264 participants from four cities in different regions of China were interviewed through one-on-one interviews. Nielsen's Typical Dream Questionnaire (TDQ) and Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) were also administered. The dream recall rate of the elderly was 48.48%; there were differences in TDQ35 and TDQ1 between the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG); the most common emotion in elderly people's dreams was fear; TDQ21 (flood) and TDQ28 (see Yourself Die) were two higher frequent dream themes in the high death anxiety group. The results support the dream continuity hypothesis and threat simulation theory (TST), dreams may help coping with death anxiety, and future research directions are also suggested.

The Mental Health of Frontline Chinese Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Several studies have found that pandemic dreams are characterized by prevalent and intense negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, panic, anguish, and so forth (Avci, 2022;Giovanardi et al, 2022;Iorio et al, 2020;Marogna et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2023), which is consistent with the present study. Most dreams reported by frontline HCW involve unpleasant feelings such as anxiety, fear, or loneliness.…”

“…Escaping or being chased as a dream topic during the COVID-19 pandemic has been investigated previously (Avci, 2022; Margherita et al, 2021). A qualitativ-quantitative study of 3,857 subjects’ dreams in Italy identified “escape from threat” as a main theme (Margherita et al, 2021), while another study of Chinese older people’s dreams during the pandemic also noted “being chased or pursued” as one of the reported themes (Yang et al, 2023). Many people in the pandemic were forced to keep social distance and quarantine once infected.…”

“…Dreams of flooding have frequently emerged in many previous studies (Cong et al, 2022; Liang & He, 2022; Scarpelli, Gorgoni et al, 2022; Yu, 2008) and are thought to be associated with the death anxiety some Chinese elderly people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic experienced (Yang et al, 2023). The disastrous pandemic activated these archetypal images in the dreams of frontline HCW.…”

“…A considerable number of studies studied the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students, adolescents, older adults, immigrants, etc. (Gorgoni et al, 2022; Guerrero-Gomez et al, 2021; Kilius et al, 2021; Margherita & Caffieri, 2022; Scarpelli et al, 2022; Yang et al, 2023). Studies on the effects of the pandemic on various age groups revealed that adults’ dreams were more emotionally intense and contained more sensory impressions.…”

“…In contrast, the pandemic most strongly impacted adolescents’ dreams and their concerns with interpersonal relationships (Sommantico et al, 2021). The dream content of older adults was related to their death anxiety (Yang et al, 2023). Many studies explored the emotional experience during the pandemic and found negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, and loneliness were prevalent (Avci, 2022; Borghi et al, 2021; Giovanardi et al, 2022; Sommantico et al, 2021).…”