So, can your nightmares give you nightmares?

[Derived Absurdity]

I wonder. Because encountering scary shit is supposed to give you nightmares, right? And nightmares are some scary shit. Right? So... if the nightmare is scary enough, shouldn't you get some more nightmares from it?

I'm asking because I just had a pretty vivid and intense nightmare. This is weird because I barely even remember my dreams, let alone have any nightmares worth remembering. And this one basically just came out nowhere, apropos of nothing. I don't really want to describe it, but it was essentially just what I imagine a really, really bad trip must be like - seeing demons everywhere, everything is foreign and and awful and alien and unstable and out to get you, etc. And it gave a much more vivid impression than any horror movie (which gives people nightmares, yes?) because a) I thought it was very real at the time and b) I thought that shit was actually happening to me. So... seeing as how movies give people nightmares, and seeing as how nightmares are much more, y'know, nightmarish than movies, I would think people getting nightmares from memories of their own nightmares to be a fairly common occurrence. But it's not something I've ever heard before and it's something I just thought of.

Anyone?

[BruceSmith78]

You should ask Gogo. He likes talking about dreams.

Personally, can't recall any time I've had a nightmare triggered by a previous nightmare. Pretty much all my nightmares have been triggered by stuff I fear in real life.

[Derived Absurdity]

But I fear nightmares in real life! Shit.

[Dr_Liszt]

I've had second parts to dreams. Sometimes they are unpleasant dreams, or I remember stuff from another dream in my dream, as if it was the same universe. Is that what you mean?

[CashRules]

I've had second parts to dreams. Sometimes they are unpleasant dreams, or I remember stuff from another dream in my dream, as if it was the same universe. Is that what you mean?

This means you have a dream crab on your face in real life and you're unable to wake up. Everything you experience is just another level of the dream and you're slowly dying.

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I've often share the time with all of you when I had a nightmare that scared me so much as a kid that it actually continued and progressed the "story" the next night. Does that count as a nightmare giving me a nightmare?

[Dr_Liszt]

I've often share the time with all of you when I had a nightmare that scared me so much as a kid that it actually continued and progressed the "story" the next night. Does that count as a nightmare giving me a nightmare?

NO! Is a dream crab on your face! Didn't you read? Keep up, man! We are all products of my imagination, or your imagination. Who knows? When the morning comes, IT'S ALL OVER!

[CashRules]

We're all having the same dream. The only thing that can save us is Santa Claus, and it has to be the real Santa Claus, not some imposter.

[Anakin McFly]

Nightmareception.

[Derived Absurdity]

I've often share the time with all of you when I had a nightmare that scared me so much as a kid that it actually continued and progressed the "story" the next night. Does that count as a nightmare giving me a nightmare?

Yes.

I'm just saying nightmares come from things that scare you, and nightmares scare you, so theoretically you should get nightmares from your nightmares. But it never seems to happen, and this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like that happening.

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I've often share the time with all of you when I had a nightmare that scared me so much as a kid that it actually continued and progressed the "story" the next night. Does that count as a nightmare giving me a nightmare?

Yes.

I'm just saying nightmares come from things that scare you, and nightmares scare you, so theoretically you should get nightmares from your nightmares. But it never seems to happen, and this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like that happening.

Liszt was the first to mention multiple part dreams on this thread. I've only ever had two-parter, and that was when I was a kid.

For those of you who wish to know/don't remember...

First a little basis. One of the things that always scared me as a kid was the thought of getting lost and never finding my way back home. This nightmare occurred right after a family trip, where we stayed at a Holiday Inn and at one point watched the Wizard of Oz.

The first part of my nightmare had me walking home from school. I took the usual path, but at one point I must have veered off for some strange reason. Next thing I know, I can't find my way back. I start wandering, but the longer I wander. The longer I wonder, the more I panic before it gets to be too much and I wake up.

The next night, I continue where I left off. I wander some more until I end up at the walls of a random castle. Outside the gate is someone with a wagon of hay. I walk up and it's none other than the Scarecrow from Oz. Being desperate, I ask him for directions. I follow them and end up on a familiar path. I eventually recognize the corner of my street. I run and turn the corner...only to find a Holiday in there in place of my house. I wake up.

Fun times.

[thesalmonofdoubt]

Yes.

I'm just saying nightmares come from things that scare you, and nightmares scare you, so theoretically you should get nightmares from your nightmares. But it never seems to happen, and this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like that happening.

I don't remember a great deal from what we learned about the subconscious and how it effects things like sleep patterns and nightmares and that sort of thing from when I was at uni, but I do seem to recall that the research is pretty murky on what the exact cause of nightmares are but it appears to be more involved with underlying anxiety or unresolved conflict - that sort of thing rather than an event that scares you per se.

So, I'd be surprised to hear of a scary nightmare causing further nightmares and would expect that whatever caused the nightmare in the first place, if left unresolved, will likely produce similar nightmares. I guess that's why individual peoples nightmares normally have a similar theme, because their anxieties or stressors are normally reasonably consistent for great periods of time.

Mine certainly seem to work this way .. I rarely have nightmares but when I do, it's almost always the same sort of thing - me running thru a maze or a series of hall ways being chased by "something" trying to work out whether I should stop and face whatever is chasing me or keep running or hide till it passes.. Or I get the classic .. rock up to a play that I'm in but know nothing at all about and find myself on a stage with my line being called for and I've got no idea what I'm supposed to be saying.

[BruceSmith78]

Most of my nightmares involve me driving an out of control car (which usually includes trouble from the fuzz), some sort of apocalyptic event, the death of a loved one, my wife dumping me, and in rare cases, my own death.

[Dr_Liszt]

A lot of my nightmares involve a certain someone being a total dickhead with me. I've told myself that the next dream, is over.