Sleep, scratching and dreams in eczema. A new approach to alexithymia.

6 patients with itching due to skin disorder and 6 student controls were studied in the sleep laboratory. It was found that some of the patients had personality characteristics consistent with Sifneos' concept of alexithymia and that these were associated with a trend towards less REM sleep and with a significant lack of involvement in dreams collected under standardised sleep laboratory conditions. It is suggested that dreams collection in a sleep laboratory may be a valuable new method in the study of the link between emotional life and psychosomatic disorders.