Nightmares and Recurring Dreams: What They're Telling You

You wake up with your heart pounding, the dream still right there in front of your eyes. Or for the third month in a row, the same story plays out: a chase, a fall, a loss. Dreams like this scare you and feel like a message. In reality, they're the work of your psyche — something you can understand and work with, no mysticism and no ready-made dream-dictionary answers.

What Nightmares Are and How They Differ from a Scary Dream

A nightmare is a dream that wakes you up and leaves behind strong, unpleasant feelings: fear, anxiety, sadness, anger. What sets it apart from a merely unpleasant dream is the intensity of the experience and the fact that after waking, it's hard to return to a calm state.