Final Research Paper
Dark Dreams
Abstract
This paper
involves the research on Dream Anxiety Disorder. Dream Anxiety Disorder is a
sleep disorder in which the individual experiences constant vivid terrifying
dreams. This research points out some of the possible causes, preventions and
treatments. A personal interview was also conducted to explain and support the
claims of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to make people more aware of
this disorder not only that but to also discover the
negative effects that recurrent nightmares can have on individuals and how
these effects can lead to health, emotional and physical problems.
Keywords:
Nightmares, Disorder, Post Traumatic Disorder, Anxiety, Sleep, Children, Adults,
Study, Insurance, .
Dark Dreams
Should
you start taking constant nightmares seriously? “ Up to 50% of children aged
3-6 years’ experience sleep-disturbing dreams, and between 2%-8% of adults also
complain about recurring nightmares” (Gertz). Nightmare
disorder, also known as Dream Anxiety Disorder, is a terrifying condition
described as the occurrence of repeated dreams during which the sleeper feels
threatened and terrified (Psychology Today). Nightmares are a common phenomenon
experienced by nearly everyone. Those who experience constant nightmares and
night terrors may also carry underlying psychological and neurological
disorders. Although they might not be given much thought or consideration, they are a prominent factor in the life of others, so the
attention and funding’s for research should increase.
Nightmares
are vivid, detailed dreams that can cause worry or fear, often exposing the
dreamer to experiences of horrifying visual and emotional turbulence. The picture on
the right shows a demonic looking figure under the bed, the children looks
disturbed and scared. This disorder could affect any person, but rather tends
to have a greater effect on children. It also holds the possibility of
impacting individuals emotionally as well as physically, by often reiterating
fears or traumas that person has experienced. Nightmare Disorder also known as
dream anxiety disorder, is a terrifying disorder caused by someone experiencing recurrent dreams which constantly evoke
emotions of fear, anger, sadness or disgust. This nightmare often presents the
individual in a situation that jeopardizes their life or their personal safety.
Nightmares usually take place during someone's Rapid Eye Movement
(REM) stage of sleep which is 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep which
is when dreams happen. Dreaming takes a lot of energy, your eyes move fast and
your heart rate and blood pressure increases. The body goes into a different
deep rest after any dream along the night. The body goes through six cycles of
sleep at night and the REM gets longer with each cycle, sweating and other
different symptoms of anxiety are shown. During a nightmare, the individual may
moan talk or move slightly. The person will most of the times wake up with the
sense of fear. Nightmares are often complex and long lasting. Is hard for the
person to fall asleep after a nightmare. The individual will usually have a
good reminiscence of what the dream was about, what happened and what was so
horrifying towards them. Nightmare disorder could be specified by duration(Psychology
Today). A nightmare can be very disturbing and it can lead you to very
uncomfortable situations, after you wake up you can feel unsafe or even scared
of falling back asleep.
Dream Anxiety Disorder significantly correlates with higher
rates of childhood trauma history and poor sleep quality. Different factors can
be causing individuals to experience terrifying and perturbing dreams.
According to Semiz, Umit B., et al. from the GATA Haydarpasa Training Hospital
“Nightmares and sleep problems are frequently encountered in patients with
Borderline Personality Disorder BPD” (1). Borderline Personality Disorder is a
serious disorder which according to the National Institute of Mental Health is
marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in
moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning. Different factors
can be causing patients to have these horrifying and perturbing dreams.
Neurological disorders can contribute to an individual becoming a victim and
experiencing symptoms of Nightmare Disorder. In this article, the researchers
also state that, “Adults as well as children with a history of early trauma
frequently report persistent disruptions in sleep” (1). These past events of
trauma can lead to posttraumatic nightmares which are more intense, vivid
dreams that hold actual traumatic scenes from a past event, dramatized by the
imagination as it could contain scenes of death or violence. There are many
possible ways of treating Dream Anxiety Disorder; such as
imagery rehearsal therapy, counseling, and even medication. This condition,
like most disorders, does not have a cure. Although doctors and researchers
alike had been conducting studies to find treatments and even a possible cure.
A study conducted by Kunze, Anna E., et al. discusses how frequent nightmares
can effectively be treated with cognitive behavioral techniques such as imagery
rehearsal therapy. IRT is a technique that can help individuals reprogram their
nightmares to be less terrifying when they occur again. The results of this
study which have not been published yet, conclude that nightmares “might
provide useful knowledge about the working mechanism rescripting and exposure
based treatments” (1). The researchers of this study tried to investigate the
efficiency of these methods by following through with the therapy and
collecting the results from their experiments.
Constant nightmares can cause sleep
deprivation, which can lead to other medical diseases such as heart disease,
obesity, depression and possibly death. Things you might normally do before you
sleep can also have an effect on the quality of dreams, such as having “[a] pre-bedtime snack can increase your
metabolism, which causes the brain to become more active and can possibly lead
to nightmares” (Sleep.org). Eating before bedtime can cause vivid nightmares.
After eating, the body starts increasing its metabolism rate, due to digestion;
leading the individual to have more energy and higher brain activity during
late hours of the night. This can cause the individual to experience sleep deprivation. Sleep
deprivation is a “condition that occurs when you don't get enough sleep”
(Nhlbi.nih.gov). Heart disease can be triggered by sleep deprivation, as a
result of not receiving the satisfactory amount of sleep needed, which is
highly considered to be from about seven to eight hours. During these episodes
of sleep deprivation, the heart and blood pressure rate increases and does not
allow for the heart to rest when it’s supposed to. The only time the heart has
to rest is when one sleeps, because the blood pressure rate returns to its
normal resting state and can allow the heart to recover for the next day.
