I keep having night terrors lately (if they can be called that). My personal difference between a nightmare and a night terror has to do with content in addition to severity. I had a few nightmares as a kid that I can recall. Even though I woke up screaming a few times, I wouldn't personally call them night TERRORS.
One example would be a very classic, abstract looking dream, if I were to paint a picture of it. I still remember it quite clearly. I was walking through a town, maybe at night, I'm not sure; everything was gray. The ground was like walking on a chessboard, with large black and white tiles. It was completely abandoned, and very spooky. I wandered around for a while, until I entered a room to my left. I do believe I made a shallow attempt at ballet around this age, so I think I was entering a ballet studio. When I walked through the doors, however, the scenery changed to the center stage of a circus!! Creepy carnival music started playing, and the spotlights all focused in front of me. There was a big, brown bear dancing on a ball and dressed up like a clown. That made me nervous enough, but after a moment, it rolled towards me. Everything got darker, the bear seemed to get bigger and more vicious with each moment. It looked full of hate and malice directed just at me. I heard it roar a classic bear sound, as it lifted its heavy, clawed paw to snuff the life out of me. That time I DID wake up screaming. I was young enough to have both my parents, and they came running. I think they both did; at least Mom did, and her room was on the opposite end of the house! How loud was I?? xD This dream probably explains why I'm so terrified of clowns AND bears. (It doesn't help that I saw a documentary where a poor man's face was ripped off by one...and he SURVIVED without any serious brain damage!! This was years after the dream, though.)
Nightmares, for me, are when scary things are out to get me. Those alone can progress into night terrors, if I'm scared enough, but a few years ago, I learned how to battle bad dreams long before that point. It was actually hilarious; the dream was full of slashers from movies I'd never seen, and this one jerk came at me with a chainsaw! So, what did I do? I grabbed my own chainsaw, and chased all the little buggers away! I woke up laughing, that time, and feeling quite empowered~
My night terrors usually stem from more psychological concerns, not as easy to ward off. I dream about my relationship with my parents and peers and general. There is often a natural disaster that I can't prevent, or other things. Some of them are probably about my feelings of helplessness and lack of control, others about how I wish my parents would love me right, or how I wish I was more appreciated. Sometimes I dream about the consequences of being too selfish; that keeps me in check! I'll try to speak about them to the psychiatrist at some point.
These days, the closest nightmares to become night terrors are about disturbing things; the kind of stuff you might see in Paranormal Activity, or The Conjuring, or The Ring. The Ring scared the bejeebus out of me...I constantly thought I was going to die, for a while, and even had a minor hallucination. I was spooked, and as I went into my room at Dad's house, I stared at the TV, hoping to be reassured just how silly I was being. Then I saw her climbing out of the well, and said "NOPE." I had to do a 'lights off, jump under the covers ASAP' from then on. xD
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