Unlike nightmares, disturbing dreams do not cause you to wake up from sleep. Nevertheless, they are not pleasant to deal with. Read this post to get insight into the dream world and understand what do these dreams mean.
Dreams are said to be a window to our subconscious mind. Hence, disturbing dreams or nightmares rake up questions about debris of memories and information, that fill up the abyss of our subconscious and conscious mind. Dreams have always been enigma to mankind, remaining an unsolved question goading the scholars and laypersons to solve it. Hence, it’s not a wonder that dream interpretation became a pet project for many psychologists and spiritual people.
Dream Analysis
One out of every twenty individuals in United States claims to suffer from dreams that disturb them and almost twice as many kids and teenagers have to face recurring dreams. Though a bad dream cannot be technically labeled as a nightmare, it sure does distresses an individual.
In his book Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud answered many unfathomable questions about dreams and their symbolic meaning. He believed that dreams are a kind of spy-holes which give us access to unfulfilled desires, potential or emotions of our subconsciousness. Dreams in a way act as a guardian to our sleep, thus protecting the asleep person from the external stimuli like climate, noise, pain, body stimuli, etc.
Though a dream is significant due to the role it plays, sometimes you cannot but wonder at its importance, especially when you get plagued by bad dreams.
Causes
- Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
- Stress
- Fear or Phobias
- Anger/Rage
- Embarrassment
- Disgust
- Sleep Disorder
- Mental Condition
- Substance Abuse
- Health Problem
What Do Dreams Mean
Some people believe that there are special meaning attached to different types of dreams. For example, dreams of falling from somewhere indicate your real or hidden anxiety about something going on in your life or a feeling of abandonment by someone near you. Whereas other dreams like being trapped, or being pursued by someone mirrors your real life problems and your inability to grapple such a situation. Though some dreams infused with violence are understood by some people as a warning of unresolved issues, they could be much more than that. Interpreting dreams is nothing less than an art, it cannot be achieved by guesswork. So, if you are undergoing a lot of stress due to lucid dreaming that jolts you to the core, then it would be better to visit a therapist who has some expertise in this area.
Most of the dream practitioners look for some common symbols to analyze the dreams. Symbols in dreams like car, tornado, school, telephones, etc. convey an occult desire or emotion. For instance, a dream about you driving a car expresses your wish to escape from a particular situation. Something which is huge in magnitude as a tornado reflects a big or formidable change in your living environment, work or even relationship. Most of the people who complain about troubling dreams often shy away from mentioning that they saw themselves or someone close to them dying or dead. Death dreams are some of the commonest dreams, and does not in any way foretell an impending doom. Death or dead people in your dream just mean that a part of you or a phase in your life is ending and a new chapter has begun in your life. For example, if you see your best friend dead or dying in the dream, do not get alarmed, it means that you two are not what you used to be and your relationship is changing for better or worse.
Each and every person is wary of change and resistance to change is inherent in everybody. If a change as big as pregnancy or childbirth looms over you, then vivid and incoherent dreams become commonplace. Sexual and stressful dreams during pregnancy are a result of various hormonal changes in the body, and they reflect your attempt to come to terms with the reality of life.
As our conscious and subconscious mind tries to make sense of the world we live in, it is not surprising that we often end up dreaming about things that are happening to us or others. Therefore, sex being an integral part of our lives somehow manages to pop up in our dreams. While there is no harm in having such a dream, sometimes the content of sex dreams leaves us perplexed and appalled. Disturbing sexual dreams could contain images of rape, incest, violence, etc. which could indicate underlying psychological reasons. Therefore, to get to the root of this problem, go to a dream expert. While you are there, you might be asked to fill in questionnaires that measures your dreams according to dreams and nightmares severity index.
Get Rid of Bad Dreams
Sometimes even after getting sufficient sleep, you might feel quite haggard and restless. The culprit behind such a feeling could be a bad dream that bothered your subconscious while you were asleep. Most of the time, we dream about things that are a part of our lives. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we end up dreaming about the everyday events. This particularly happens after a long and hectic day where the body as well as mind are stressed. That’s why, to get peaceful sleep and to prevent dreams from troubling you, you need to empty your mind from thoughts that are bothering you.
You can do this through an easy method. First, find a place in your home where no one is likely to disturb you. Just before going to bed, go to your quiet spot and sit there for a while. Switch off the lights and light up a candle or switch on a 10 watt bulb. Sit there and think about your day, your problems and all the thoughts that are troubling you in any way. Just let the thoughts flow of their own accord. Don’t force yourself to think about something. Do this until your stressed out mind feels little relieved and the burden of a hectic day has gone out from your body. Relax completely and then find your bed and go to sleep like a baby.
There can also be other factors that might be affecting your dreams like alcohol or coffee consumption, irregular sleep pattern, watching violence on television before bedtime, etc. You can keep a journal to maintain a log of your sleep patterns and dreams. This will help you understand the link between them.
A dream in no way should be taken literally as messages from your subconscious mind. It should be seen only as loose reflection of the ups and downs of your life, fluctuating emotions, desires, and hopes. Understanding the psychology of dreams could free you from bothering dreams and make you insightful about your feelings and life.