Nightmare 46262 225476480 2008-07-13T22:05:21Z Icemotoboy 1914729 Added reference to statement needing study source {{otheruses}} A '''nightmare''' is a [[dream]] which causes a strong unpleasant emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear or horror, being in situations of extreme danger, or the sensations of pain, falling, drowning or death. Such dreams can be related to [[physical]] causes such as a high fever, turned faced down on a pillow during sleep (most often in the case of drowning nightmares), or [[psychological]] ones such as [[psychological trauma]] or [[stress (medicine)|stress]] in the sleeper's life, or can have no apparent cause. If a person has experienced a psychologically traumatic situation in life—for example, a person who may have been captured and [[tortured]]—the experience may come back to haunt them in their nightmares. Sleepers may waken in a state of distress and be unable to get back to sleep for some time. Eating before bed, which triggers an increase in the body's metabolism and brain activity, is another potential stimulus for nightmares.<ref name=Stephens>{{cite journal| author=Stephens, Laura. | title=Nightmares. | journal= http://psychologytoday.com/conditions/nightmare.html. | year=2006 }}</ref>. Sleeping on the left side of the body could compress the chest cavity and restricts the movement of the heart, and has been known to cause nightmares. Occasional nightmares are commonplace, but recurrent nightmares can interfere with [[sleep]] and may cause people to seek [[medical]] help. A recently proposed treatment consists of ''imagery rehearsal''.<ref name="pmid15984916">{{cite journal |author=Davis JL, Wright DC |title=Case series utilizing exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy: impact on nightmares, sleep quality, and psychological distress |journal=Behavioral sleep medicine |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=151–7 |year=2005 |pmid=15984916 |doi=10.1207/s15402010bsm0303_3}}</ref> This approach appears to reduce the effects of nightmares and other symptoms in [[acute stress disorder]] and [[post-traumatic stress disorder]].<ref name="pmid11476655">{{cite journal |author=Krakow B, Hollifield M, Johnston L, ''et al'' |title=Imagery rehearsal therapy for chronic nightmares in sexual assault survivors with post traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial |journal=JAMA |volume=286 |issue=5 |pages=537–45 |year=2001 |pmid=11476655|doi= 10.1001/jama.286.5.537}}</ref> Practitioners of [[lucid dreaming]] claim that it can help conquer nightmares of this type,<ref>http://www.ld4all.com/index.html#frames(content=while_nightmares.shtml)</ref> rather than of the traditional type (see below). ==Historic use of term== [[Image:John Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare.JPG|thumb|280px|''[[The Nightmare]]'', [[Henry Fuseli]], [[1781]] (The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit)]] Nightmare was the original term for the state later known as ''waking dream'' (cf. [[Mary Shelley]] and [[Frankenstein#Shelley's inspiration|Frankenstein]]'s Genesis), and more currently as [[sleep paralysis]], associated with rapid eye movement ([[Rapid eye movement|REM]]) sleep. The original definition was codified by [[Dr Johnson]] in his ''[[A Dictionary of the English Language]]'' and was thus understood, among others by [[Erasmus Darwin]] and [[Henry Fuseli]],<ref name="isbn0-7139-0274-4">{{cite book |author=Powell, Nicolas |title=Fuseli: The Nightmare |publisher=Allen Lane |location=London |year=1973 |pages= |isbn=0-7139-0274-4 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> to include a ''"morbid oppression during sleep, resembling the pressure of weight upon the breast."'' Such nightmares were widely considered to be the work of [[demon]]s and more specifically [[incubus (demon)|incubi]], which were thought to sit on the chests of sleepers. In [[Old English language|Old English]] the name for these beings was ''mare'' or ''mære'' (from a [[proto-Germanic language|proto-Germanic]] ''*marōn'', related to [[Old High German]] and [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] ''[[mara (folklore)|mara]]''), hence comes the ''mare'' part in ''nightmare''. Folk belief in Newfoundland, South Carolina and Georgia describe the negative figure of the [[Hag]] who leaves her physical body at night, and sits on the chest of her victim. The victim usually wakes with a feeling of terror, has difficulty breathing because of a perceived heavy invisible weight on his or her chest, and is unable to move i.e., experiences [[sleep paralysis]]. This nightmare experience is described as being "hag-ridden" in the [[Gullah]] lore. The "Old Hag" was a nightmare spirit in British and also Anglophone North American folklore. Various forms of [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] and [[spiritual possession]] were also advanced as causes. In [[nineteenth century]] [[Europe]], the vagaries of diet were thought to be responsible. For example, in [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'', [[Ebenezer Scrooge]] attributes the [[ghost]] he sees to "... an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato..." In a similar vein, the ''[[Household Cyclopedia]]'' (1881) offers the following advice about nightmares: :"Great attention is to be paid to regularity and choice of