What are nightmares?
- Characterized by awakenings primarily from REM sleep with clear recall of disturbing themes, typically fear-related
- A Extremely dysphoric dream, involves efforts to avoid threats to survival
measurement of the frequency of nightmares
- In studying nightmares there is a problem that retrospective estimates lead to under-reporting
Wood 1990
found that nightly log estimates are far higher than retrospective estimates
individual differences in nightmares can stem from…
factors such as
- psychological
- biological
- environmental influences
psychological factor differences in nightmares
- personality traits
- certain traits, such as neuroticism or openness have been linked to increased nightmares.
- individuals with higher level of neuroticism may be more prone to experiences anxiety - which can manifest nightmares
psychological factor differences in nightmares
- trauma and stress
- past traumatic experiences or ongoing stressors can increase the likelihood of nightmares
- trauma related nightmares may be a way for the mind to process and cope with distressing events
biological factor differences in nightmares
- brain chemistry imbalances in neurotransmitters
- can affect sleep patterns and increase likelihood
- for example - disruptions in serotonin levels have been linked to sleep disturbances and nightmares
biological factor differences in nightmares
- genetics
- may be a genetic predisposition to experiencing nightmares
- research suggests - genetics play a role in susceptibility to various sleep disorders
environmental factor differences in nightmares
sleep environment
- noise, light, temperature, comfort level - can all impact sleep quality and nightmares
medications - drugs
- disrupt sleep pattern - case nightmares
daily stressors
- such as work pressures, relationship problems can trigger nightmares
Sleep disorders that can lead to nightmares
sleep apnea
- disrupt sleep patterns - increase likelihood
REM rebound
- occurs when there is an increase in the duration and intensity of REM sleep following a period of REM deprivation - can lead to vivid dreams and nightmares
Nightmare distress
Belicki 1992
- measures trait nightmares distress
- showed a moderate relationship between nightmare frequency and nightmare distress
Belicki 1992 - nightmare distress findings
shows that waking life negative well-being is more related to nightmare distress
relationship between individual differences in having a nightmare and trait nightmare distress
- refers to how certain personality traits can influence the frequency of nightmares
- most obvious factor associated with nightmare distress is nightmare frequency
Belicki - correlation of nightmare frequency and distress
- it is relatively small
- indicated that additional factors might affect nightmare distress
- the findings that psychopathology measures are more related to nightmare distress than to nightmare frequency suggest that factors such as neuroticism are not only associated with nightmare frequency but can also add to the distress of nightmares
Zadra 2000
showed that poor well being is related to nightmare frequency but not to bad dream frequency
aetiology of nightmares
explaining why some people get nightmares
the affective network dysfunction model
- stressful events in waking life cause fear memories
- fear extinction memories are created during dreaming by associating the fear memory with a non-fearful context
affect distress - Levin
proposes that affect distress is a major determinant of whether a nightmare will constitute a clinical problem
- propose that nightmares can occur following increase affect load in waking life
Revonsuos threat stimulation theory
- holds that fear is represented in nightmares
- in dreams and nightmares we practice overcoming the circumstances that create fear
claims about nightmares resulting of evolutionary pressures
they are speculative and not universally accepted within the scientific community
proponents of the evolutionary perspective on nightmares
- argue that nightmares may have served adaptive functions - help rehear responses to threat
- however, these claims are largely speculative and difficult to test empirically
- the relationship is challenging due to lack of direct evidence
alternative explanations for occurrence of nightmares that don’t rely on evolutionary pressures
psychological processes
- stress, trauma
physiological factors
- sleep disorders
developmental perspective
- common in childhood - decrease with age
- suggest they might be related to cognitive and emotional development
Tousignant 2022
- suggested that having a bad dream might mean we have an emotionally easier day ahead
- if a person is going through a emotionally stressful period - bad dreams can help them process these emotions
a study from 2019
- researchers found that through a week long experiment
- that among people who were trying to suppress emotionally disturbing thoughts
- those who dream about them - the unpleasant thought decreased by end of week