Frequent nightmares can even lead an individual to suicide. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine “suicidal
thoughts, plans or attempts were present in 62 percent of participants who
experienced nightmares and only 20 percent of those without nightmares” (Science
Daily). Nightmares can act as stressors for people who already suffer from a
disorder.
Children tend to have more nightmares than
adults because they have a more imaginative and sensitive mind, followed along
by less exposure to the reality of the world around them. “A new baby is
constantly exposed to new images, sensations, smells, sounds and, as a result,
strong emotions. It’s only during sleep that the infant eliminates all the
information the brain- accumulates during the day” (Horrocks). Children
often tend to experience nightmares about paranormal figures such as ghosts, as
well as being chased around or being in grave danger, often finding themselves
placed in a state of danger or helplessness. This happens because the child
does not have the capacity to explain their feelings, emotions and fears. As
the child grows up and starts developing ideas on how to communicate those
fears and emotions more effectively, they tend to have less nightmares. Nightmares in children are thought to be a key part of
their imagination development, bringing awareness to the fact that there are
many things in this world that can actually harm them or endanger their
well-being. Fears and nightmares can also be the result of a frightening
experience, or traumatic event in one’s life. Family conflict and anxiety, as mentioned before, can also play a
severe role in causing these terrifying ruminations in children.
While doing my research on nightmares
and its disorder, I interviewed Casey Diaz a female college student that has
been experiencing nightmares since she was a kid. I asked Casey a couple of
questions one of them being, how experiencing this
recurrent dream affected her? according to Casey her nightmares made her
feel “powerlessness and a powerful sensation of vulnerability. These feeling
can make me feel weak and ashamed of myself. I can't control the dream which
makes me feel out of control and guilty. I wake with a sinking impression that
something will go wrong in my day and that the next mistake or bad things is
waiting right around the corner”. I
also asked Casey how her nightmares affected her not only physically but also
emotionally she said, “In some cases I have gone days without sleeping out of fear of
returning to a disturbing dream” and that’s when this recurrent nightmare start
affecting your body and causing sleep deprivation and other health problems.
Since individuals tend to have frequent nightmares when they’ve been through
traumatic experiences, I asked Casey if she have had any post traumatic
experiences and she answered “yes” but didn’t want to talk about it which is
very understanding. According to Casey a way to try to prevent nightmares is to
start “a well-balanced diet at appropriate hours of the day” because “Eating before
bed can sometimes have strange effects” she states.
Nightmares can be a terrible experience
for those who are constantly experiencing it and being affected by it. Some
believe that those constant nightmares that an individual has might mean
something deeper. According to Charlotte Harding in her article Why
nightmares can be good for your health Dr. Lukeman believes that nightmares
“ are trying to warn us that we are caught up in some internal conflict needing
resolution for the sake of our well-being” (Harding). Elizabeth Wagele in her
article What is GOOD about nightmares, also believes that nightmares
have a positive effect in people and that experiencing nightmares can also have
a deeper meaning, or are giving an individual clue or meaning about something
that could be happening in one's life (Wagele). This clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJUuoZj-G0 describes some of the meanings nightmares
could have. Even though some might think that nightmares should be takes as
clues or should be seen with a deeper meaning, recurrent nightmares could do
more harm than good.
A nightmare can be a very disturbing and
frightening experience, often signifying of underlying factors and fears of
your subconscious mind. This other frightening image on the right shows how the
adult sleeping is terrified of the tall and also demonic looking figure that
she is seeing while sleeping. These types of dreams can wake you up, and often
keep you up at night, causing your sleep patterns inconsistent. Sleep
disturbances such as these can cause a high level of distress as well as affect
bodily functions throughout the day. Psychologists and doctors alike often find
difficulty in adequately explaining exactly what causes these consistent
nightmares, and the context within them. Although Dream Anxiety Disorder is not
regarded as a popular topic in mainstream media, it definitely should be.
Considering its prevalence in society, the emotional turmoil it is capable of,
and the undeniable role nightmares serve in understanding the psychology behind
our dreams. Research would suggest that it is time to rethink what nightmares
are, as well as look within the boundaries of our own dreams to find the
answers to our life’s fears, problems and personal mysteries.
Reference
Nightmare
Disorder. Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders, www.minddisorders.com/Kau-Nu/Nightmare-disorder.html.
"nightmare, n. and adj." OED Online. Oxford University Press,
June 2017. Web. 8 November 2017.Patient Information Publications/Egton Medical Information Systems Ltd. Nightmare Disorder. (2014). Accessed on October 30, 2017
Kunze, Anna E., et al. "Efficacy and Mechanisms of
Imagery Rescripting and Imaginal Exposure for Nightmares: Study Protocol for a
Randomized Controlled Trial." Trials, vol. 17, 26 Sept. 2016, pp.
1-14.
Semiz, Umit B., et al. "Nightmare
Disorder, Dream Anxiety, and Subjective Sleep Quality in Patients with
Borderline Personality Disorder." Psychiatry & Clinical
Neurosciences, vol. 62, no. 1, Feb. 2008, pp. 48-55.
“What Are Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency?” National
Heart Lung and Blood Institute, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 7 June 2017, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd.
“What Causes Nightmares | Sleep.Org by the National Sleep
Foundation.” Sleep.Org, sleep.org/articles/causes-nightmares/.
“What nightmares mean.” Sofeminine, 16 June 2008, www.sofeminine.co.uk/wellbeing/what-nightmares-mean-s564021.html.
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