ABSTRACT
Horror is our response to disturbance in key supportive structures, which may be external or internal. In contrast with disgust, horror is not a judging emotion. It asserts insecurity, not assessment of whether something is good or bad. In a horror state, the person is trying to cope with the sense of profound disturbance to safety. Coping includes efforts to understand and contain distress and to re-establish security. Inhuman beings (e.g., blank-faced individuals or monsters), the altered, invaded self, unsustaining environments, carnage, instability, disturbed moral order, and intercategorical status are common elicitors of horror. The developmental roots of horror are unclear but may include encounters with blank-faced or suddenly destructive persons or exposure to incomprehensible and unsupportive environments. Typically-horrifying events may or may not horrify in dream life. The dreamer’s expressive and symbolic needs, overall state of tension, and ability to maintain separation from waking reality figure in the determination of whether horrible images will generate nightmare.
