@ryman You are waking up from nightmares where you are climbing out of a dark hole and you dread going back to sleep because you do not want to experience the nightmare again.

You'll notice that I added your question to the Sleep Health group along with the Mental Health group. I also changed the title of your post so that appropriate members may be able to better recognize the content and then respond. Members like @johnbishop @parus @olivia22819 @contentandwell @mkqq @0616 @lydiaburger @danab @marjou @wa34937 @jal333 have experience with this topic and may be able to help answer your question.

I have also linked a previous discussion related to dreams below. You may want to scroll through to look at previous suggestions.
- Anxiety and Depression Group: Are bad dreams and nightmares a sign of depression and anxiety? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anxiety-9/
- Sleep Health: Sleeping Well During Anxious Times: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sleeping-well-during-anxious-times/

The topics of dreams, nightmares, and sleep can be looked at from a sleep health perspective or medical perspective and they can be looked at as a mental health psychological perspective

I'm wondering if you've considered a sleep study or a therapist to help rule out possible causes of the nightmares and work towards having better sleep?