Dreams Shared on Social Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tower of Babel or Noah’s Ark?—A Group-Analytic Perspective

Shulamit Geller (), Gal Van den Brink, Yehoshua Akerman, Sigal Levy, Tuli Shazar and Gil Goldzweig
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Shulamit Geller: School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 68182, Israel
Gal Van den Brink: School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 68182, Israel
Yehoshua Akerman: School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 68182, Israel
Sigal Levy: Statistical Education Unit, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 68182, Israel
Tuli Shazar: School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 68182, Israel
Gil Goldzweig: School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv 68182, Israel

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Dream sharing is a universal practice, and various incentives have been identified, including emotional processing, emotional relief, and demands for containment. Shared dreams can contribute to an individual’s understanding of social reality during traumatic and stressful events. The present study examined dreams shared on social network sites (SNS) during the first COVID-19 lockdown, applying a group-analytic approach. A qualitative dream content analysis conducted by a group of researchers analyzed 30 dreams shared on SNS, focusing on their contents, dominant emotions, and unique group processes. The dream content analysis yielded three meaningful and coherent themes: (1) dominant threats: enemy, danger, and COVID-19; (2) emotional fusion: confusion and despair alongside recovery and hope; and (3) group processes characterized by movement between being alone and being together. The results deepen our understanding of both unique social and psychological group processes and of people’s main experiences and key psychological coping mechanisms in times of collective trauma and natural disasters. They also demonstrate the transformative potential of dreamtelling for individuals’ coping experiences and building hope through the creative social relationships formed within SNS groups.

Keywords: dreaming; COVID-19; lockdown; SNS; group analysis; dreamtelling; trauma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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