Nightmares are dreams that cause strong, unpleasant emotional responses and can arise from several sources. Nightmares in adults and children can be a result of psychological trauma or stress as the person confronts their fears and distress at night, attempting to “digest” them. You can learn more about nightmares and dreams through our corporate training seminars.
The different kinds of nightmares that can occur for adults and children are:
- Nightmares that arise from mild to medium stress or distress, which is the most common type for adults and children.
- Nightmares caused by emotional dissonance such as the push pull that happens when you have to make a choice all options seem negative or unpalatable.
- Fear and strong emotions that put feelings out of balance.
- Physical or mental imbalances can produce nightmares in adults, such as the nightmares that arise during a fever, or a period of extreme depression.
- Recurring nightmares are a unique form of nightmares in adults, which dream expert and Stase Michaels at Interpretadream.com explains in the following way. Recurring nightmars can be linked to a past trauma or can be a “pay attention cue” manufactured by the psyche to get your attention to cope with an area of your life that needs attention. For example, every time one person dreamed of being stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean, it was a cue to muster their strength to deal with something new and challenging, just as they had done when they had landed on the shores of the United States via boat, as an emigrant, years before.
- Trauma can totally unbalance the psyche and emotional stability of a person and lead to strong nightmares which often replay the trauma over and over again which is often the case for those with post traumatic stress. The nightmares of those with post traumatic stress are different both in content and physical nature (the REM cycles) than “regular” nightmares. Look for topic papers on the site Interpretadream.com that cover this special type of nightmare in adults.
Study of nightmares and theories regarding causes, however, are both subject to debate. While some would assert that nightmares are caused primarily as a result of stress, others would assert that they are caused by something less obvious, something hidden in the unconscious. What causes nightmares, for some people, may be kept a secret in the psyche.
Because dreams relate to a specific circumstance of an individual’s life, what causes nightmares is different for each individual and thus it is imperative to go back to actual experiences to discover the cause or meaning of the nightmare.
As an example of how life context works to discover what causes nightmares, two people can dream of falling down a flight of stairs, and wake up in a fearful sweat. This is a story about "losing ground" or "losing one’s footing", and the question to each person becomes: "In what area of life do you feel you are losing ground, or losing your normally sure footing?".
One person responds that she has been losing her footing in a relationship and feels more and more uncomfortable in it. To her, the dream is sending a message to look at those feelings and decide what to do about it. Otherwise, since a dream often exaggerates to make a point, the discomfort could increase and lead to "a final fall" and ending of the relationship.
The other person can relate the story line to a career that has become stagnant since his company changed ownership. The dream mirrors how his feelings of stagnation might put him in the direction of "heading for a fall" as an ending of that position. The dream message puts him in touch with on-the-verge of conscious awareness so that he may do something about it, or choose to look for alternatives. As dreams expert Stase Michaels points out, even nightmares contain helpful information that can be particularly valuable to the dreamer, and staying in touch with one’s feelings can be a critical part of decision-making.
For that purpose, Interpretadream.com offers courses, corporate seminars, and DIY interpretation tools that adhere to this philosophy. The meaning of nightmares in adults can be extremely important, and thus it is imperative to interpret them correctly.
Interpretadream.com, founded by dream expert and author Stase Michaels, is the place to go to have your nightmares interpreted correctly. Although dedicated to the interpretation of all kinds of dreams, the study of nightmares is extremely important and familiar to her, especially as they occur for combat veterans. This is because she carried out many research projects and two thesis on how to reverse the sleep disturbances of those with post traumatic stress, such as those that combat veterans often has, and has spent much of her career researching post traumatic stress. In fact, based on her study of nightmares, Stase Michaels has produced self-help tapes for those with sleep disturbances due to post traumatic stress which you can ask about by email.
Stase Michaels has three different psychology degrees, and has compiled much of that knowledge into her first book. She has taught dream courses at a variety of locations like McGill University in Montreal, Hampton University in Virginia, given presentations at numerous community colleges and has been featured on radio, television, and in newspaper articles.
Stase Michaels and everyone involved here at Interpretadream.com encourage you to begin learning about your dreams today. Please continue browsing our website for more information.
