i'm not really all that religious...
but Buddha once said, "there are no bad dreams"

what do you all think that means?

i think it means that there are some minor psychological/dream issues that could be worked out in dreams. using lucidity to an advantage. waking up from a nightmare only temporarily relieves a problem in a dream. this nightmareing recurring is good evidence that you need to solve your problems. fight fire with fire, and find a way to use lucidity to work out your nightmares.

if your "nightmare" is a dream character for example, stop. shakes hands, hug, befriend it. i'm dead serious it helped me once.