Different types of Dreams

"The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind."-Sigmund Freud

Many experts are of the opinion that dreams are an outlet for our pent up emotions to come out of the dark unconscious and show up in the semi conscious state. Some are also of the view that dreams are just visible manifestations of what we imagine and think about the whole day. Now with all the varying opinions in mind today what we will discuss is the different types of dreams. The area that we have ventured into is blurred, thereby categorizing it would also be difficult but then on the basis of frequency and validity of dreams we would classify them into some categories. This list of classification would not be an exhaustive list since one can claim to differ and come up with a new category, which can also be right because the topic is subjective.

Types of Dreams

There are various dreams and we will try and categorize the dreams on the basis of frequency and content.

Repetitive/ recurring Dreams

In this category of dreams keep on repeating themselves more than once and this is not something that is peculiar to some people, it happens with many of us and it can be categorized onto a subsection called "Message bearing dreams". If one particular dream has been repeating it self from a very young age then probably there is a message hidden in it that you have understand or an aspect of your personality that you are scared to face and are therefore pushing it towards the unconscious. In these kind of cases with the help of a Psychoanalyst you can solve the problem and at times when these are also related to aspects of our personality, after a session with a psychoanalyst people come out as confident individuals with the ability to handle crises.

Message/ Psychic Dreams

Message dreams always are like stories that have something to unravel and reveal and the revelation is done with the help of colors, texture and detailing. It is done so that the subconscious can convey the message to the conscious and it can be worked upon. Experts say that Message dreams are a way to have a peep into the pool of wisdom that every human being is born with. Most of the times we fail to get the message and that is the reason these dreams repeat themselves. Some experts are of the opinion that the unconscious knows that the symbolism that it uses has to be repeated so that the conscious mind can understand it. Therefore some message or psychic dreams are recurrent. Message dreams would always have a particular thing highlighted or emphasized upon. Psychic dreams particularly have a warning or it can also be termed as a process of preparing the mind to face something shocking. People who have a psychic dream wake up restless but they seldom remember the dream as the conscious as usual for the sanity of the mind denies the situation.

Predictive/ Telepathic Dreams

Predictive dreams are the most sensitive of all since it is very difficult to determine the dream that you should take as a warning or foreseeing and the dream that you should plainly dismiss considering it to be a representation of your fear and anxiety. Many are of the opinion that Predictive dreams are a way of information extraction form the brain since we all have a collective base of information and we can derive information from the source if we have enough mental strength which is very rarely found in some people. Have you ever felt that you have already seen the things that are happening then, right at that moment, in fact you have also seen the shirt that the person in front of you is wearing. When these dreams show you banal commonalities there is nothing to worry about but when they show you bigger things that can harm the whole community then that might be something prophetic about it. Telepathic Dreams are also not very uncommon and the best example of a telepathic dream is the vision of the death of a dear one and it happens in the same way. At times people fail to see the faces of people in the dreams that according to me is probably because mind does not have strength enough to face it.

Lucid Dream

These are the dreams over which we can have control since most of the time we see such dreams when we are conscious enough to understand that we are dreaming so Lucid dreams can be used to get the solution of a problem or face a fear that you have or just to have fun. Since the nature of Lucid Dreams is to show something bizarre most of the people when they realize that they are dreaming are astonished into wakefulness, which consequently ends their dream.

Nightmares

These are most negative kind if dreams that leave you weak and frightened. The best way to deal with nightmares is to face them and try to know the reason you are experiencing them. It might be because you have given in to some fear of yours, which is taking a larger shape with days. Most of the time nightmares are result of repressed emotions of childhood. Some people experience nightmares due to some repressed event, which is a scar on their mind, but they feel ashamed to discuss about it. Many abused children are diagnosed when they started experiencing nightmares.

So these are some of categories in which dreams can be classified into, there are many other classifications as well like Release Dreams, Astral Dreams, Aspirational Dreams and others which reflect the various other purposes and contents of the dream.