Being the victim of an aggressor in nightmares is quite common for most persons, but there are also nightmares where the dream-self can become the offender. Two studies were conducted in two nonclinical samples of participants with frequent nightmares to investigate the so-called offender-nightmares. Study 1 served to assess the frequency of offender-nightmares in persons with frequent nightmares and the motives and actions in these dreams during a 28-day interval, whereas in Study 2, correlations to personality variables were investigated. The results indicate that the occurrence of offender-nightmares is not negligible; about 18% to 28% of the reported nightmares were classified as offender-nightmares. Most of the aggressive acts in these dreams were intentional, and killing a person was the most prominent offender’s act, with self-defense being the most common motive. Persons with offender-nightmares were also found to have been more violent in the past than persons without offender-nightmares and persons without nightmares. In addition, they scored higher in neuroticism and aggression, reported more creative achievements than persons without nightmares, and had more creative achievements than persons without offender-nightmares. The results suggest that offender-nightmares are rather common in people who frequently have nightmares and that these dreams are related to aggressiveness, creativity, and previous violent experiences.

中文翻译：

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罪犯噩梦：两项试点研究。

在噩梦中成为侵略者的受害者对大多数人来说是很常见的，但也有梦境自己可能成为罪犯的噩梦。在两个经常做噩梦的参与者的非临床样本中进行了两项研究，以调查所谓的罪犯噩梦。研究 1 用于评估经常做噩梦的人的犯罪者噩梦的频率以及在 28 天的间隔内这些梦中的动机和行为，而在研究 2 中，研究了与性格变量的相关性。结果表明，犯罪者噩梦的发生不可忽视；大约 18% 到 28% 的报告噩梦被归类为罪犯噩梦。这些梦中的大多数攻击行为都是故意的，杀人是最突出的犯罪行为，自卫是最常见的动机。还发现有犯罪者噩梦的人过去比没有犯罪者噩梦的人和没有噩梦的人更暴力。此外，他们在神经质和攻击性方面得分更高，比没有噩梦的人报告更多的创造性成就，比没有犯罪者噩梦的人有更多的创造性成就。结果表明，罪犯噩梦在经常做噩梦的人中相当普遍，而且这些梦境与攻击性、创造力和以前的暴力经历有关。他们在神经质和攻击性方面得分更高，比没有噩梦的人报告更多的创造性成就，比没有犯罪者噩梦的人有更多的创造性成就。结果表明，罪犯噩梦在经常做噩梦的人中相当普遍，而且这些梦境与攻击性、创造力和以前的暴力经历有关。他们在神经质和攻击性方面得分更高，比没有噩梦的人报告更多的创造性成就，比没有犯罪者噩梦的人有更多的创造性成就。结果表明，罪犯噩梦在经常做噩梦的人中相当普遍，而且这些梦境与攻击性、创造力和以前的暴力经历有关。