Nightmare Research Papers

Dreaming is yet another state of consciousness. A dream is simply an unfolding episode of mental images that involve characters and events. Dreams usually tend to occur during REM sleep but can occur during NREM sleep as well. We dream on a variety of topics, subjects, and individuals. No dream can be exactly interpreted or defined, therefore people have always been fascinated with what, why, and how we dream. An unpleasant and almost terrifying type of dream is a nightmare. This is a very vivid, almost real

The US National Library of Medicine defines a nightmare as, “a bad dream that brings out strong feelings of fear, terror, distress, or anxiety.” A dream, then, is a series of thoughts or images that happen during the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. Research has shown that the biggest amount of common adult dreams are in a category known as “pseudonightmarish” dreams, which is essentially any dream of being in trouble or in danger, being alone and/or trapped, something you don’t have control over (like losing your teeth), or facing natural forces.

They used twenty-eight female and male participants, some with frequent others with less frequent nightmares. All participants were screened for any mental or psychological disorders. In the study, participants would have a nap, complete a task, and fill out questions on the state of their dreams and experiences. The participants would also nap for longer and then be awakened right before they entered into REM sleep. Then the participant would once again answer questions and write about their dream experiences. The questionnaire contained questioned related to the state of their dream, stress levels, nightmare frequency, etc. The participants also slept in rooms with continuous surveillance and with a polysomnography. The participants were tested on their dream and daydreaming conditions with similar procedures that were previously

Although newborn infants spend about half of their sixteen to eighteen hours of sleep time a day in REM sleep, adults spend only about an hour and a half in REM sleep. (1) This difference in both amount and percentage of REM sleep between infants and adults indicates the importance of REM sleep, or of dreams, in development. Several dream researchers have hypothesized that REM sleep may play an important role in infant brain development by providing an internal source of powerful stimulation which would prepare the baby for the almost infinite "world of stimulation it will soon have to face" and also by facilitating the "maturation of the nervous system." (1)

Nathaniel Kleitman PhD. from the University Chicago, conducted an experiment in which he woke up participants in the middle of the REM cycle, and they recalled more "vivid and bizarre" dreams. The people who were woken during other sleep stages hardly remembered dreaming at all (Ghoyarashi). The part of the brain that produces strong emotions and fears in dreams is called the amygdala, an almond shaped lump in each cerebral hemisphere (Van Der Linden). You can blame nightmares, anger, and desires induced by and during dreams all on the amygdala. The neocortex of the brain, the largest part of the cerebral cortex is what makes dreams feel so real. This part of the brain is what controls sensory perception, or in the case of dreams, the perception of sensory perception. The neurons in this part of the brain is what makes seeing, touching, and hearing in your dreams feel like real life (Van Der

When people dream, their purpose of their dream is to make them feel good emotionally and psychically. For instance, dreaming supports good memory and prevent depression “Good dreaming contributes to our psychological well-being by supporting healthy memory, warding off depression, and expanding our ordinary limited consciousness into broader, spiritual realms”(“What Do Your Dreams…”). To prevent depression and have a healthy memory, dreaming takes place. Since, dreams are to benefit people, when people suffer repetitive nightmares by PTSD, its not to make them suffer, it is for them to heal. In the article, “What Does Science Know about Dreams?” the author explains that dreams are to help people grasp their life, when they suffer in some way and get nightmares by it (Bulkeley). For example, if you been through a traumatic experience and constantly get nightmares by it, the meaning behind it, it’s supposed to heal people. Dreams are to help people and benefit them in their life. In a sleep study, of recently divorced women with clinical depression that is not treated, they had dreams with their ex husband, they scored better on tests of mood in the morning, these girls were more likely to recover from depression(Osterweil). When dreaming of their ex spouse, these ladies were able to score better on a mood test and are able to recover from depression easily than those who don’t. Their dreams were meant to make them heal and get through the hardships of life. A person needs to have a good amount of REM sleep to able to feel good emotionally as well as physically. For instance if they do not dream well enough or have a restful sleep, this can lead to difficulty thinking and memorizing(“Dreams”). Being a healthy person means we have good restful sleep which then reflects on our

