ABSTRACT
Patients with sleep apnea will occasionally report nightmares of suffocation. Bizarre negative dreams occurring during sleep are not always classic nightmares. Patients with severe sleep apnea and objective insomnia have fewer nightmares. Dreams from all sleep stages include negative content. Sleep-onset hallucinations and the deep-sleep parasomnias, especially night terrors, can be remarkably bizarre, including dream content that parodies that of the classic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-associated nightmare. Nightmares are often reported by individuals who score abnormally on psychological tests as well as on screening tests for the diagnoses of insomnia, depression, neuroticism, schizotypy, psychosis, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The theoretical perspective that nightmares reflect a functional failure in emotional processing also supports the pathological role for nightmares. The Sundance studies indicated that individual's success in their creative roles report a higher frequency of nightmares and are more likely to use them in their creative process.
