One of the criteria for PTSD is the occurrence of nightmares; the reduction of nightmares is also a measure of how well the trauma is being processed.
“War neuroses” dreams, as they were called in Freud’s time, did not fit in well with his theory of dreams. He wrote: “the function of dreaming, like so much else, is upset in this condition [traumatic neuroses] and diverted from its purposes.”
In general, this culture and most people are not aware of just how important it is to understand and work with nightmares…
From the Repetition Dimension in Dreams and Waking Cognition
Bill Domhoff, Ph.D.
The most systematic studies on traumatic dreams concern Vietnam veterans because they can be studied in large numbers due to their common experience; then, too, they also make themselves available to researchers through VA hospitals. It is this work that makes it possible to go beyond a mere summation of a wide variety of individual instances in a search for generalizations. Relying primarily on research by Hartmann and his associates (1984) and Kramer, Schoen, and Kinney (1987), the following things can be said about traumatic dreams and those who suffer them. First, the combat soldiers who suffered later from traumatic dreams were younger, less educated, and more likely to be emotionally involved with a close buddy who was killed or injured as compared with non-sufferers with similar combat experiences. Those who did not have such dreams put up a wall between themselves and other people while in Vietnam; they decided very early not to become emotionally close to anyone (Hartmann, 1984:209).
Second, the dreams begin to change slightly over time as the person recovers, gradually incorporating other elements and becoming less like the exact experience. Put another way, the traumatic dreams slowly come to resemble ordinary dreams (Hartmann, 1984:219). Third, there seems to be a decline in traumatic dreams if they are discussed in groups with other veterans who suffer from them (Wilmer, 1982). Hartmann (1984:238-239) reports early discussion also seems to decrease such dreams in those who suffer from other kinds of traumas as well.
Finally, those who have recovered often suffer a relapse to the old dream content when faced with new stressors. Kramer, Schoen, and Kinney (1987) provide good examples of this phenomenon for veterans dealing with marital disruption; war scenes from the past then return with all their pain and anxiety. Thus, “the Vietnam experience serves as a metaphor to express the [new] difficulties” (Kramer, Schoen, and Kinney, 1987:79). At this point we see how the study of traumatic dreams and their aftermath illuminates the general study of dreams, for dreams as an expression of our conceptions and emotional preoccupations is an important strand of dream theorizing (Hall, 1953a, 1953b; Antrobus, 1977; Baylor, 1981; Baylor and Deslauriers, 1985, 1986-87).
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