Dreams, first memories, and brain atrophy in the elderly.

A five-year longitudinal study of the healthy aged was begun utilizing several measures. These include a sociological instrument, the Older Americans Resources Scale (OARS), psychological tests, physical and laboratory examinations, Computerized Transaxial Tomography (CTT), and a psychiatric interview. In the first year of the study 215 individuals over the age of 65 (average age 73) were examined, and preliminary data are now emerging. Among these are fantasy material in the form of dreams and first memories that were obtained in the psychiatric interview. We analyzed these data vis-à-vis brain scan results. In addition, we divided manifest dream content into the following types: (1) lost resources; (2) regressive; (3) real life; and (4) aggressive, sexual, and miscellaneous, and again analyzed the data along with the brain scan results. Similarly, first memories were analyzed. These are discussed in terms of utilizing fantasy material in order to determine the individual's perception of loss of cognitive ability, as a measure of personality structure, and to determine its relationship to the function of memory.