Thematic and Content Analysis of Positively Toned Dreams

Labell, Jenna
Diushekeeva, Ajar
Zadra, Antonio

Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal

Deirdre Barrett served as action editor.

This study was supported by a grant (839-2000-1008) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to Antonio Zadra and by a grant from the DreamScience Foundation to Antonio Zadra and Jenna Labell. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Jenna Labell served as lead for the study design, data collection, scoring of dream reports, descriptive and statistical analyses, data interpretation, and writing. Ajar Diushekeeva served in a supporting role for data collection and organization, elaboration of thematic categories, and scoring of dream reports. Antonio Zadra served as lead for the original studies, funding acquisition, and contributed equally to the writing and interpretation of results.

Antonio Zadra, Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada [email protected]

Dreaming 34(3):p 211-224, September 2024. | DOI: 10.1037/drm0000279

This study aimed to investigate a large sample of highly positive dreams to better understand the overarching themes and emotions present in such dream reports and the way in which highly positive dreams unfold. Participants (N = 345) included in the present study kept home dream journals in which they were asked to write down their dreams each morning upon awakening over the course of 2–5 consecutive weeks. The prevalence of maximally rated positive dreams in our sample of 5,502 everyday dream reports was 3.4% and 118 dream narratives reported by 88 participants (26 men and 62 women) who self-rated these dreams as containing intense positive emotions were subsequently analyzed. The three most common themes in this sample of highly positive dreams were sexual content, positive platonic social interactions, and nature/bountiful environment. The most frequently reported emotions in the sample included joy, lust/sexual arousal, pride, calmness/serenity, surprise, and playfulness/amusement. Approximately 16% of all highly positive dreams also contained negative emotions. When compared to women, men were significantly more likely to report themes of positive platonic social interactions and artistic creations and endeavors. No sex differences were found for emotions. Finally, almost half of all highly positive dreams contained triggering factors that rendered the dream positive or enhanced the positive emotion in the dream, and almost 25% of our sample of highly positive dreams were lucid dreams. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the broader literature on dreams.