New research published in sleep research journal It provides insight into the factors that contribute to nightmarish affliction. The results of this study suggest that several variables of waking life, such as childhood abuse and significant life events, are more important than violent dream content in how distressed people feel about their nightmares. It shows that they play an important role.
The researchers were motivated by previous research showing that traumatic experiences and waking distress increased the likelihood of having nightmares. However, research on the effects of these factors specifically on nightmare distress has been lacking.
“I was interested in this subject because I wanted to know how nightmare distress relates to nightmare frequency and waking distress. We wanted to explore the extent to which the content is related to nightmare distress,” said study author Jonas Mathes of the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the Heinrich-Heine University of Düsseldorf.
To conduct this study, researchers recruited participants online through advertisements on university campuses and various platforms. Inclusion criteria were to be at least 18 years of age, to have no psychiatric disorders, and to be free of drugs that could affect nightmares.
Two different advertisements were used to recruit participants in two groups, a nightmare group and a non-nightmare group. The nightmare group included participants who regularly experienced at least one nightmare per month, while the non-nightmare group included participants who experienced only one nightmare per month. was
A total of 103 participants participated in the study, 59 in the nightmare group and 44 in the non-nightmare group. Most of the participants were women, and the majority identified themselves as students or in other occupations. Participants’ ages ranged from her 18 to her 61, and there was no significant age difference between the nightmare and non-nightmare groups.
Participants were instructed to keep a structured online dream journal for 28 consecutive days. This diary consisted of his two parts. The first part contained daily questionnaire items on sleep behavior and dream content, which participants completed immediately after awakening. They also showed if they could remember their dreams.
The second part of the diary, completed if the participant recalled at least one dream, focused on the content of the previous night’s dreams. Participants rated the intensity of positive and negative emotions in their dreams on a four-point scale. They also indicated whether the dream was perceived as a nightmare. Participants recorded the content of their dreams and, if applicable, completed an offender questionnaire to assess aggression in their dreams.
Several instruments were used in the study. Dream recall frequency was assessed using a questionnaire that assessed how often participants were able to recall their dreams. The emotional content of dreams was also assessed using a rating scale. Participants reported the intensity of positive and negative emotions in their dreams. The researchers also used the Life Events Scale to assess the significant life events experienced by the participants in the past year.
The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used to measure traumatic childhood experiences such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental neglect, and physical neglect. Nightmare distress was assessed using the Nightmare Distress Questionnaire, which measures nightmare effects on nightmare distress, sleep, and perception of reality during the day.
The majority of participants were able to recall their dreams at least once a week, and some were able to recall their dreams almost every day. Retrospective data on dream recall frequency were consistent with prospective data collected through dream diaries. On average, participants were able to recall about two dreams per week during the 28-day study period.
Of the recorded dreams, approximately 27.8% were classified as nightmares by the participants. This indicates that nightmares occurred relatively frequently during the study period.
This study found that nightmare distress is associated with significant life events, childhood traumatic experiences (particularly emotional, physical, and sexual abuse), and the presence of violent dream content. There was found. This suggests that people who have experienced more significant life events or childhood trauma tend to have higher levels of nightmare-related distress.
Interestingly, emotional appraisals, traumatic childhood experiences, and significant life events had a greater impact on nightmare distress than the actual content of the nightmare. This means that participants’ emotionally interpreted nightmares played a more important role in causing distress than the specific content of the nightmare itself.
“Reducing distress while awake plays an important role in reducing nightmare distress and negative dream feelings,” Mattes told Cypost.
However, like all other studies, this study contains some limitations. For example, this study simplified assessment of violent dream content by using binomial responses, but this could have limited the depth of analysis. Additionally, future research may explore the effects of variables such as neuroticism that influence how individuals perceive important life events.
“In conclusion, the results can adequately explain the occurrence of nightmarish distress and support previous findings,” write Mathes and his colleagues. “Emotional appraisals have a significant impact on nightmares. This suggests that the dreamer may influence the experience of the dream by reappraisal during the dream or perhaps while awake.” Further research is needed to investigate the properties and conditions associated with nightmare treatments and adequate learning.”
the study, “Nightmare distress is related to childhood traumatic experiences, significant life events, and emotional appraisals of dreams, rather than dream content.‘ was written by Jonas Matthes, Jennifer Schuffelen, Annika Gieselmann and Reinhard Pietrowski.
