Nightmares: The Science and Solution of Those Frightening Visions During Sleep

by Patrick McNamara

Overview

We've nearly all been there at least once - awakened with a pounding heart and the memory of frightening scenes that seemed so real, but were conjured up and existed only in the sleeping mind. Nightmares affect people across countries and cultures, with some 10 percent of the world's population reporting recurrent nightmares. Parents have reported, and science has recorded, nightmares in children as young as 18 months old. Up to 40 percent of children aged 2 to 12 experience nightmares, as do some 35 percent of veterans and 50 percent of adults with chronic illness. With this book, a psychologist widely known in his field shows how nightmares evolved and were useful to ancestral populations, and why nightmares may carry beneficial functional effects even today for people who suffer from the pulse-pumping dreams. McNamara brings us up to date on the biology of nightmares and what, specifically, happens in the brain during the event. He also explains the history and development of nightmares and likely causes, including traumatic events, psychological and physical disorders, and commonly consumed medications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313345135
Publisher:	Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date:	07/30/2008
Series:	Brain, Behavior, and Evolution Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	339 KB

About the Author

PATRICK MCNAMARA is Director of the Evolutionary Neurobehavior Laboratory at VA New England Health Care System and Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine. He is also Series Editor for the Praeger series Brain, Behavior, and Evolution. McNamara is trained in Neurocognitive Science. He is a member of the Sleep Research Society and the Association for the Study of Dreams. He is currently researching problems of the evolution and phylogeny of REM and NREM sleep states.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures     xi
Preface     xiii
Acknowledgments     xix
Approach to the Study of Nightmares     1
Shortcomings of the Standard "Take" on Nightmares     1
Nightmares Can Be Functional     2
Definition and Diagnostic Criteria for Recurrent Nightmares     5
Syndrome of Recurring Nightmares     7
The Sharing of Nightmares with Others     8
Why Do Nightmares Occur in Children?     13
Sleep in Childhood     13
Dreaming in Childhood     18
Evolution of Childhood     20
Cognitive and Psychological Growth of the Child     21
Development of the Sense of Self in Children     22
Impact of Developmental Milestones on Nightmare Propensity in Children     24
Content of Nightmares     27
Comparing Nightmare Content to Ordinary Dreams     27
Nightmare Content Scoring     28
Word Count Analyses of Barb Sanders' Nightmares     39
Nightmares as Compelling: The Case of "Precognitive Nightmares"     47
People Who Experience Extraordinary Dreams Must Be Extraordinary People     51
Nightmares in Premodern Societies     53
Nightmares as Evidence of Extraordinary Powersin Ancestral Populations     53
Dreams in Premodern Societies     54
Cultural Context of Dreaming in Premodern Societies     55
Nightmare Sharing in Premodern Groups     60
Biology of Nightmares     63
Normal Human Sleep Architecture     63
Sleep Rebound Effects and REM-NREM Imbalances in Production of Nightmares     64
Special Link between Nightmares and REM Sleep     65
Summary of REM Properties and Nightmares     72
Key Role of the Amygdala     72
Selected Neuropharmacological Agents Can Induce Nightmares     73
Neuroanatomy and Physiology of a Nightmare     73
Personality and Psychopathological Correlates of Nightmares     75
Nightmares Are Not Reliably Associated with Loss of Function     75
Disorders Involving Nightmares     76
Nightmares and Psychopathology     82
Phenomenology of the Nightmare     83
Basic Visual Features     83
Emotional Atmosphere     83
Automaticity     84
Cognitive Content Elicits the Emotional Content     84
Creativity     84
"Compellingness"     85
Narrative Form     85
Self-Identity      85
Lack of Metaphor     86
Self-Reflectiveness     86
Mind Reading     86
Summary of Formal Features of Nightmares     87
Theoretical Accounts of the Nightmare     89
Facts That Must Serve as the Basis for Nightmare Theory     89
Proposed Functional Theory of Nightmares     92
Costly Signaling Theory (CST)     101
Freud's View of Nightmares     106
Fisher's View of Nightmares     106
Kramer's View of Nightmares     106
Hartmann's View of Nightmares     107
Nielsen and Levin's View of Nightmares     107
Theory and Treatment Strategies     108
Nightmares and Popular Culture     111
Movies, Nightmares, and Spirit Possession     111
Nightmare-Related Spirit Possession Is a Universal Phenomenon     112
Alien Abduction     116
Books, Nightmares, and Spirit Possession     117
Interpretation of the Possession Theme in Nightmares     119
Selection of Nightmares with Spirit Possession Themes     120
Caveats in the Interpretation of Nightmares and Standard Explanations of the Possession Theme     120
Recurring Patterns in the Spirit-Possession Theme     122
Conflict Theory and the Nightmare     135
Mind Is Not a Unity     135
Paradox of Mind Reading in Dreams: The Role of the "Stranger"     136
Male Strangers and Aggression in Dreams     138
REM-NREM Dissociations in the Dreaming Mind     138
Dreaming and Consciousness     140
Dream Agents/Characters Can Represent Genomes within the Individual     141
Effects of Imprinted Genes on Physiologic Systems Implicated in Growth     141
Effects of Imprinted Genes on Functional Brain Systems Implicated in Sleep Processes     142
Genomic Imprinting and Sleep-State Biology     143
Genetic Conflict and Dream Phenomenology     146
Concluding Remarks     148
Additional Resources     151
References     153
Index     171