Research, in context.
Read the evidence behind the articles. Each source is linked to the statements it supports, with a clear account of what it cannot establish.
74 sources · 25 in-depth guides
Original research & official guidanceNo matching source.
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Morgenthaler et al. (2018): AASM Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Nightmares guide
Adult diagnostic context and 2018 treatment position; individual assessment remains necessary.
NHS (reviewed November 2025): Night terrors and nightmares
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Nightmares guide
Distinguishing experiences and seeking help for persistent sleep and daytime impact.
In the Recurring dreams guide
Official nightmare guidance.
In the Falling guide
Official nightmare guidance.
In the Someone you miss guide
Official nightmare guidance.
In the Death guide
When repeated nightmares affect sleep and daily life, seek clinical advice about those effects.
In the Snakes guide
Official nightmare guidance.
In the Spiders guide
Official advice to seek help for regular nightmares affecting sleep and daily life.
In the Dogs guide
Official guidance on recurring nightmares affecting sleep and daily life; no animal-specific diagnosis or interpretation.
In the Cats guide
Official guidance on recurring nightmares affecting sleep and daily life; no animal-specific diagnosis or interpretation.
In the House guide
Official nightmare guidance.
In the Being chased guide
Official nightmare guidance.
Robert and Zadra (2014): Thematic and Content Analysis of Idiopathic Nightmares and Bad Dreams
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Nightmares guide
Descriptive evidence of varied nightmare emotions; not individual symbolic decoding.
Kunze et al. (2017): Efficacy of imagery rescripting and imaginal exposure for nightmares
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Nightmares guide
Randomised waiting-list comparison, predominantly idiopathic nightmares; no universal treatment guarantee.
Provini et al. (2025): World Sleep Society endorsement of the AASM nightmare-disorder position paper
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Nightmares guide
Section 3.1 retains support for imagery rehearsal and a tentative position on lucid dreaming therapy; individual care still requires assessment.
In the Recurring dreams guide
Section 3.1 retains support for imagery rehearsal and a tentative position on lucid dreaming therapy; individual care still requires assessment.
In the Lucid dreams guide
Section 3.1 retains support for imagery rehearsal and a tentative position on lucid dreaming therapy; individual care still requires assessment.
Schnurr et al. (2024): Synopsis of the 2023 VA/DoD PTSD and acute stress disorder guideline
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Nightmares guide
Recommendation 33 finds insufficient evidence for or against imagery rehearsal for PTSD-associated nightmares. This is a PTSD guideline, not a conclusion about every nightmare.
In the Recurring dreams guide
Recommendation 33 finds insufficient evidence for or against imagery rehearsal for PTSD-associated nightmares. This is a PTSD guideline, not a conclusion about every nightmare.
NHS: Sleep paralysis
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
Current clinical description and support indications; reviewed September 2026.
In the Lucid dreams guide
Official explanation of paralysis at sleep transitions and when recurring distress or tiredness warrants advice.
In the Unable to run guide
Waking-boundary immobility and support indications; not diagnosis from a running scene.
In the Unable to speak guide
Sleep-boundary immobility, speech difficulty and indications for support.
In the Being chased guide
Inability to move or speak at sleep transitions; differs from merely feeling slow inside a dream.
Mainieri et al. (2021): Are sleep paralysis and false awakenings different from REM sleep and from lucid REM sleep?
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
Five captured sleep-paralysis episodes; small selected sample and limited generalisation.
In the False awakenings guide
Two recorded false awakenings in a small selected physiological study; limited generalisability.
Cheyne et al. (1999): Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations during sleep paralysis
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
Reported perceptions and proposed explanatory models; not external verification or settled individual mechanisms.
Sharpless and Barber (2011): Lifetime prevalence rates of sleep paralysis: a systematic review
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
Pooled lifetime estimates vary by sample; not individual prediction or current universal prevalence.
Denis et al. (2015): A twin and molecular genetics study of sleep paralysis and associated factors
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
Questionnaire associations and exploratory genetics in young adult twins and siblings; not personal causation.
NHLBI: Healthy Sleep Habits
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
General sleep support; no guarantee of preventing sleep paralysis.
In the Lucid dreams guide
Official advice on sufficient sleep and regular timing; does not promise changes to dream content.
In the Examination guide
General sleep scheduling and preparation guidance; no examination-dream induction claim.
NHS: Symptoms of a stroke
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Sleep paralysis guide
Urgent assessment of sudden stroke-like symptoms, including when noticed after waking or when symptoms improve; distinct from a typical brief sleep-boundary episode.
In the Unable to run guide
Urgent response to sudden actual waking symptoms, not dream imagery.
In the Unable to speak guide
Urgent response to sudden actual waking symptoms, not dream imagery.
