This research project investigates the relationship between different levels of personality organization and affect regulation in dreams. The concept of personality organization is grounded in psychoanalytic object relations theory. According to Kernberg (2004), three levels can be distinguished: neurotic, borderline, and low-level. This continuum reflects the severity of impairments in capacities such as self- and object-perception as well as the ability to form stable attachments. Such impairments are understood as consequences of early developmental disturbances, which may lead to the emergence of personality disorders in adolescence or adulthood. A central criterion in assessing the level of personality organization is the individual’s capacity for affect regulation.
Moser and von Zeppelin (1996) consider affect regulation a key parameter within their dream-generation model. The Zurich Dream Process Coding System (ZDPCS; Moser & Hortig, 2019) provides an empirical framework for assessing affect regulation in dreams. It is assumed that a more mature personality organization is associated with greater flexibility in affect regulation during dreaming. For example, dreams of neurotic patients typically show a more complex narrative structure compared to dreams of borderline patients (Rohde-Dachser, 1983).
The present project aims to replicate and extend findings from previous psychoanalytic empirical dream research studies (Döll-Hentschker, 2008; Euler et al., 2016; Kempe, Köpp, Blomert, et al., 2024; Kempe, Köpp, & Wittmann, 2024). A sufficiently large sample will be recruited to allow for a robust examination of the associations between affect regulation in dreams and the individual’s level of personality organization. For the first time within a single study, the full spectrum of personality organization will be examined in relation to dreaming. The sample will include outpatients in psychotherapy with neurotic or borderline personality organization, inpatients with low-level personality organization, and a comparison group of individuals who are not in treatment and who report being symptom-free. In addition to cross-sectional analyses, the inpatient sample will also be studied longitudinally.
References
PD Dr. Werner Köpp (International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin; Institute for Psychotherapy, Berlin)
Dr. med. Ioannis Tsagkas (Psychiatric University Clinic of the Charité at St. Hedwig Hospital)
Simon Kempe, M.A. (International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin)
Fabian Finneiser, M.A. (International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin)