Thread: Inducing Nightmares

Sooo, I was wondering today if it is possible to induce Nightmares and how? This may seem like an odd question, but I need to do it. For the last six months I've been steadily working on a book tied into the world of Dreaming and Spirituality. Now I've reached the point where Nightmare material has run a bit thin and I must have more.

Today I awoke from a decently vivid Dream that bordered on a Nightmare, and instantly got multiple ideas from it. This is something of a problem though because I don't have Nightmares very often. It's actually kinda rare for me. I believe I've had more Lucid Dreams in the past few years than I have had Nightmares. I'm going to try all the usual things, like Dream incubation, and force bad thoughts into my head in hopes of either having a Nightmare or becoming Lucid so that I may try a Lucid Nightmare.

I think this may have been brought on by a particular character I've been writing more heavily for the past couple of days.
I've been putting myself into a Demons mindset and now that I think about it, this may have been the influence. This would explain why my Dream bordered on a Nightmare and was kinda like a Hollywood chase scene, entertaining.

Thanks for reading, and any feedback you have.

Just spawn a zombie or demon in your lucid dream. I used to have a habit of doing this...

I never had a nightmare since I was little

Work on incubation, but all nightmares are created from an attention spiral. The more attention you give something in a dream, the more related detail it creates. Something scary or dangerous is naturally going to draw more of your attention than anything else in the dream, and this will cause that nightmare element to grow. As it grows, it sucks up even more of your attention, causing it to grow some more. A vicious circle, spiraling out of control.

But the most important element is the fear and panic. Strong emotions are like nitrous oxide for whatever you happen to be pouring your attention into. Without the fear and panic, you just have a dream with nightmarish content.

At some point, my nightmares just stopped completely after practicing lucid dreaming for awhile. I still have lots of nightmarish content, but it just doesn't have the emotional power over me anymore. If anything, I find them fun. I guess if I wanted to create a nightmare, I could fake the fear.

Thank you Cusp for your input. I figured Dream incubation would be the most likely answer to this scenario, but I have some problems with nightmarish content in my non lucids, they don't stick around. Ever since I posted this I have been trying every night to induce Darker Dreams, and I've had mild success.

Two nights ago I Dreamed about Zombies, but I never saw any. I could only hear them following me as I moved through the building I was in. Then last night something tried to attack and intimidate me, but I backed it up against a wall and got in its face, telling it there was nothing it could do to me because I was too fast for it. Which was true because he was trying to punch and kick me while I was saying it, but I blocked every attack without even looking at the limb delivering the blows. Before I had a chance to hit it, it melted into the wall behind it and disappeared.

I think I may have to be Lucid and provoke my subconscious to attack me in order to achieve the level of material I need. This is going to be quite a challenge... I would certainly like to hear from anyone who has actually had a lucid nightmare, and of course anyone who has purposely delved into that part of the psyche while Dreaming.