96% of reported nightmares are dreams occurring in REM sleep. In the sleep laboratory the signs of such an episode are obvious - unlike with slow wave sleep terrors. Heart-rate and breathing-rate measures increase over a few minutes. The sufferer sweats profusely and eventually bursts out of sleep - perhaps screaming - feeling extremely shocked and terrified.
The threshing around, as often seen in films, does not happen with REM nightmares.
There has usually been an involved set of circumstances in the dream, of increasing horror and fear. Because of sleep-paralysis, no amount of screaming in the dream will come through, until the moment of waking.
Fisher, in the USA, conducted a sleep laboratory study of nightmare sufferers. All seven subjects had been strongly traumatized and most had seen much violence in their homes when children. One 34 y.o. woman developed a severe recurrent nightmare after a male intruder entered her apartment, threatened to strangle her, forced her to perform fellatio, then raped her. Her nightmares featured : a train invading the room ; a storm ; a flow of hot lava ; being choked by curtains ; being in an elevator with the rapist and screaming, with no one hearing.
Dr. Hearne made a special study of nightmares and the people who experience them. Using a sample of 39 sufferers (95% females), 80% stated that their nightmares started before the age of 20. Ninety percent reported having recurring nightmares and in 70% of those subjects their nightmares were on a repeating theme at least 70% of the time.
Forty-four percent had a fear of going to sleep, because of the inevitable nightmares, and 54% thought that they started as a result of some trauma, such as sexual abuse. Among those who had tried various medications, all agreed they were ineffective.
The most frequent nightmare categories, in descending order, were found to be :
Witnessing horror and violence
Experiencing attack or danger
Flight from someone or something
A sinister presence
Being late and frustrated in travel
Suffocation
Hallucinated creatures
Being paralyzed
An average personality profile was computed for the sufferers from the 16PF psychometric test. This group of nightmare sufferers were found to be, overall : affected by feelings, apprehensive, tense, undisciplined, and self-sufficient. There is, it seems, a type of person who will have nightmares. We are all very different in how we react to situations. One woman, or man, who is raped may have nightmares about it for the rest of his or her life, whereas another person may be able to cope with and successfully process the assault. Nightmare sufferers tend to be, anyway, anxious people.
Strikingly, most subjects said that their nightmares happened between 2 and 4 a.m. This is a remarkable finding because most dreaming sleep is in the second half of the night. Most lucid dreams, for instance happen between 6 and 8a.m.
Hearne considers that this anomalous and unexpected finding indicates that REM nightmares are physiologically rather than psychologically caused - triggered because the dreamer is more 'jumpy' in the first half of the night. As with sleep terrors, it may be that sudden noises initiate fear, which influences the dream. Indeed, some people report that their nightmares occur at the same time of night. Perhaps an electrical timing device switches in that point and the sound precipitates the event. One remedy may be the same as for sleep terrors - to use earplugs !
Nightmares come in an amazing variety from the mildly disturbing to visions of terror. Invariably, they culminate in an emotional climax which usually wakens the dreamer, at which point he or she will then spend much time - even days in some cases - going over the dream repeatedly. Occasionally, an after taste of these strong emotions can linger for years.
The majority of nightmares, when written down, will not appear at all frightening to a third party, some, such as the following, may even seem somewhat amusing:
I was at a garden party wearing my new dress. While shaking a lemonade bottle, a child leered at me. I just knew he was going to spray it all over me. I woke up feeling extremely distressed.
In fact, rarely do monsters with evil intent appear in adults' nightmares, but more so in the case of children. This demonstrates that what makes a nightmare upsetting is the emotional content. Fear of the unknown is a fairly common theme:
I found myself in a sort of basement with a door at the bottom of the stairs. As I approached, I became aware that something evil was waiting on the other side. I knew that I was supposed to open the door, but became so terrified that I turned and fled. I woke up, my heart pounding in my ears and in a sweat.
If we consider this dream, we are dealing with nothing more than a basement and a door which, in itself, cannot be considered as 'nightmarish'. Clearly, however, it was how this was perceived by the dreamer - the anticipation of some sort of unseen evil lurking behind the door.
Referring to the introduction to this web site, it is clear that throughout the world, nightmares are a problem on a mammoth scale. Some unfortunate people experience bad dreams every night and a small proportion undergo torment in the form of recurring nightmares, several times each night. These poor souls dread going to sleep and are sometimes driven to consider suicide.
Likely too, is the notion that under certain circumstances, nightmares can be responsible for deaths. It does not take a heart specialist to recognize the immense strain that nightmares can place on the body's system. Many readers will be familiar with waking from a nightmare with the heart pounding, breathlessness, and profuse sweating. The threat to an individual suffering from a weakened heart becomes very real, as the following case demonstrates:
My nightmares are mostly about someone I knew years ago. During the nightmare I have uncompromising differences of opinion with him which develop into violent quarrels, to such an extent that I awake with severe chest pains reminiscent of my first heart attack. I am completely exhausted and find this very frightening in the middle of the night.
Through our work on the subject of dream interpretation, it became apparent that some of these powerful dreams are trying to impart some sort of message to the conscious mind. Indeed, our research suggests that recurring nightmares often point to an ongoing problem or anxiety in the dreamer's life
Evidence also establishes that some nightmares can begin as fairly mild recurring dreams then, over a period of time, can grow progressively more disturbing. This indicates that the subconscious - which is on duty 24 hours a day - sets out to alert us to something which it has identified in our waking lives, that needs some conscious attention or action.
It seems that when these recurring dreams are ignored, they then begin to increase in frequency and are accompanied by more unnerving content. Therefore, it seems likely that the subconscious has noticed a situation that, if not dealt with, could manifest in an important issue at the end of the day.
