How to Analyze Your Nightmares

Like dreams, nightmares continue to be a frightening mystery to many. They terrify some people into trying to stay awake and others into drugging themselves into unconsciousness. However, some believe that by analyzing nightmares we can take away their power over us and start us on a journey of recovery and maybe even to happier dreams.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A description or dream diary of the nightmares you want to understand
• A computer with access to the Internet
• Paper
• Pens or pencils

1. Understand the difference between a nightmare and a night terror. People who experience night terrors are typically locked in a grip of fear that cannot be easily released. The situations within them are often very extreme. They may have experienced their own death or some form of extreme pain or torture. Or they may fear their own death is imminent. Night terrors generally happen with children between the ages of 4 and 7. However, some adults experience them as well. Although the individual who experiences the night terror may forget the details of the dream within a few minutes of waking, one thing is always constant. That is a deep, abiding fear and the fear will not easily go away.

2. Understand what nightmares can accomplish. First of all, nightmares can help us to heal situations in our lives. Many scientists who study dreams believe that nightmares often serve a valuable purpose. They help us to get rid of those things that hold us hostage, stop us from progressing, and allow us to chase away the last vestiges of fear and doubt. Nightmares are often obsessions that we can’t handle during the day for some reason. However, for some reason we believe we can turn the situation over to our subconscious mind for proper resolution. Recurring nightmares often indicate something that we must face over and over again. Some believe it could even represent various past life incarnations and the situations that we have so far failed to work through. Nightmares can also help us to confront our fears in the only way that we feel we can. Perhaps the conscious mind cannot face them for some reason or perhaps it can face the fears but can't come up with a workable answer. Nightmares also often serve as a warning. Some believe that loved ones that have passed over sometimes use nightmares as a means to warn us about events that are about to turn our lives upside down. Others think that we pick up on our own internal intuition to “suspect” that something is about to happen. The mind then translates that into a nightmare in hopes of allowing us to work through the issue before it occurs. Finally, nightmares can give us a mechanism to take control of a situation that plagues us in our waking life. By working through the nightmare in our dreams we are able to come up with a workable solution to handle the problem in real life.

3. Understand some of the most common nightmare themes. These include, but aren’t limited to abandonment issues may represent a fear of being left behind or a fear of your ability to meet a commitment; nightmares about abduction often means that you fear being pressured into something you don’t want to do; nightmares of an auto accident are often literal, acting as an warning to take extra care; dream arguments can represent a fear of a relationship--the problem could be abusive, emotional, mental or just a general lack of trust in that person; nightmare attacks might signify a fear of being attacked in real life, emotionally or physically and may also represent a fear of being vulnerable; if you are bleeding in your nightmare, it could mean that you fear the of loss of power or love; fear of a break-in is often your subconscious mind telling your conscious mind that you are not taking enough precautions; being caged in your nightmare represents a fear of being stripped of all of your personal power or strength; if your nightmare features coffins, it could be that you are feeling locked in or confined in some way; nightmares in which you see your significant other committing adultery represent your fears of abandonment; nightmares of your own death don’t necessarily mean that you are about to die--they could represent a major change you are undertaking; dark nightmares mean that you fear something is being hidden from you--it can be an omen that your spouse may be cheating or involved in something else with sinister connotations; dreaming about the devil can be scary, but it isn’t always a sign of impending doom; a nightmare featuring drought can represent the drying up of emotion or that a life is about to be taken away from you; drowning represents a fear of something of which you are unable to let go; falling in a nightmare usually represents a fear of failure; a nightmare about being on fire may simply signify an unrequited passion yet to be expressed; a nightmare in which you see your own grave may indicate death, but not necessarily in the literal sense--it could mean the death of a relationship, a job or something else formerly important to you.