Weinstein, Campbell & Vansteenkiste (2018) — Linking Psychological Need Experiences to Daily and Recurring Dreams
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Recurring dreams guide
A 200-person retrospective study and 110-person diary study identify associations, not an individual cause or a universal meaning.
Gauchat et al. (2009) — Recurrent Dreams and Psychosocial Adjustment in Preteenaged Children
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Recurring dreams guide
Self-report study of 168 eleven-year-olds with mixed findings; age-specific group results cannot diagnose an individual.
Morgenthaler et al. (2018) — AASM Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Recurring dreams guide
Adult nightmare assessment and treatment guidance.
NIMH — Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Recurring dreams guide
Official information places trauma-related dreams within a broader clinical assessment rather than a stand-alone diagnosis.
Voss et al. (2013): Measuring consciousness in dreams: The lucidity and consciousness in dreams scale
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
Questionnaire-validation research distinguishes insight, control and realism; it is not a clinical diagnostic test.
In the Flying guide
Insight and control are distinct dimensions in the LuCiD scale; a non-representative research sample, not a test based on a flying image.
LaBerge et al. (1981) — Lucid Dreaming Verified by Volitional Communication During REM Sleep
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
Five selected participants were studied; four produced verified REM-sleep signals. This was a laboratory demonstration, not a population or safety study.
Konkoly et al. (2021): Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
Four-laboratory proof of concept: 29 correct responses from six of 36 participants across 158 attempts; most attempts had no response. Not continuous communication or mind-reading.
In the Flying guide
Lucid awareness and successful communication in some laboratory participants. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026.
In the Unable to speak guide
Selected laboratory responses through eye and facial signals; not normal speech or a cause of dream speechlessness.
Mallett et al. (2022) — Benefits and Concerns of Seeking and Experiencing Lucid Dreams
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
400 self-selected forum posts screened; 174 contained included themes. Describes reported experiences, not population risks or causal effects.
Adventure-Heart (2020) — Findings From the International Lucid Dream Induction Study
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
Short self-report study with 355 completers, substantial attrition and health-related exclusions; limited safety and generalisability conclusions.
Spoormaker & van den Bout (2006) — Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Pilot Study
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
Journal abstract and separate 2005 thesis chapter inspected; complete 2006 journal version unavailable. A small multicomponent pilot, not proof that lucidity itself treats nightmares.
AASM (2018) — Position paper on treatment options for nightmare disorder in adults
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Lucid dreams guide
Official summary of the 2018 position paper: imagery rehearsal therapy was recommended; lucid dreaming therapy was listed as “may be used” for nightmare disorder. These categories do not establish that lucidity is necessary or guarantee individual benefit.
Buzzi (2011): False awakenings in light of the dream protoconsciousness theory
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the False awakenings guide
Self-selected lucid-dreamer survey; descriptive experiences, not general prevalence or validated cause.
NHLBI: Sleep Phases and Stages
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the False awakenings guide
General cycles and recorded sleep-stage classification, not a false-awakening cause.
In the Unable to run guide
General REM physiology, not proof of why a particular dream movement fails.
In the Unable to speak guide
General REM muscle physiology; no individual motif explanation.
Rozen & Soffer-Dudek (2018): Dreams of Teeth Falling Out: An Empirical Investigation of Physiological and Psychological Correlates
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Teeth guide
Preliminary self-report association with morning dental tension; not a causal or diagnostic test. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01812.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research: Bruxism (reviewed March 2025)
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Teeth guide
Official information about bruxism symptoms and clinical assessment; does not interpret dreams.
Wamsley et al. (2010). Dreaming of a Learning Task is Associated with Enhanced Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation. Current Biology, 20, 850–855.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Teeth guide
Task-related dream fragments in a laboratory study; not an investigation of teeth dreams. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.027.
In the Flying guide
Related dream fragments after learning; indirect context only. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.027.
In the Dogs guide
Maze-task experiment with fragmentary related reports; general memory evidence, not a dog study.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research: TMD (Temporomandibular Disorders)
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Teeth guide
Jaw pain can have different causes and requires assessment rather than dream-based diagnosis.
Morewedge & Norton (2009) — When Dreaming Is Believing
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Teeth guide
Existing beliefs influenced attributed meaning in six studies. DOI: 10.1037/a0013264.
In the House guide
Experiments on motivated interpretation and subsequent judgements, not evidence that dream scenarios reveal external facts.
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: Odd behaviour at night (Parasomnia)
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Falling guide
Sleep-start timing, accompanying sensations, and the importance of describing physical night-time events.
In the Unable to run guide
Assessment of actual movements, timing and recollection; a dream story alone does not establish physical behaviour during sleep.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Myoclonus
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Falling guide
Physiological sleep starts and the broader meaning of myoclonus; not a diagnosis of a remembered fall.
