Childhood emotional abuse and critical life events linked to nightmare distress.

Childhood abuse and critical life events play a more important role than violent dream content in how distressed people feel about their nightmares, according to a new study. The research found that nightmare distress was associated with critical life events, traumatic childhood experiences (specifically emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse), and the presence of violent dream contents. Interestingly, the emotional appraisal, traumatic childhood experiences, and critical life events had a greater impact on nightmare distress than the actual content of the nightmares.