Dissociations of the Night: Individual Differences in Sleep-Related Experiences and Their Relation to Dissociation and Schizotypy

David Watson, University of Iowa

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Published in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110:4 (2001) pp. 526-535. DOI: 10.1037/0021-843X.110.4.526 Copyright © 2001 American Psychological Association. Used by permission. http://www.apa.org/journals/abn/

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the journal. It is not the copy of record.

Abstract

I examined the associations among sleep-related experiences (e.g., hypnagogic hallucinations, nightmares, waking dreams, lucid dreams), dissociation, schizotypy and the Big Five personality traits in two large student samples. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that (a) dissociation and schizotypy are strongly correlated—yet distinguishable— constructs and (b) the differentiation between them can be enhanced by eliminating detachment/depersonalization items from the dissociation scales. A general measure of sleep experiences was substantially correlated with both schizotypy and dissociation (especially the latter) and more weakly related to the Big Five. In contrast, an index of lucid dreaming was weakly related to all of these other scales. These results suggest that measures of dissociation, schizotypy and sleep-related experiences all define a common domain characterized by unusual cognitions and perceptions.