NICHD (2019): What happens during sleep?
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Falling guide
Dreams can occur in REM and non-REM sleep.
Schredl (2011): Frequency and nature of flying dreams in a long dream series
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Flying guide
Detailed descriptions from one person's dream diary; limited generalizability.
Picard-Deland and colleagues (2020): Flying dreams stimulated by an immersive virtual reality task
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Flying guide
Partial original Participants, Results and Discussion excerpts plus abstract; complete methods/tables unavailable. VR-flight influence in selected young adults, not predictable individual induction.
Erlacher et al. (2014): Time for actions in lucid dreams: effects of task modality, length, and complexity
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Unable to run guide
Small lucid-dream timing experiments; not a universal dream-speed rule or direct study of failed escape.
Noreika et al. (2020): Modulating dream experience: Noninvasive brain stimulation over the sensorimotor cortex reduces dream movement
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Unable to run guide
Laboratory stimulation and reported dream movement; no individual decoding or established self-treatment.
Wright et al. (2014): The impact of dreams of the deceased on bereavement
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Someone you miss guide
Survey of bereaved respondents and perceived effects; cannot prove causation, communication or an individual recovery timetable.
In the Death guide
Bereaved respondents' reports and perceived effects; not evidence of communication or causal healing.
Black et al. (2021; online 2020) — Comforting Versus Distressing Dreams of the Deceased: Relations to Grief, Trauma, Attachment, Continuing Bonds, and Post-Dream Reactions
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Someone you miss guide
Partner-bereavement reports and questionnaires; proposed functions remain observational interpretations, not demonstrated treatment effects.
NHS: Grief after bereavement or loss
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Someone you miss guide
Practical support for coping with loss, including when sleep disruption is not the main difficulty.
In the Death guide
Varied grief responses and access to support; not a dream-based assessment.
Schredl (2010): Nightmare frequency and nightmare topics in a representative German sample
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Death guide
Original abstract only. Descriptive nightmare-topic survey; not evidence about all death dreams, individual causes or prediction.
Schredl and Wood (2021). Partners and Ex-Partners in Dreams: A Diary Study.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Former partner guide
Mostly student diary sample; describes encounters, not reunion preferences or another person's thoughts.
Schredl et al. (2020). Partners and ex-partners in dreams: An online survey.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Former partner guide
Retrospective 12-month estimates using broad dreamed-partner definitions; not directly comparable with a prospective dream count.
Schredl (2018). Reminiscences of love: Former romantic partners in dreams.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Former partner guide
One long diary; persistence cannot be generalised into a personal explanation.
Selterman et al. (2014). Dreaming of You: Behavior and Emotion in Dreams of Significant Others Predict Subsequent Relational Behavior.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Infidelity guide
Small observational student diary study; dreamer-infidelity and jealousy findings concern later self-reports, not detected affairs or demonstrated causation.
Balch et al. (2025). Relationship and personality factors predict longitudinal changes in dream content.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Infidelity guide
Two-week study of 124 volunteers; support-network analyses used 121. Associations concern named relationships and dream appearances, not inferred affairs.
Morewedge and Norton (2009). When dreaming is believing: The (motivated) interpretation of dreams. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(2), 249–264.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Infidelity guide
Experiments on beliefs and judgments about dream meaning.
In the Cats guide
Original experiments on attributed meaning and judgment; no animal-symbol decoder.
Lara-Carrasco et al. (2013): Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Pregnancy guide
Selected volunteers who had not previously given birth; prospective logs with separate third-trimester groups, not a diagnostic or pregnancy-outcome test.
NHS: Doing a pregnancy test
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Pregnancy guide
Real testing timing and follow-up; dream results have no measured biological marker.
NHS: Tiredness and sleep problems in pregnancy
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Pregnancy guide
Sleep concerns and appropriate professional discussion during actual pregnancy.
De Koninck & Brunette (1991) — Presleep Suggestion Related to a Phobic Object: Successful Manipulation of Reported Dream Affect
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Snakes guide
Original abstract: 24 women in four groups; reported dream emotion after presleep suggestions. Complete methods/results unavailable; no established symbol code or self-treatment protocol.
Hoehl et al. (2017) — Itsy Bitsy Spider: Infants React with Increased Arousal to Spiders and Snakes
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Snakes guide
Two small waking infant experiments with different designs; pupil arousal is not direct fear measurement or evidence about adult dream meanings.
Nielsen et al. (2003). The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students. Dreaming, 13(4), 211–235.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Spiders guide
First-year university students; lifetime checklist with a combined insects-or-spiders item. Not spider-specific prevalence or a nightly dream rate.
