Nightmare Themes: An Online Study of Most Recent Nightmares and Childhood Nightmares.
Michael Schredl, Anja S. Göritz
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine March 15, 2018 DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.7002 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractNightmares involve a wider range of emotions and topics than the standard definitions suggest. Analyzing 1,216 recent nightmares (including childhood nightmares) from a population-based sample, the study found common themes such as being chased, physical aggression, and death or injury of close persons. Less frequent themes, like being the aggressor and suicide, may relate to waking-life psychopathology. The variety of nightmare topics indicates that current diagnostic criteria, which focus mainly on threats to survival or physical integrity, are too narrow. Future research should examine nightmare content specifically in individuals diagnosed with nightmare disorder.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,216 |
| Population | Population-based sample |
| Keywords | Gender differences Nightmare content Nightmare disorder Psychopathology |
| Key finding | Nightmare content is more diverse than current definitions allow, including themes like being chased, physical aggression, death/injury of close persons, and rare themes such as being the aggressor and suicide. |
Abstract
Even though the common diagnostic criteria (ICSD-3, DSM-5) acknowledge that nightmares do not only contain anxiety/fear (definition of the ICD-10) but also other emotions such as grief, disgust, and anger, the definition of a nightmare still focuses on threats to survival, security, or physical integrity. However, empirical studies on nightmare content in larger samples are scarce. The current study elicited 1,216 of the most recent nightmares including childhood nightmares of a population-based sample. The findings show that nightmares encompass a diversity of different topics, being chased, physical aggression, including death/injury of close persons. Infrequent themes like being the aggressor and suicide are of special interest as they might be related to waking-life psychopathology. The variety of nightmare topics clearly indicate that current definitions of nightmare content are too narrow. Future studies should look into nightmare content of persons in whom nightmare disorder has been diagnosed.