What if dream analysis could predict a suicide attempt? This is what suggests
a french study led by Professor Pierre Geoffroy, psychiatrist and sleep doctor at Bichat Hospital and at the ChronoS Center in Paris, who analyzed the occurrence of nightmares in patients suffering from depression. Suicide, currently in the world, causes more deaths than wars, HIV or murders.
Can you tell us about this study in detail?
The authors of this study wondered how very depressed patients dream, several months before they attempt suicide. A little like Sherlock Holmes, they sought to find out if nightmares were predictive indices of a suicide attempt.
And the answer is yes ! 80% of patients had in the four months preceding their suicide attempt, first nightmares, then dreams with a suicidal scenario, that is to say they dreamed of how they were going to commit suicide.
Does dream analysis prove to be a simple tool for predicting a suicide attempt?
Yes quite. The main author of the study, Pr Pierre Geoffroy, psychiatrist at the Bichat hospital in Paris, told me _“the difficulty at present in predicting a suicide attempt. The study of dreams is an easily accessible tool. All you have to do is ask patients about their sleep.”
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And when we know that suicide causes more deaths in the world than wars, HIV or murders, especially among young people, dream analysis could surely save many patients!
In view of the results of this study, the content of dreams, and more broadly the quality of sleep, are therefore essential markers of our state of health?
Yes, and not only in depressed people. Besides, I try to systematically ask these questions to my patients: Are you tired? Do you sleep well? Are you getting enough sleep? I frequently find that their sleep is neglected.
And this observation does not stop at the doors of my office: the average sleep time of the French is less than 7 hours, and is not always of good quality. A real public health problem, knowing that lack of sleep increases the risk of occurrence of a large number of diseases.
But then if we have nightmares with a suicidal scenario, do we necessarily have to go see a professional?
No, fortunately. Let the listeners be reassured, having nightmares from time to time is completely normal. Dreams, good or bad, help consolidate our memory and regulate our emotions.
They are a kind of “nocturnal therapy” where we replay everyday scenes, in a surreal way, to feel better in real life. But in some people, the machine jams, nightmares become recurrent and the quality of sleep is altered. It is in this case that it is necessary to speak about it to your doctor.