When someone talks about dreams the first thing that they say is, was it good or bad. No one ever talks about what was the purpose behind the dream. Creative people tend to have more apprehensive dreams than do other people. Sometimes these intense dreams provide the inspiration for their creative work. Also dreams can occur after intense trauma. We know exactly what on a persons mind after they have experienced trauma and it may be easier to see what is going on. But before we start to wonder why we have these dreams, we must first ask how dreams originate.
The science of dreams talks about how a dream originates in the brain stem and is controlled by two neurotransmitters that turn dreams "on" and "off". To turn a dream "on" the brain uses acetylcholine, and to turn the brain "off" the brain uses norepinephrine and serotonin. Many times when we dream, we tend not to remember most dreams. That is because the chemicals that are in charge to turn a dream "on" and "off" are also the chemicals that are necessary to imprint messages in long-term memory.
Trauma has a great influence on our dreams, escaping from a fire, being raped, or having someone killed next to them. These events are traumatic and the emotions of the dreamer will be effected. When these events occur, the dreamer will develop chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. In most cases the dreamer has repetitive post-traumatic nightmares. In an event of a rape the victim will have dreams of survivor guilt, which is an added element of surviving a rape. The victim asks" " was it him or was it me"? As horrible as traumatic dreams seem, it's just a way that the brain tries to resolve and gradually forget the traumatic event.
Creative people look to their dreams for inspiration for their work. Most dreams that these individuals have are dreams of past experiences that they have experienced. Maya Angelou has had frightening dreams when her writing in going badly.