Taking stock of the emotional weight of one's dream content on a daily basis maybe suggestive of a role for dreaming in mood management.

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Overview

To some extent, dreams may help with psychological adaptation by acting as a mood regulator. It may be possible to attain this goal via a desensitization process in which upsetting experiences are revisited inside the dream while experiencing less intense negative emotions. The fact that dreamers are more likely to give themselves a good evaluation of their emotional experiences in dreams than an impartial observer lends credence to this notion (i.e., positivity bias). This research attempts to investigate the relationship between pre-sleep, dreams, and mood throughout the day.