Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death-related dreams during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dreaming and insomnia are important markers of distress in times of crisis. Here, we present a longitudinal, mixed-methods study examining changes in dreaming between individuals with and without insomnia symptoms and their relationship to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. A global survey examining insomnia symptoms, dreams and mental health was launched in April 2020 and followed participants over 12 months. Of 2240 participants, 1009 (45%) reported dream changes at baseline. A higher proportion of participants with new-onset insomnia reported dream changes (55%) than those with pre-existing insomnia (45%) or good sleepers (36%). Overall, thematic analysis identified key dream change themes of increased dream activity, with participants dreaming vividly, in high-definition, and with a strong negative charge. Themes around survival, adjusting to pandemic life, meaning-making and poor sleep quality were also noted. Linguistic Inquiry Word Count showed that individuals with insomnia used more negative words to describe their dream changes than good sleepers. Specifically, the new-onset insomnia group used more anxious and death-related words than those who slept well. Notably, all groups experienced a significant reduction in dream activity by 3-month follow-up. Lastly, dream changes were associated with worse mental health symptoms over time, and this effect was more pronounced in individuals with insomnia. Our results highlight that insomnia symptoms, especially new-onset insomnia, are associated with more negative dream changes during collective stressful events, potentially compounding daytime distress and mental health symptoms over time. During times of crisis, dreaming and insomnia may reveal an important target for mental health interventions.

A latent factor approach to the Saving Inventory - Revised: Congeneric evaluation of construct and content validity.

BACKGROUND: Inconsistencies have been identified in the three-factor structure and item loadings of the most commonly used self-report hoarding screening tool, the Saving Inventory - Revised (SI-R), which assesses difficulty discarding, clutter and acquisition. The current study aimed to confirm the factor structure of the SI-R using congeneric modelling, and evaluate the construct and content validity of this measure. METHODS: 139 participants with self-identified hoarding completed the SI-R. Congeneric structural equation modelling was then performed to validate the SI-R factor structure. RESULTS: The three-factor structure of the SI-R was confirmed as a valid, reliable and good fitting model. However, the difficulty discarding and clutter subscales were required to covary. CONCLUSIONS: The SI-R was confirmed as an appropriate screening tool for hoarding severity; however, revision of item wording may improve content validity. Future research could consider exploring the relationships between a range of hoarding-related constructs and the differential endorsement of SI-R subscales. LIMITATIONS: As data were collected during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, panic buying and hoarding-related acquiring behaviours may have been exacerbated. In addition, the diagnostic status of participants was not verified, despite the inclusion of individuals endorsing clinically significant hoarding symptoms.