Schredl (2013). Animal dreams in a long dream series. International Journal of Dream Research, 6(1), 59–64.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Spiders guide
One man’s self-coded diary; repeated animals of the same species within a dream count once. Descriptive content, not population prevalence or symbolic decoding.
NHS (reviewed 2026). Phobias.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Spiders guide
Official guidance on waking anxiety and life impact; not dream interpretation.
Schredl et al. (2020). Dreaming about Dogs: An Online Survey. Animals, 10(10), 1915.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Dogs guide
Self-selected retrospective survey. Active time was associated with dog-dream estimates; sleeping proximity was inconclusive in the 198-owner model (p=.0704). No causal or individual decoding test.
Schredl (2021). Animals in a long dream series. International Journal of Dream Research, 14(1), 151–155.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Dogs guide
One woman’s self-coded reports: 266 encounters across species in 224 dreams. Observation and interaction are distinct; these are not dog-only or population counts.
Schredl et al. (2021). Dreaming about cats: An online survey. Dreaming, 31(3), 279–288.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Cats guide
Original abstract only; retrospective estimates relating waking cat contact to remembered cat dreams. Complete Methods/Results unavailable; no individual causal or colour-code inference.
Picard-Deland et al. (2023). The memory sources of dreams: serial awakenings across sleep stages and time of night. Sleep, 46(4), zsac292.
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Cats guide
Twenty healthy frequent dream recallers; morning self-identification of possible sources after serial laboratory awakenings. General memory evidence, not verified origins or a cat-specific experiment.
NINDS — Understanding Sleep
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Water guide
Official overview of sleep stages, dreaming and uncertainty about dream function; it does not decode water imagery.
Di Pauli et al. (2018) — Dream Content in Patients With Sleep Apnea
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Water guide
Seventy-six referred patients; morning collection with incomplete dream recall and one blinded content rater. No detected group difference; not a diagnostic test or proof of no breathing influence.
NHLBI — Sleep Apnea Symptoms
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Water guide
Official guidance on observable symptoms and discussing them with a healthcare professional; not a dream-based screening tool.
Fosse et al. (2003) — Dreaming and Episodic Memory: A Functional Dissociation?
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the House guide
Student diaries and participant-rated waking/dream similarities; rare matches under stricter episodic-replay criteria. No house-specific experiment, recovered-memory test or direct neural-replay measurement.
Wong et al. (2025): A dream EEG and mentation database
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Dream recall guide
An initial multi-study database of awakening reports and sleep recordings. Broad experience categories and ambiguous mappings do not establish whole-night dreaming rates or individual recall ability.
Elce et al. (2025): The individual determinants of morning dream recall
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Dream recall guide
Home observations distinguish reported experience from remembered content. Selected healthy adults; associations and diary/retrospective differences do not establish a training effect or sleep-changing prescription.
Eichenlaub et al. (2014): Resting Brain Activity Varies with Dream Recall Frequency Between Subjects
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Dream recall guide
PET comparison of recall-frequency groups; not an individual measure of memory or creativity.
Arnulf et al. (2014): Will students pass a competitive exam that they failed in their dreams?
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Examination guide
Post-exam observational survey with substantial nonresponse and varying analysis subsets. Results and Table 3 do not support applying the abstract's 60.4% to all 719 respondents. No causal training benefit or individual grade forecast.
In the Being late guide
Selected post-exam respondents; lateness is a reported theme. The exploratory lateness/grade comparison was inconclusive (p = .06), not evidence of real-world delays or individual performance prediction.
NHS: Student stress
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Examination guide
Practical stress support and when to seek help; not a dream interpretation source.
Wamsley (2022): Constructive episodic simulation in dreams
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Being late guide
Undergraduate laboratory sample with repeated, mostly sleep-onset reports and next-morning self-identified sources. The 25.7% denominator is content-bearing reports; no forecast accuracy or lateness-specific meaning was tested.
NHLBI: Insomnia Causes and Risk Factors
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Being late guide
Waking worry and clock watching in insomnia; not diagnosis from dream content.
Robert & Zadra (2014): Thematic and Content Analysis of Idiopathic Nightmares and Bad Dreams
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Being chased guide
Prospective diary content comparison: 331 of 572 volunteers supplied analysed nightmares/bad dreams. Awakening distinguished the categories; theme frequencies do not validate individual symbolic or clinical conclusions.
Schredl & Göritz (2018): Nightmare Themes: An Online Study of Most Recent Nightmares and Childhood Nightmares
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Being chased guide
One most-recent nightmare per responding adult, including recalled childhood experiences; retrospective sampling and content coding, not direct observation of children or a diagnosis from pursuit.
Morgenthaler and colleagues (2018): Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults
Link to this sourceWhat this source supports & its limits
In the Being chased guide
Adult nightmare assessment and treatment guidance.