Consciousness and Identity

I have experienced dreams, or nightmares, in which I was processing traumatic experiences. Sometimes the dream closely resembled the real traumatic experience, and other times it was distorted. Occasionally, I would feel an emotional response being triggered, and other times there was none. However, what intrigues me is that I would regain consciousness in the middle of those dreams, sometimes feeling fear and other times feeling nothing, almost proud of myself for not experiencing disturbing emotions. But each time I became conscious inside the dream or just after, I would consciously dissociate or provide my brain with new input, like telling myself, "Hey, this is just a trauma, and it has no real meaning." Why does this happen? What is the purpose of my mind awakening my conscious mind during these experiences? Is it to open a door to new information or a new narrative in which the trauma is just a trauma without an emotion attached?