For example, a lady who sent in a nightmare for interpretation, explained that several years earlier, it had begun as a fairly gentle dream. However, as time passed, it grew progressively more frightening until she felt the need to find out the root cause through analysis. It transpired that she had indeed allowed herself to be slowly embroiled in a situation where somebody else had been taking advantage of her good nature, to the extent that he was all but allowing her to keep him.
Occasionally a recurring nightmare can display the reverse and gradually turn into a pleasant dream with a harmless ending:
Three times this nightmare was identical. The fourth, however, it wasn't exactly a nightmare any more. Since then, it grew progressively less frightening, until the last time I had it, the dream had a pleasant ending.
In this instance, the dreamer had identified a situation in her life that, if allowed to develop, might have had damaging ramifications. However, she nipped it in the bud and in consultation, realized that the transformation of the nightmare into an agreeable dream coincided with her actions.
A small percentage of nightmares can dredge up painful memories from the past. This is particularly evident if the subconscious has identified a situation in the dreamer's life that resembles a past trauma. Sometimes the subconscious is using this association to warn the dreamer that a similar threat might be looming on the horizon, which establishes a certain amount of precognition.
However, there are instances where individuals have managed to successfully bury an unfortunate occurrence from many years ago. Then something can happen - like a news broadcast - which acts as a prompt for the subconscious to remind the person by means of a nightmare. This suggests that the unconscious mind still urges people not to stay in a state of denial, but instead, to confront their pain - psychosis is very real and is usually rooted in the past.
For example, certain recurring themes may be present in nightmares which remind the dreamer of some form of trauma suffered in the past - be it mental, physical or otherwise. A newscast, for instance, might parallel circumstances from the dreamer's past, which acts like a trigger for the subconscious to concentrate its efforts on forcing the individual to face his or her pain - hence the onset of nightmares.
The notion of universal symbolism simply does not hold water, therefore we stress that the following themes are only sometimes indicative of trauma. However, it must be remembered that each dream is individual to the dreamer and might translate into an entirely different interpretation - depending on the personality and life circumstances of the subject. Nevertheless, the following themes, by their nature, seem to point to some sort of unpleasant incident: people leering and laughing at the dreamer, waving fists, swearing, threatening behaviour, throwing things, pointing weapons, snarling and grunting, witnessing bloody injury to others and pretending to be ignorant of the situation, seeing people in distress, and so on.
As an analyst, a large proportion of the dreams David Melbourne receives for interpretation are nightmares, the majority of which are recurring. He has learnt that an accurate interpretation of a recurring nightmare invariably leads to a cure - except when such dreams have been induced by certain medicinal drugs.
His experience in this field led him to develop his own technique of interpretative therapy to banish nightmares. He has effected cures in people who have suffered from recurring nightmares for as long as 15 years - often with a single analysis. Nowadays, depending on the circumstances, he combines his own method with Dr. Hearne's technique of utilizing the lucid dream, and believes that the only nightmares he cannot banish are those that are drug induced.
To begin with, both authors do not believe in the concept of universal symbolism, but assert that each dream is specific to the dreamer conveying a message in line with the individual's personality and circumstances in life. Therefore in order to build a psychological profile of each subject, they have developed the 'MHQ' (Melbourne/Hearne Questionnaire).
Apart from providing a written account of the dream, this comprehensive four page form provides a vast amount of detail about each dreamer: age, usual occupation, date of birth, education, nationality, marital status, number of children, religion, interests and hobbies etc. In addition, much information is gathered regarding what concerns were on the person's mind at the time of the dream, significant anniversaries, whether the dreamer is introvert, extravert, assertive or mild, emotional or stable, trusting or suspicious, plus much more. Upon completion, a clear picture of the subject's psychology and circumstances in life is revealed.
Therefore, the first stage of David Melbourne's therapy begins by sending an MHQ, with a request to complete as much of it as possible. In doing so, the dreamer is compelled to write down the nightmare. This in itself seems to have a therapeutic effect. Usually the frequency of the recurring nature of these dreams diminishes. Occasionally, David has discovered that just the act of putting pen to paper and providing a detailed account of the dream, results in a cure.
If we link this to the fact that nightmares, by their nature, force the dreamer to consider them repeatedly - sometimes throughout the following day - it would appear that some sort of exorcism takes place. In this sense, it is known that in psychology, confronting pain can be a powerful tool in the armory of therapy.
Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that forcing subjects to confront their pain by writing the dream down is likely to have a beneficial effect. This point is reinforced, when we consider that most of David's clients who have suffered from recurring nightmares seem to share a character trait whereby, rather than reflect on the nightmare, they lean towards denial, in that they decide to put it out of their minds and not dwell on it.
This indicates that there is indeed a message that the subconscious wants the subject to acknowledge - albeit unconsciously. The act of thinking repeatedly about a nightmare will reduce the emotion of the experience. This suggests that it is either being exorcised, or the message is perhaps being understood.
However, although a minority will be cured at this early stage, the majority persist in recurring, but less frequently. So the next step is to interpret the dream and reveal the message behind it - which is always present. This process can take several hours and requires a lot of careful study of the dream material, before conclusions can be reached. It is necessary for the dream to be stripped down to its constituent parts, analyzed, then reassembled again - all the time bearing in mind the information provided by the four page questionnaire.
As a result of this detailed level of analysis, the root cause of the nightmare is revealed. This is then made known to the dreamer. Once this information is associated with an ongoing problem or anxiety in the dreamer's life, the nightmares cease - a cure is effected.