Dreams generally fit in two major categories: compensatory and non compensatory. Compensatory dreams in general are a "psyche's self-regulatory [mechanism]....which corrects and compensates the ... one-sidedness of our conscious life ... to form a totality, which is the self."  In other words, these dreams work to signal the dreamer that they may be experiencing an episode of mental imbalance so that the dreamer can take proper actions to rectify this problem.  As Mary Ann Mattoon (year) exemplified in Understanding Dreams; just as pain signals a malfunction within the human body, compensatory dreams signals a mental imbalance that the dreamer is needed to be aware of. Non-compensatory dreams on the other hand, function much less in helping the dreamer curing his or her problems. Rather, it can functions as more anticipatory, which foreshadows future events that can unlikely be changed. Also, non-compensatory dreams can simply be a reflection of stress and suffering that the dreamer may be experiencing. For example: an individual may have been in a car accident and is being treated for major trauma and injury.   Because of this, he or she may have a recurring dream which refuses to dissipate until the dreamer is no long in this painful situation. Mattoon suggests that non compensatory dreams are rare and should only take into consideration after finding no evidence of compensatory. For further information regarding to this topic, please refer to the following links.

compensatory related:

evaluating compensatory dreams

non compensatory related:

types of non compensatory dreams