According to Griffin (2004) dreaming and depression are connected. People who are depressed seem to dream more than “healthy” people and they also have more intense dreams. The reason for this is that a depressed person spends a lot of their time worrying and reflecting internally on the negative. According to Griffin’s expectation fulfilment theory only “unexpressed emotionally arousing concerns” from the previous day will appear in dreams (see http://www.insomnium.co.uk/dream-theory/how-to-interpret-dreams/) therefore all this negative introspection and worry that a depressed person engages in is never acted upon and will be emotionally arousing. This will therefore become the subject of their dreams and due to the amount of negative intropection they will dream excessively and their dreams will be more intense as the mind attempts to act out and deactivate the unexpressed emotions. Continue reading »