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This investigation examined the proposed relationship between nightmare frequency and ego boundary impairment (Hartmann, 1984) in a sample of female college students. Thirty frequent nightmare sufferers (at least one attack per week) and 30 controls (maximum of one nightmare per year) were compared. In order to measure ego boundary impairment, the Rorschach inkblot test was administered and scored for barrier and penetration responses (Fisher & Cleveland, 1968) and indices of thought disorder (Blatt & Ritzler, 1974). An ego boundary questionnaire developed by Hartmann and colleagues (Hartmann, 1989; Hartmann et al., 1987) was also administered. Although barrier and penetration scores did not discriminate, the frequent-nightmare subjects demonstrated more disordered thinking on the Rorschach (p < .001) and greater boundary impairment on the questionnaire (p < .001), providing empirical support for Hartmann's nightmare hypothesis. The results are discussed within the ramework of psychoanalytic object-relations theory.