The clinical use of dream content in modern psychiatry

Plevin, David
Munro, Virginia

94872Ramsay Clinic Adelaide, Gilberton, SA, Australia
Discipline of Psychiatry, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
6677Inner South Mental Health Service, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Bedford Park, SA, Australia

David Plevin, Ramsay Clinic Adelaide, 33 Park Tce, Gilberton, SA 5081, Australia. Email [email protected]

Australasian Psychiatry 33(3):p 413-416, June 2025. | DOI: 10.1177/10398562241311926

Objective

Though there is a rich psychoanalytic tradition investigating the content and phenomenology of dreams, the clinical use of this has fallen into widespread disuse. We have undertaken a narrative review of the clinical significance and utility of dream content.

Findings

Dream content may have useful clinical and prognostic value in a number of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, REM sleep behaviour disorder, dementia, the culture-bound syndrome of Latah, and substance use.

Conclusions

This review highlights the importance of dream phenomenology in clinical practice. Building on the psychoanalytic tradition, the findings of our review should motivate clinicians to regularly enquire about dream content, in order to enhance diagnostic insights and formulations of patient presentations.