Yes it's very much an individual experience with many functions and variables. Here's some (see summary [1]); Functional threat modelling for templating past e

Yes it's very much an individual experience with many functions and variables. Here's some (see summary [1]); Functional threat modelling for templating past events onto avoiding future harms, Valli,Revonsuo et al (Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku) "The threat simulation theory of dreaming (TST) () states that dream consciousness is essentially an ancient biological defence mechanism, evolutionarily selected for its capacity to repeatedly simulate threatening events." Integration and consolidation of past events. Physiology and psychology of dreams, Alan S Eiser (Department of Neurology, University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center Ann Arbor) "... direct and systematic investigation could be made of such topics as the occurrence, qualities, recollection, and childhood development of dreaming...neurobiological research, including lesion and brain imaging studies, have established a clearer view of the functional neuroanatomy of REM sleep and dreaming." Processing difficult, complicated, unsettling thoughts. Affect integration in dreams and dreaming, Gary Grenell (Faculty, Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, USA) "The processes by which dreaming aids in the ongoing integration of affects into the mind are approached here from complementary psychoanalytic and nonpsychoanalytic perspectives. One relevant notion is that the dream provides a psychological space wherein overwhelming, contradictory, or highly complex affects that under waking conditions are subject to dissociation, splitting, or disavowal may be brought together for observation by the dreaming ego." [1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-newzzz/201502/why-do-we-dream https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-newzzz/201502/...