Nightmares. We all have them. But what exactly do they mean? Why do we have bad dreams? Is there any psychological meaning behind them? Nightmares are the source of much of the horror we see in stories, myths, movies and games. They are an encounter with the dark side of the unconscious, which often includes facing some of the most painful aspects of who we are. And one does not know what that part of oneself is, until one confronts it.

Nightmares are the most substantial and vitally important dreams, and are of therapeutic value. They wake us up with a cry, as if all our repressed content forms a bubble which expands until it bursts one night, and we experience a nightmare. They are the shock therapy nature uses on us when we are too unaware of some psychological danger, and shock us out of deep unconscious sleepiness about some dangerous situation. As if the unconscious says, “Look here, this problem is urgent!” The psyche tells us to “wake up” and face what we have neglected. The majority of nightmares represent opportunities for personal healing through much-needed emotional release.

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⌛ Timestamps

(0:00) Introduction

(3:00) Dream-Motifs in Nightmares

(3:37) Lilith: The First Nightmare

(5:07) The Origin & Folklore of Nightmares

(9:09) Non-REM Sleep (Night Terrors)

(10:36) REM Sleep (Nightmares)

(11:43) Nightmare in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

(15:40) Fever Dreams and Franz Kafka

(17:36) Post-Traumatic Nightmares and Recurring Nightmares

(19:00) Precognitive Nightmares

(20:36) Carl Jung and The Meaning of Dreams

(26:07) The Shadow and Nightmares

(28:32) The Devouring Mother Archetype

(30:39) Active Imagination

(33:08) Lucid Dreaming

(36:14) Nightmares and Artists

(37:40) Nightmare Artists: Beksiński and Giger