Dream and blog content analysis of a long term diary of a video game player with obsessive compulsive disorder
Faculty Advisor
Date
2011
Keywords
dreaming, video games, obsessive compulsive disorder
Abstract (summary)
A case study of a young man who is an avid video game player and designer is the focus of this paper. His online website offers over 800 dreams, of which over half were content analyzed using the Hall and Van de Castle system. Also available were daily blogs. Thus, several research questions could be addressed. Did the diary evidence consistency across time? Did the dreams evidence incorporation of activities discussed in the daily blogs from the day before the dream? Did this one individual’s dream diary echo former research into the dreams of video game players? A final question was addressed due to the diagnosis of the diarist as having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Did the dreams of this young man echo previous research into dreams of OCD sufferers? The findings were that the diary was consistent across time and there was incorporation of some elements of the daily blog into subsequent dreams. Some aspects of his dreams echoed previous video game players’ dream findings, like more dead and imaginary characters. Finally, the OCD analysis only partly replicated the previous research into the dreams of those with OCD.
Publication Information
Gackenbach, J., Sample, T., Mandel, G., & Tomashewsky, M. (2011). Dreaming, 21(2), 124-147. doi:10.1037/a0023058
Notes
Item Type
Article Post-Print
Language
English
Rights
All Rights Reserved