Nightmares Or Dreams?

[Hellvena]

Hiya,
I've been having PTSD related nightmares ever since the trauma but lately they've been strange and I don't really know if they're nightmares at all. The thing is, I often either dream about something completely normal but am somehow still terrified of it, or I dream about the trauma but am not scared at all during the nightmare itself. I forget about it when I wake up and only during the day it creeps back into memory and I feel sick and scared. Does anyone else experience these things? Are they still nightmares?

 

[Riot]

@Hellvena, I'd say anything that really upsets you in sleep like that is a nightmare by its own right. Nightmares can also be dreams, too, though.

 

[Whirlwind]

I really believed dreams didn't mean much only to conclude my dreams whether or not I called them nightmares - were related to my trauma, current and past.

Since I've come to terms with some of my trauma, they have markedly subsided. As for what is a "nightmare" - I had terrible dreams which I remembered vividly and still do, and yet most didn't bother me upon waking. I realize now I was emotionally numbed, now that I'm less numbed, I can see my trauma more clearly, my former love of horror movies is no longer fun, they upset me etc. One of my most unsettling dreams wasn't scary at all but it kept repeating and I would ruminate on it while awake, it really started bugging me and finally the dream revealed its meaning in a flashback and finally a memory. Basically, it wasn't a dream, it was a memory fragment.

Hope this helps, Whirlwind

 

[Panda Bear]

I consider nightmares anything that involves/replays my past trauma. Dreams are everything else that are not real.

On that note, I RARELY dream.

 

[Riot]

I hear that, @Panda Bear!

 

[Deleted member 28403]

I mainly either don't dream (or have really upsetting not neccessarily trauma related dreams) or I have bad nightmares. Lately I've not been dreaming