A Child's Nightmare
Dreams- A Psychological Exploration
Most people who experience nightmares or night terrors would not describe them as fun or helpful, but recent studies have shown that dreams "give cognitive feedback on a person's mental functioning and helps a person adapt to emotional and physical stress" (Pagel). According to recent studies 20 to 30 percent of children experience nightmares, compared to 5 to 8 percent of adults. It makes sense that children would experience more nightmares because they are experiences new things everyday. Fear comes from experiencing things that you and your body are not used to or not okay with. The stress of school work or a scary movie can leave an impact which can haunt your dreams. The study also showed that as children got older they experienced less nightmares. This corresponds with my previous observations because as a child grows older he will know how to deal with some of the anxiety and fears that they face in their daily life. Children who have "thin boundaries" are less likely to look at the world in concrete terms and instead see shades of grey (Pagel). These children are more likely to have nightmares because they are more easily thrown off and sensitive to the world around them.
Nightmares have also been linked to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). These dreams are a result of an intense and highly frightening or emotional moment. PTSD affects approximately 25% of people who have experienced physical and emotional trauma (Pagel). The people who experience these nightmares often wake up abruptly. They tend to relive events from their past and experience intense emotions during that memory. Fear can play a major role on a person's mental and physical state. It can be seen, by looking at the linked table, that nightmares affect most people. Nightmares make people aware of what they are nervous about or fear in their every day life. Nightmares can also be indicators of larger psychological problems. This anger and fear can make a normally calm and composed man angry and bitter. Fear can worm its way into a person's mind and begin to affect their thought process and eventually their behavior. a child's nightmare indicates a fear or a stress brought on from their life. If this fear is not explored it can affect a child's behavior, possibly for the rest of their life.
Nightmares have also been linked to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). These dreams are a result of an intense and highly frightening or emotional moment. PTSD affects approximately 25% of people who have experienced physical and emotional trauma (Pagel). The people who experience these nightmares often wake up abruptly. They tend to relive events from their past and experience intense emotions during that memory. Fear can play a major role on a person's mental and physical state. It can be seen, by looking at the linked table, that nightmares affect most people. Nightmares make people aware of what they are nervous about or fear in their every day life. Nightmares can also be indicators of larger psychological problems. This anger and fear can make a normally calm and composed man angry and bitter. Fear can worm its way into a person's mind and begin to affect their thought process and eventually their behavior. a child's nightmare indicates a fear or a stress brought on from their life. If this fear is not explored it can affect a child's behavior, possibly for the rest of their life.
Monster Under the Bed
I bet we can all remember a time where we feared what was in our closet or under our bed. Children have a fear of the unknown. The dark space under the bed is a place where a child's fear takes root. Parents are constantly telling their children that their are no monsters but children cannot psychologically accept that. In this cartoon an angry looking father is cutting the legs of his child's bed off. The father's angry face indicates that he is tired of getting up and checking under his child's bed for monsters. The little kid has a sad expression on his face, indicating that he is sorry that he can't stop being afraid. If you take a look around the child's room, you begin to notice the creepy doll in the corner and the weird picture on the wall. Many people may consider these toys scary but they are what kids play with on a regular basis. A child's nightmares are based off of what they see in real life. They view death and destruction in video games and on television, then they continue this trend by playing with action figures that beat one another up. A child doesn't want to be afraid of the dark or the monster under the bad but until a child grows use to the scary images that they see every day they experience these terrors. This also explains why a soldier experiences PTSD when they return home from war. Their horizons have been expanded and they have seen horrifying events, expanding their horizon of fear. Fear is an every day part of the American experience, leaking into our television, our toys, and eventually our dreams.