Have nightmares while we sleep it occurs with some frequency, but now, a study has revealed that there are people living with certain mental health disorders who may be prone to suffering from them.
Researchers from the University of the Incarnate Word in Texas (USA) have published their conclusions in the journal Dreamingand they maintain that certain psychological traitsparticularly weak mental boundaries and a predisposition called nightmare propensity, play an important role in this phenomenon.
Frequent nightmares are closely related to some mental health problems. For example, research indicates that between 50% and 70% of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience frequent nightmares, as these distressing dreams are a characteristic symptom of the disease.
Similarly, nightmares are notably more common in people with anxiety disorders, depression, and other mood-related disorders, which often reflects increased distress and emotional dysregulation.
However, nightmares are not limited to those with mental health problems; They are also common in the general population. Studies suggest that about 4% of people suffer from nightmares frequently, while approximately 40% report having occasional nightmares.
“Nightmares are suffered, at least occasionally, by a relatively large number of people with and without mental health problems. However, their causes remain a mystery. We have been trying to understand what are the key psychological dispositions that seem to influence the fact of having nightmares,” says the author of the study, William Kellyassociate professor at the University of the Incarnate Word.
116 psychology students from a university in the United States participated in the study. Most of the participants were young adults, with an average age of 20.6 years.
The majority identified as Latino (78.4%)while smaller groups identified as Asian, white, or other ethnicities. Participants completed an online survey that included several validated measures related to nightmares and personality traits.
The researchers examined the relationships between nightmare frequency and four provisions: neuroticism, nightmare proneness, narrow psychological boundaries, and sensory processing sensitivity.
Taking into account sociodemographic factors
After taking into account sociodemographic factors, frequency of dream recall, and overlap between traits, they found that only nightmare propensity and narrow psychological limits were significant independent predictors of the frequency with which participants experienced nightmares.
Proneness to nightmares encompasses psychological factors such as emotional instability, mood dysregulation, and greater sensitivity to stress.
Researchers suggest that people with a high propensity for nightmares may experience a process called “concretization”, in which unclear or abstract mental experiences take on more tangible forms, such as vivid and distressing dream images.
This makes them more likely to transform waking emotional struggles into disturbing dreams. The study reinforced that nightmare proneness is distinct from other traits such as neuroticism and unclear boundaries, as it remained a significant predictor even when these factors were controlled.
On the other hand, people with more subtle boundaries are characterized by a greater interconnection between their emotions, thoughts, and external stimuli. People with subtle boundaries may have an increased susceptibility to experiencing disturbing images and emotions during sleep, as they are less able to compartmentalize or filter these influences.
This finding supports the idea that more subtle boundaries create a psychological environment in which negative mental content can more easily emerge in the form of vivid and disturbing dreams.
“It’s not ‘abnormal’ to have nightmares,” Kelly tells the publication PsyPost. “There seem to be certain dispositions that influence them. In our study, people who had nightmares more frequently also seemed to be more likely to have nightmares.” a thinner division between different mental experiencesas well as a tendency to have negative emotions more easily and experience them in various ways,” adds Kelly.
“It is as if there were a tendency for an unpleasant mental event to spread through the minds of certain people, such as a storm that awakens images and disturbing emotions in dreams,” he adds.
“We want to expand on these findings and better understand how more subtle mental boundaries and general nightmare propensity variables related to nightmares,” says Kelly. “We are planning additional studies to unravel this,” he concludes.
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