4. Continue to study the themes behind nightmares. Nightmares about earthquakes, hurricanes or tornadoes may symbolize some torment you are going through in your life. In particular, it could refer to something with which you have very little control. If you get lost in a fog or mist in your nightmare, it could be that you are uncertain about a recent decision that you made. Dreams of illness could indicate there is something wrong in your body. Your subconscious mind may be trying to warn your conscious mind of the threat. Quicksand serves as a warning that you need to be careful where your life is going. Your subconscious mind is telegraphing uncertainty to the conscious mind. Nightmares in which you are being sacrificed symbolizes that you have let go of something that is important to you in order to support another. Shadows in nightmares tell you that you need to take a look at the parts of yourself that you try to keep hidden. Perhaps they need to be examined and dealt with or maybe they need to be brought into the light of day. Nightmares about snakes, oddly enough, are not necessarily bad. While they can indicate a fear of something bad or evil, they can also represent the positive aspects of wisdom and healing. The key to examine in these nightmares is how the snakes are being used. Spiders are another common nightmare symbol. However, for many, the weaving that spiders do has more to do with positive things in life than negative. Pay close attention to dreams about suffocation. They indicate there is likely a problem with the way that you sleep. Something may be impairing your breathing at night. Nightmares of suicide may reflect your conscious life like the loss of a marriage, some kind of personal transition or a spiritual change. Losing your teeth in a nightmare reflects your fear of losing your control or “bite” on something that is important in your life. It could represent your career, your marriage or anything else which you hold dear. Nightmares of vampires reflect the feeling that something is draining the life from you. It could be your boss and all the extra hours he wants you to work. It could be friends that take but don’t give. Or it could be your inability to say no when asked to do things in the various aspects of your life. Nightmares of war may be literal interpretations of a past life experience.

5. In order to analyze your nightmares, you must first remember them. That can be more difficult that you think. The best way to hold on to them is to record them the minute you wake up. Keep a pad and paper--or better yet, a dream diary--by your bed so that you have it ready to record your dreams right away upon waking. Another way to remember dreams is through regular meditation and/or self-hypnosis. The practice can help you tap into nightmare memories that might otherwise be forever lost.

6. To detail your nightmares further, ask yourself questions aimed at rounding out your dream memories. What feeling did the nightmare illicit? Feelings of fear could relate directly to what happened in the dream. However, if that is the case, they will generally dissipate quickly after waking up. It the fear remains constant, then it relates to something else that is going on in your life and you will have to get to the bottom of that issue. Feelings of dread could indicate that you are being asked to do something in your life that you don't want to do. It could be work related or have something to do with your personal life, like having surgery, deciding whether or not to have children, moving or something else. Until you get to the root of the problem, the dread will continue. Feelings of panic could indicate that you have uncertainty in your life, have to make a decision you don't want to make, or take a step you don't want to take. Uneasiness may indicate that you think something is going on that you don't know about or that you have someone in your life that you don't trust. Feelings of any kind that linger long after the dream is over mean something so you have to get at the problem itself.

7. If the central theme of your nightmare is clear, then determine what it might mean to your life. For example, if you know that your central theme dealt with falling, then examine at what you are afraid of failing. Discover that and you are well on the way to analyzing your dream.

8. If the symbols in your nightmares are clear, then determine how they relate to your life. For example, if you were on fire in your dream, determine if there is a passion that you are not yet realizing. It could be physical but it could also be emotional.

9. Determine if there are symbols or themes that constantly recur in your nightmare. Anything that continues to recur in your dreams definitely means something that is important to your life. It cannot and should not be ignored.

10. Where did the nightmare take place and does that location have any significant meaning for you? If the place your nightmare occurs is obvious or memorable, there is reason behind it. For example, if your nightmares continue to happen in a place that you are uncomfortable, that says one thing. If, on the other hand, your nightmares occur in a place where you normally feel safe means something altogether different. Therefore, the place could have major significance to analyze the dream.

11. Determine if colors were prominent in the nightmare, and if so, what they were. Nightmares that take place in dark colors could indicate fear or uncertainty. The darker the color, the deeper the problem.

12. Determine if smells played an important part in the nightmare? If so, what were they and what to they mean to you personally? They provide yet another important clue.

13. If after working your way through all of the Steps above you are still lost with regard to your nightmares, it might be time to contact someone with specific expertise in the area. If the dreams aren't scaring you that much or keeping your awake, perhaps you can ignore them. On the other hand, if they are interrupting your life, it is best to try to deal with them. Contact your physician for an appropriate referral.

Tips & Warnings

• Write down anything and everything you can remember about your nightmare. It will be virtually impossible to analyze a partial or incomplete dream.
• Be honest about your nightmares. Glossing over something or trying to ignore it won't help you find the answers you seek.
• As is the case with dreams, you can't nightmares literally. Rarely are they meant that way.
• Don't ignore night terrors. They can impact your life in the long term.

[roxann70]

on 11/5/2008 i recently lost my dad and i continue to have these horrible nightmares about several different things such as,being in the casket with him,driving down the road with him,his body being dead but walking around ect. please help me to understand this. CANT SLEEP!!

[bizewriter]

on 3/19/2008 Very good! Once I learned that nightmares were a way for my brain to work issues out, I became far less concerned about them and they even diminished to a degree. My understanding is that repeated nightmares, esp. with PTSD,may benefit from therapy but that conventional sleep aids do little to help.