Disturbing Dreams

Dreams are said to be a window to our subconscious mind and hence, disturbing dreams or nightmares rake up questions about debris of memories and information that fills up abyss of the subconscious and the conscious mind. Dreams have always been enigma to mankind, remaining an unsolved question goading the scholars and laypersons to solve it. And 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 claim to suffer from dreams that disturb them and almost twice as many kids and teenagers have to face recurring dreams every other night. Though bad dreams cannot be technically labeled as nightmares, 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-hole which gives 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 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 of Disturbing Dreams

• 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. Like 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 situation and your inability to grapple such situation. Though some dreams infused with violence is understood by some people as a warning of an unresolved issues, it 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 professional who has some amount of expertise in this area.

Most of the dream practitioners look for some common dream symbols to analyze the dreams. Symbols in dream like car, tornado, school, telephones, etc. convey an occult desire or emotions. For instance, dreams about you driving in 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 afraid 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 it reflects 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's 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 which could indicate underlying psychological reasons. Therefore, to get to the root of this problem, go to a good psychologist or 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.

Dreams 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.