A Survey of Dreams in the Aged: Part II: Noninstitutionalized Subjects

We previously reported on the dreams of persons over age 65 living in the sheltered milieu of a home for the aged and infirm.1 Reported dreams were viewed as symbolic communications of the anxieties and adaptive patterns of the individual, with similarities in emotional themes and formal characteristics of the dreams seen to reveal preoccupations, emotional states, or behavioral patterns common to the selected group. The relevance of manifest dream content to these aspects of personality has been demonstrated elsewhere.1-3Many of the aged persons recalled and reported dreams that suggested a preoccupation with having lost physical, social, or emotional resources of adaptive value. Dreams reported in consecutive interviews revealed that most persons tended to develop a similar relationship with the psychiatrist during the course of the study. The dream content suggested that the doctor was viewed as a strong protector who might