diet. Intemperance of every kind is hurtful, but nothing is more productive of this disease than drinking bad wine. Of eatables those which are most prejudicial are all fat and greasy meats and pastry... Moderate exercise contributes in a superior degree to promote the digestion of food and prevent flatulence; those, however, who are necessarily confined to a sedentary occupation, should particularly avoid applying themselves to study or bodily labor immediately after eating... Going to bed before the usual hour is a frequent cause of night-mare, as it either occasions the patient to sleep too long or to lie long awake in the night. Passing a whole night or part of a night without rest likewise gives birth to the disease, as it occasions the patient, on the succeeding night, to sleep too soundly. Indulging in sleep too late in the morning, is an almost certain method to bring on the paroxysm, and the more frequently it returns, the greater strength it acquires; the propensity to sleep at this time is almost irresistible."<ref>[http://www.mspong.org/cyclopedia/medicine.html#nightmare The Household Cyclopedia - Medicine<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ==Medical investigation== Studies of dreams have found that about three quarters of dream content or emotions are negative.<ref name="npr" /> One definition of "nightmare" is a dream which causes one to wake up in the middle of the sleep cycle and experience a negative emotion, such as fear. This type of event on average one per month. They are not common in children under 5, more common in young children (25% experiencing a nightmare at least once per week), most common in adolescents, and less common in adults (dropping in frequency about one-third from age 25 to 55).<ref name="npr" /> Fearfulness in waking life is correlated with the incidence of nightmares.<ref name="npr">[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15778923 The Science Behind Dreams and Nightmares], ''Talk of the Nation'', national Public Radio. 30 October 2007.</ref> Scientists speculate that negative dreams are evolutionarily adapting, purging the brain of memories or associations which trigger fear.<ref name="npr" /> ==See also== {{Commonscat|Nightmares}} {{Wikisource}} {{Wiktionary}} *[[Sleep disorder]] *[[Night terror]] *[[Sleep paralysis]] *[[Mara (folklore)]] *[[Hag]] *[[The Nightmare]] *[[Lucid dream]] *[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_traumatology Glossary of Traumatology] ==Notes== * [[Max Eastman]] visited [[Sigmund Freud]]'s apartment in [[Vienna]] in 1926. He saw a print of Fuseli's ''The Nightmare'' next to [[Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn|Rembrandt]]'s ''The Anatomy Lesson''. [[Ernest Jones]] chose another version of Fuseli's painting as the frontispiece of his book ''On the Nightmare''; however, neither Freud nor Jones mentioned those paintings in their writings about the classic nightmare. * Recent exhibits: ''Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Imagination.'' 15 February – 1 May (2006); Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. * When considered a disease, nightmares are classified as follows: ** ICD-10 code = F51.5 ** ICD-9 code = 307.47 ==References== {{reflist}} * Anch, A.M., & Browman, C.P., & Mitler, M.M., & Walsh, J.K. (1988). ''Sleep: A scientific perspective''. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. * Harris J.C. (2004). Arch Gen Psychiatry. May;61(5):439-40. ''The Nightmare''. (PMID 15123487) *Jones, Ernest (1951). ''On the Nightmare'' (ISBN 0-87140-912-7) (pbk, 1971; ISBN 0-87140-248-3). * [http://www.kluweronline.com/article.asp?PIPS=300244&PDF=1 Forbes, D. ''et al.'' (2001)] ''Brief Report: Treatment of Combat-Related Nightmares Using Imagery Rehearsal: A Pilot Study'', Journal of Traumatic Stress '''14''' (2): 433-442 * [http://www.asdreams.org/magazine/articles/seigel_nightmares.htm Siegel, A. (2003)] ''A mini-course for clinicians and trauma workers on posttraumatic nightmares.'' *Burns, Sarah (2004). ''Painting the Dark Side : Art and the Gothic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century America''. Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Are Imprint, 332 pp, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-23821-4. *Davenport-Hines, Richard (1999). ''Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin.'' North Point Press, p160-61. *Simons, Ronald C and Hughes, Charles C (eds.)(1985). ''Culture-Bound Syndromes.'' Springer, 536pp. *Sagan, Carl (1997). ''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark .'' ==External links== * [http://www.nightmares.info The value of nightmares and common nightmare themes] * [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html Night-Mares: Demons that Cause Nightmares] * [http://scepticthomas.com/nightmares/nightmare.htm Elements of the Nightmare] * [http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/gothicnightmares/default.shtm Gothic Nightmares exhibit] {{SleepSeries2}} [[Category:Dreaming]] [[Category:Sleep]] [[ast:Velea]] [[cs:Noční můra]] [[da:Mareridt]] [[de:Albtraum]] [[el:Εφιάλτης (όνειρο)]] [[es:Pesadilla]] [[eo:Koŝmaro]] [[fa:کابوس]] [[fr:Cauchemar]] [[he:סיוט]] [[nl:Nachtmerrie]] [[ja:悪夢]] [[no:Mareritt]] [[pl:Koszmar senny]] [[pt:Pesadelo]] [[ru:Кошмар]] [[simple:Nightmare]] [[fi:Painajainen]] [[sv:Mardröm]] [[tr:Kabus]] [[zh:恶梦]]