Are dreams of killing someone related to waking-life aggression?

Aggressive interactions are common in dreams, even aggression resulting in the death of a dream character. In different student samples, approximately 20% to 35% of the participants reported having dreamed of killing someone at least once in their lives. In nightmare sufferers, this type of dream was related to elevated waking-life aggression. The present study confirmed this relationship in an unselected student sample (N = 439). The present results indicate that continuity between waking and dreaming can take different forms, that is, the waking emotion is not reflected in a direct way in the dreams but in an exaggerated way. Further studies should look at the content of killing dreams as to whether it is self-defense, an accident, or cold-blooded murder. One might argue that the third category is most strongly associated with waking-life aggressiveness. From a methodological viewpoint, it would be desirable to back up the present findings with dream diary studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
Source: Dreaming - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Source Type: research