The relationship of nightmare frequency to nightmare suffering with implications for treatment and research

The present research challenges the assumption that nightmare suffering can be operationally defined as nightmare frequency. Four groups of undergraduate students, for a total sample of 540 (358 women, 165 men, 17 undeclared), estimated their nightmare frequency in the prior year and completed a questionnaire assessing the amount of waking distress associated with their nightmares (nightmare distress). This questionnaire included an item on which they indicated their interest in therapy for nightmares. While nightmare frequency was significantly correlated with nightmare distress and interest in therapy, the correlations were sufficiently modest to suggest that these two variables should be differentiated both in theoretical/empirical studies of nightmares and in approaches to treatment with nightmares

Nightmare · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Sleep and related disorders · Sleep and Wakefulness Research · Clinical Psychology

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  Open Access•Jonatan Baños-Chaparro, Rulman Andrei Franco-Jimenez et al.•European Journal of Investigation…•2025

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• Social media-related nightmare — a potential explanation for poor sleep quality and low affective well-being in the social media era

  Open Access•R Shabahang, Sohee Kim et al.•BMC Psychology•2024

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• What does nightmare distress mean? Factorial structure and psychometric properties of the Nightmare Distress Questionnaire (NDQ)

  Max Böckermann, Annika Gieselmann et al.•Dreaming•2014

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  Ruda Lee, Sooyeon Suh•Dreaming•2016

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  William E Kelly, Qiujun Yu•Dreaming•2019

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  William E Kelly•Dreaming•2020

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  Dante Picchioni, Brandy Goeltzenleucher et al.•Dreaming•2002

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  E Miró, María Pilar Martínez•Dreaming•2005

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