Delving into the Cause of Nightmares

This is part two of my series on lucid nightmares. But first we need to take a sweeping look at how the nightmare in general is discussed and treated in contemporary psychology.

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Why do Nightmares Happen?

I missed this excellent podcast about contemporary nightmare research when it was released last fall. NPR interviews New York Times science journalist Natalie Angier and dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley about the whole mess: theories about the cause of nightmares, common nightmares, as well as how to deal.

Here’s the link for NPR”s Anatomy of your Nightmare.

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Babies and Nightmares: New Research Findings

Canadian dream researchers have confirmed a link between babies” personalities and their nightmare frequency later in childhood, as reported in the January 1, 2008 issue of the journal Sleep. In general, anxious babies are more likely to continue having bad dreams and nightmares as they reach preschool age.

This study backs up Ernest Hartmann’s research with nightmares; over twenty years ago Hartmann catagorized nightmare sufferers not as neurotic people, but people with “thinner boundaries.” Interestingly, Hartmann has also suggested that nightmare sufferers are more likely to be creative and artistic people as well. The Canadian research, led by Dr. Tore Nielsen, combined with Hartmann’s widely approved findings, basically pushes the inception of anxiety and thinner boundaries (and possibly creativity along with it) back into early infancy.

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Solstice dreams

With the approaching solstice, the dreaming is stronger, if for no other reason than the nights are long. In pre-electric times, and traditional societies today, this is nature’s ways of saying go ahead and sleep in.

Meanwhile, hundreds of folks in Brittany will converge on the major megalithic sites for a time-honored solstice celebration. Stonehenge is open to the public. And, in Ireland, a lucky few will no doubt witness the shaft of light that makes it inside the Newgrange tomb, as it does every winter solstice without fail.

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Free nightmare hotline still active

Halloween in the USA: basically it’s a nationwide sugar rush and an good excuse to dress up in a sexy costume. But don’t forget the origins of the holiday – that’s some scary stuff. Turn on the tube tonight and you”re likely to see more than your fair share of slasher flicks too. So whether or not you consciously subscribe to the idea that the boundary between the living and the dead is flimsier than usual tonight, horror is “in the air.”

Times like this, it’s good to remember that the Int”l Association for the Study of Dreams still offers its free nightmare hotline. This service is staffed by professionals with decades of experience with frightening dreams and nightmares.

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