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Through psychiatric interviews and psychological tests the authors studied 38 adults who reported experiencing at least one nightmare per week. Nearly all of the subjects had a lifelong history of frequent nightmares. Four of the subjects met DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia, 9 met the criteria for borderline personality, and 6 met the criteria for schizotypal personality. The others had no specific diagnosis, and none of the subjects had a diagnosis of typical neurosis. Many had mentally ill relatives. Most had artistic interests and talents. These nightmare sufferers may be seen as unusually vulnerable, with a potential for mental illness--especially schizophrenia--as well as a potential for artistic achievement.
Hartmann et al. (Mon,) studied this question.