To test the hypothesis, ANOVAs were administered on the levels of anxiety and fear in the participants’ dreams, and to determine if the frequent nightmare sufferers differed in mood and stress before and after sleep. The results of the ANOVA on fear and anxiety showed that the frequent nightmare sufferers scored higher. An ANOVA also showed that the frequent nightmare sufferers experienced higher stress levels than the participants who didn’t have frequent nightmares, both in the morning and before bedtime. The researchers from the study learned that frequent nightmare sufferers have much more worry and stress the morning following a dream, and much more worry, fear, anxiety, and stress the night before a

In the DSM V, a nightmare disorder is under the category known as parasomnia. A parasomnia is a sleeping disorder which involves an individual experiencing such events as sleeping walking or nightmares that occur when they are sleeping (Barlow & Durand, 2012). In order for one to be diagnosed with a “nightmare disorder,” they must first meet the required criteria. According to the APA (2013), there are five main criteria: A, B, C, D, and E. Criteria “A” states that an individual must be having reoccurring dreams in which they are threatened in some way, leaving them feeling

Dreams reveal to a person his or her most passionate desires, emotions, and worries. These two things reveal many things about people as well. It can be observed that a person that rarely sleeps may be stressed out, or maybe that his body operates on a slightly different circadian rhythm, or even that the person is just very busy. Dreams can reveal a lot about emotion If a person has violent dreams very frequently it can be assumed that he or she could feel angry, frustrated, or vulnerable. Although sleep and dreams have an unsolidified purpose, sleep and dreams benefit the body and mind in many ways by creating a better performing body and

The brain at this point is filled with delta waves, more commonly know as slow-wave sleep. This is technically where sleep begins, “Scientists now have concrete evidence that two groups of cells—the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus in the hypothalamus and the parafacial zone in the brainstem—are involved in prompting SWS” (Scientific America). When these cells begin working, it triggers a total loss in consciousness. The beginnings of dreaming happen in this stage due to it being such deep, uninterrupted sleep. It is during this stage of sleep that sleepers can regularly experience night terrors, sleep-walking, sleep-talking, and bedwetting. If a sleeper awakens during this stage, they can take up to 30 minutes to return to normal mental conditions due to feeling extremely groggy. Stage three accounts for 15%-20% of total sleep time in a

Normally, dreams occur in the REM stage of sleep, but they can occur in the fourth stage of sleep. Although little is truly known about dreams, because we can only rely on the dreamer, there are three main theories that try to explain dreams. These theories are Freud’s psycho dynamic theory, the cognitive theory, and the activation-stimulation theory.

It used to rain. Water vapor would condense in the atmosphere in to billowing dark clouds that would block out any celestial light. A dark day without a sun would become an even darker night with out even the twinkle of a star. The sky would become so full of darkness it would over flow and spill the fringed darkness on to the earth and soak the night with it. It was Halloween, it was raining, it was dark, and someone was going to die.

The pure excitement of dreams and even more concentrated terror of nightmares is a gamble that everyone has taken. Whether you like it or not the entire population of people on this earth require sleep in order to fuel themselves in their lives. Dreams no matter how vivid are still just dreams, though, right? Some dreams may be better however this is susceptible to perspective. In other words, maybe you like a scary dream or that violent dream that the average person wouldn't enjoy. Dreams, however, can be so vivid they can appear to transcend the barrier we define as reality and fiction, and these make those kinds of dreams truly terrifying.

By definition dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occurs involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. When we dream many there are many different events, people and even animals involved. Although this may seem that we are dreaming we are actually in REM sleep. REM sleep is “a kind of sleep that occurs at intervals during the night and is characterized by rapid eye movements, more dreaming and bodily movement, and faster pulse and breathing.” This is why all these extraordinary events happen to us when we are dreaming because we are in a REM sleep.

Dreams are very unique and many people have theorized about what a dream 's meaning or purpose is, and what affects them. In most present day studies, more vivid dreams have been linked to the stage of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM dreams are emotional, bizarre, and sometimes so vivid we may confuse them with reality. Most commonly, a dream’s story line incorporates traces of previous day’s experiences and preoccupations. Unless a person is awakened during REM stage of sleep or the dream is exceedingly vivid or intense, most people don’t remember anything about their dreams during REM sleep. This is likely due to the fact that during REM sleep, our brain essentially turns off the ability to encode,or create, new memories.