Sleep Disorders and Parasomnias: Nightmares

Nightmares are vivid nighttime events that can cause feelings of fear, terror, and/or anxiety. Usually, the person having a nightmare is abruptly awakened from REM sleep and is able to describe detailed dream content. Usually, the person having a nightmare has difficulty returning to sleep. Nightmares can be caused by many factors including illness, anxiety, the loss of a loved one, or negative reactions to a medication. Call your doctor if nightmares occur more often than once a week or if nightmares prevent you from getting a good night's sleep for a prolonged period of time.

From WebMD.com

I often dream and remember. Much of the time, I wouldn't clasify those dreams as happy per say, mostly somewhere in the middle, or weird, or nightmarish. However, I didn't know that nightmares were classified as a sleep disorder. I took them as normal. You dreams are unconscious--how could you control them or "fix" them as if they were a negative diagnosis?

I hold that dreams are made up of your fears and desires, colored by your daily life. If nightmares are negative and require a cure, then the only way to cure a nightmare would be to cure all the negative things that happen to you during your waking life. 

Then again, it is not possible to cure all the negative things that happen to you in your waking life simply because you do not have control over all of these things. In this case, the theory that your dreams are a reaction (and somewhat of a balm) to those things in your waking life that may bother you, then that means that dreams are a cure or a coping measure for those things in your waking life that you cannot handle or do not know what to do with.

There are those who say that when they are working on a complicated problem (let's say a computer code for instance) that they were mulling over it and thinking about it all day, but could not come up with the solution. That night they dream about the code and solving the problem that was stumping them. Then, when they woke up, they solved the problem with ease.

I would rather think that my dreams, whether they be happy or stressful or downright awful, served some purpose for me. I would rather find a usefulness in my dreams. Even if they are difficult, nightmares help me to face those fears during the day, that I have no choice about facing at night while asleep.

Facing ones fears at night in dreams helps one to recognize those fears during the day and face them with more strength than would otherwise be mustered if said fears had not been dreamed of.