Nightmares, Dream Engineering, and Evolutionary Thresholds of Dysfunction
Psychology International July 24, 2026 Sérgio da Silva
Why do humans produce dysphoric dreams and nightmares at all? This paper develops a cautious evolutionary theory of unpleasant dreaming by extending the logic of evolutionary psychiatry to dream life. Research on dream continuity suggests that dreams are not detached from waking mental life, but instead reflect current concerns, emotional preoccupations, memory fragments, and bodily states....