Sleep and dreaming in Holocaust survivors: dramatic decrease in dream recall in well-adjusted survivors

Article Abstract:

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop as a result of a severe traumatic event, or events, and symptoms may persist for many years. Most prominent among the symptoms of PTSD are sleep disorders and nightmares. Sleep research with PTSD patients has found that some patients awake from sleep complaining of disturbing dreams, while others have an unusually low rate of dream recall. Whether poor dream recall in PTSD patients can be correlated with posttraumatic adjustment was explored in the present paper, using Holocaust survivors as subjects. There were 23 survivors, all of whom had lived under Nazi occupation, and 10 control subjects. Of the 23 survivors, 11 had been in camps and 12 spent their time in hiding. Clinical interviews were conducted with survivors to determine their post-war adjustment. Targeted interview areas included problems with work, family, marriage, social relations, somatic (body) pains, mental problems, and general life dissatisfaction. All subjects were questioned about their dreaming and their ability to remember dreams; in-laboratory sleep recordings were made to determine the physiological characteristics of each subject's sleep. The well-adjusted group of survivors recalled 33.7 percent of their dreams, compared with a 50.5 percent recall rate among the less-adjusted survivors and a 80 percent recall rate among the controls. It is suggested that low dream recall is an adaptive feature characteristic of relatively well-adjusted Holocaust survivors, which may contribute to their adjustment. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Psychological aspects, Evaluation, Sleep, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Holocaust survivors, Dreams

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Story recall under monaural and binaural conditions; patients with anterior temporal lesions

Article Abstract:

Normal patients have the ability to recall a short story irrespective of whether it is heard with only one ear (monaural source) or with both ears (binaural source). In contrast, patients with brain damage, learning disabilities or major forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia often have better recall when the story is heard from one ear. Additionally, recall performance may be worse when the story is heard through both ears (binaural interference) than through this one ear. Blocking the poorer ear with an earplug can result in a 30 to 60 percent improvement in speech comprehension. The temporal lobe of the brain is involved in the storage of memories, and dysfunction of certain parts of this structure also produces one-sided deficits of speech comprehension. Deficits of speech comprehension may therefore be attributable to temporal lobe damage. To test this hypothesis, a recent study examined story recall after monaural or binaural listening in twelve patients, aged 15 to 48, who had parts of their temporal lobes removed for the treatment of unresponsive epilepsy. In contrast to previous results, patients showed equal recall irrespective of whether the source was monaural or binaural. Differences between the results of the previous and current study may be attributable to the small number of patients used in this study. It is concluded that temporal lobe damage may not cause problems of speech comprehension. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Complications and side effects, Physiological aspects, Hearing, Listening, Comprehension, Brain damage, Recall, Recall (Law), Listening comprehension tests, Listening comprehension

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Examining Mnemosyne: an end to metaphors?

Article Abstract:

Computer techniques are utilized in image analysis to morph individual subjects' scans into a standardized coordinate space. This innovation in imaging might allow direct visualization of mental functions in the brain, making metaphors for mind and memory obsolete. Some specialists will criticize the use of imaging and artificial intelligence at neuromental synthesis. However, such an attitude will only hamper the advancement of psychiatry.

Editorial, Innovations, PET imaging, Positron emission tomography, Psychiatry

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