# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion >  >  The difference between scary dreams and nightmares

## Hidden

Before I saw DV and started working on my dream recall, I always thought there were two main types of (non-lucid) dreams.  Regular ones=not scary, nightmares=scary.

But now that I dream more, I've found that I have lots of "scary" dreams, but I only rarely have nightmares.  For example, in one dream (long story short) there was a person who killed me.  When I died the dream started over and she came after me again, and each time it started over I tried something different to get away but she always got me.  At the time it was scary, but I wasn't actually scared...  if that makes any sense.  Then in a another dream I'd left my cat in a box for too long and she went blind, and I _completely_ freaked out, so much that I became lucid but I was still freaking out then, and when I woke up too.

Has anyone else noticed something similar to this?  What is it that makes the difference between a "regular" scary dream and a nightmare?

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## Zhaylin

Perhaps an emotional trigger.
I'm rarely fightened by dreams that involve me being killed or injured etc.  But the second my dream involves someone or something I love in a negative way, it triggers a deeper anxiety which makes it a nightmare.

Great question.

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## Mini Man56

I know what you mean. I had a scary dream last night that wasn't exactly a nightmare.


*Spoiler* for _My Dream_: 



My friends (At least they were in the dream) and I were being chased by a *humongus* dinosaur. At this point it was a nightmare, but we defeated it by making run into a walk-in closet which somehow had a botomless pit inside. o.O

But then I had a sense of "Okay.... Now what?" I just stood there for a minute, then thought, "Wait, what am I afraid of? That thing can't hurt me because this is just a dream!" I was lucid. I decided I was going to face my fear, so I tried conjuring up the dinosaur again. But it didn't work. I tried again and again. Finally I tried so hard that there were flashes of light, and the dream shook. I didn't see anything, but something felt different. I walked into the closet and looked into the pit to see a flight of stairs that was in a sqare pattern, like they always are in tall buildings. I heard footsteps as something walked on the floor directly below me towards the bottom of the staircase. But it didn't sound like the dinosaur. It was a person's footsteps. I considered going down the staircase, but a feeling in my gut told me it wasn't a good idea... Just then, the footsteps got louder and deeper, and the dinosaur came into view, walking up the stairs. It was only about 10 feet away, and I lost lucidity out of shock and fright. Luckily it wasn't facing me because of the square shaped staircase, and couldn't see me. But it obviously knew where we were. I ran back into the room and said "We have to go. *Now.*"

This time, it wasn't a nightmare. Sure it was scary, but I kept my head, and lead my group of friends, who were freaking out. It was like a strategy game now. We were always a few rooms ahead of the dinosaur, but I always had to find us a hiding spot before enough time passed and the dinosaur (Who was faster than us) came bursting into the room. The dinosaur always found our hiding place, but we managed to keep escaping.

Eventually we found a car and put a mile's distance between us and the dinosaur before it broke down. But somehow, it still knew where we were. "Of course!" one of my friends said. "The dinosaur has our scent!" He then proceeded to tell us that the only things that could mess with this particular dinosaur's sense of smell were jalepeno peppers, candy, and chlorine. Luckily there was a life sized gingerbread house ahead so we ducked inside. Then the dinosaur busted in. It was right next to us, but couldn't see us at all. At this point I lost my sense of fear and remembered that this was a dream. Furious at the monster, I beat it's face in.


Kinda long, but it's a good read.

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## Hidden

> Perhaps an emotional trigger.
> I'm rarely fightened by dreams that involve me being killed or injured etc.  But the second my dream involves someone or something I love in a negative way, it triggers a deeper anxiety which makes it a nightmare.



Yeah, same here.  Nightmares also tend to be more possible than real dreams for me.

I somewhat enjoy scary dreams.  It's like going on a roller coaster.  :boogie: 
I'm not sure about being chased by a dinosaur though...  better than bees I guess.

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## Mini Man56

> I'm not sure about being chased by a dinosaur though...  better than bees I guess.



How are bees worse than a dinosaur? xD

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## Hidden

> How are bees worse than a dinosaur? xD



Dinosaurs are extinct.  :smiley:   I'm _terrified_ of bees.  Probably since I've never been stung by one before, so I don't know how much it hurts or if I'm allergic (my dad is).  I've considered getting an allergy test just so I can honestly tell myself that there's nothing to be afraid of.  Hmm...  I'm not sure which is worse, bees or big hairy spiders.

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## Mini Man56

Big hairy spiders > radioactive dinosaur-bee mutants

At least in my opinion. I'm a slight arachnaphobe...

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## Hidden

xD A _slight_ arachnaphobe?  Are you talking "normal" sized big hairy spiders (like hand-sized), or REALLY big ones (like 10 feet tall)?  I'm a huge arachnaphobe (and I don't know how to spell it).  Even with little ones; "Mooooooomm, there's a big scary spider come save me!!!"  Yeah, I know I'm wimpy.  I'm not big on bugs in general.

What I don't get is people being afraid of worms.  I can see not wanting to pick them up or touch them, but to me they aren't run-away-screaming material.

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## Mini Man56

> xD A _slight_ arachnaphobe?  Are you talking "normal" sized big hairy spiders (like hand-sized), or REALLY big ones (like 10 feet tall)?  I'm a huge arachnaphobe (and I don't know how to spell it).  Even with little ones.



I meant like, 10 feet tall ones.  :tongue2: 
But I'd take bees over normal spiders any day...

Ya know, I bet they could spiders for war... I mean, what would you do if you walked outside and saw millions of big hairy spiders (the "normal" kind  :tongue2: ) coming down on parachutes? The whole city would freak out!

I should try that in a dream sometime...

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## Hidden

Lol, I would run away screaming.  "Spider warfare"...

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## 12g951ad

dudes spiders = not scary mutant radioactive half spider dinosaurus = weird but not scary   


THE SHIT THATS FLYING INSIDE MY BRAIN = EXTREMELY SCARY AND MENTALLY KILLING
ME HELP!!!!!!!!

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## Lëzen

Don't even get me started on spiders...

Anyway, there _is_ a difference between a "scary dream" (which falls into the same category as "bad dream") and a nightmare.

With scary/bad dreams, you dream about something disturbing or, of course, scary. These may or may not wake you up - if they do, you tend to just shrug it off with a "well, what an unpleasant dream" and go right back to sleep.

Nightmares, though, by very definition, are accompanied by severe emotional distress - they almost always wake you up...if not screaming, then crying. You're likely unable to go back to sleep afterward and may even dwell on the dream - or the emotion it invokes - for hours.

Luckily for me, I never really have nightmares. Plenty of bad/scary dreams, but nothing that keeps me awake at night.

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## Hidden

> Don't even get me started on spiders...
> 
> Anyway, there _is_ a difference between a "scary dream" (which falls into the same category as "bad dream") and a nightmare.
> 
> With scary/bad dreams, you dream about something disturbing or, of course, scary. These may or may not wake you up - if they do, you tend to just shrug it off with a "well, what an unpleasant dream" and go right back to sleep.
> 
> Nightmares, though, by very definition, are accompanied by severe emotional distress - they almost always wake you up...if not screaming, then crying. You're likely unable to go back to sleep afterward and may even dwell on the dream - or the emotion it invokes - for hours.
> 
> Luckily for me, I never really have nightmares. Plenty of bad/scary dreams, but nothing that keeps me awake at night.



Good definition, thanks.  :wink2:

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