I like to believe that dreams are just manifestations of our subconscious trying to play out whatever it is we may be feeling. Like a person who is running away from their main problems in real life, suddenly having a dream of something obscure chasing them down a narrow hallway. Or someone who is tackling too much work in their lives, having a nightmare in which they are suffocating or drowning in murky waters.
Recurrence or continuity, specifically nightmares, occurs when you continually avoid that thing that you need to tackle in your real life. Continuity happens as a result of mild lucid dreaming, i.e when you gain enough control over the dream to be curious to go deeper into that rabbit hole. Maybe in this dream, instead of running from that masked stranger, you face him, pull him by the trenchcoat and ask him what's his name.
You may think that ignoring problems in life may erase it from your psyche, but it may very well exacerbate your acknowledgment of it. It also may be the very best way that your subconscious can find to make it's message clear since your dreams can't just flat-out talk to you.