The current global health crisis situation produced by the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus has caused that, in recent months, the fear and stress of the general population.
As a result, recent research indicates that the pandemic is having psychological effects, especially highlighting a significant increase in anxiety dreams, especially in women.
In this way, the new proven effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of the population have caused psychology professionals to incorporate the latest scientific evidence into their daily clinical practice, highlighting the importance of online training for psychologists in the current context.
According to previous research, dreams often reflect what happens during wakefulness, causing an increase in anxiety dreams in certain situations that provoke generalized panic or fear such as terrorist attacks, wars, economic crises, or natural disasters.
In this way, various scientists defend that this same situation is currently occurring with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that sense, the magazine Dreaming has published four different investigations on the effects of the pandemic on people's dreams, investigating especially the people who are being affected to a greater extent, the possible causes, the content of these dreams and their effects.
Specifically, scientists and researchers have found that approximately 20% of the population has experienced these types of dreams, including some explicit reference to COVID-19 (Dreaming in the Time of Covid-19: A Quali-Quantitative Italian Study).
These new lines of research have shown that the dreams produced during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic resemble those of people suffering from anxiety during the day, characterized by changes in location, presence of animals, heads, food and viruses.
Similarly, the following groups have been identified as the most likely to experience these episodes:
Although these investigations have different lines of investigation, the reality is that all agree that women are the group most affected by the appearance of anxiety dreams during the pandemic.
This is confirmed by the study "Dreams about COVID-19 vs. Normative Dreams: Trends by Gender ", directed by Deirdre Barrett, in which a total of 2,888 people participated.
In this research, women were the group with lower rate of positive emotions during their dreams, especially noted for experiencing the highest levels of anxiety, sadness and anger.
Similarly, the group of men also showed slightly higher levels of negative emotions during dreams (compared to pre-pandemic dreams), but the effects were less pronounced than in the female sex.
In general, women experience a greater emotional intensity in their dreams, as did the participants who knew people affected by COVID-19.
On the other hand, the study "" Dreaming and the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey in a U.S. American sample ", led by Michael Schredl and Kelly Bulkeley, has succeeded in showing that people who have been affected the most by the pandemic, such as healthcare personnel, the sick or people who lost their jobs, have experienced stronger effects on the lives of their dreams.
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