Dream Changes Across the First Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

The 2019 novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has strongly impacted the world. Recent research findings found significant effects of the pandemic on dreaming. We investigated sociodemographic, COVID-19-related variables, and oneiric activity (by the Most Recent Dream) during the first, the second, and the third wave of the COVID- 19 pandemic in three matched samples, for a total of 600 Italian adult subjects (82.7% women; aged 18–81 years, M= 30.4, SD = 13.3). Results indicated that: (a) the majority of participants were medium recallers; (b) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, participants reported higher negative emotions and longer dreams; (c) during the second wave, participants reported higher positive emotions and lower presence of sensory impressions in their dreams; (d) during the third wave, participants reported lower positive emotions in their dreams; and (e) participants knowing a COVID-19 death reported shorter dreams and higher negative emotions in their dreams, while student participants reported longer and more realistic dreams. Results of the quali-quantitative analyses revealed recurring themes in the Most Recent Dreams, as well as a strong continuity with the waking experience, especially focused on family and friends, as well as on places where the quarantine was lived and on the outside world. In sum, the findings of this study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic understood as a high-impact and traumatic event, significantly affects people’s dreams, especially in terms of elicited emotions, as well as in terms of themes related to the pandemic.