Weird Dreams - Fighting

[LisawithPTSD]

I'm a woman and had a strange set of nightmares where I had to hit women--just out-and-out rage. Not sure why--I have no trauma or recent experience that it specifically addresses. Physically and emotionally exhausted the whole next day. Raging headache after. The day previous was pretty good. Any dream interpreters out there? Is this anger towards myself? It doesn't feel as such.

 

[franciemarnie]

Here's one theory. You know the dream interpretation where everyone in our dream is some aspect of ourselves? I think it's Gestalt but I could be wrong.

If you had a good day the day previous, could the women you hit be an aspect of you that you are not letting surface and so by hitting them, you are shutting those voices down? Do you tend to have bad days after particularly good ones on average? Could there be a part of you saying you don't deserve to feel good (from trauma - not because you're not a wonderful person) and so you are knocking that idea down over and over? That would be positive.

That's one idea. Dreams are interesting that's for sure.

 

[Seasounds]

Sorry about the exhaustion and headaches. Hope you feel better.

Dreams, a deep subject. In no expert.
Seems like such a good release of anger! Dreams are such a safe place for that. From what I've heard, like stated above, dream could be about anger that you feel towards self, or feel towards others (not liking how you were treated), or it could be an enhancement of how you felt, at some moment.

Sometimes, a person may not even be aware of feeling anger, but their being finds ways to release feelings.
I've had a couple of these type of dreams. Yep, exhausting. Eventually they were insightful. Good luck!

 

[LisawithPTSD]

Thanks Change. I need to dialogue with those anger feelings I guess.

 

[arfie]

I believe in dream solving. Sometimes called, "Sleeping on it." I have had experiences like going to sleep with an electrical design problem on my work plate and waking up with the solution clear in my head. And it works! Typically I wake from dream solving feeling more tired than if I had just worked a double shift. Headaches are not uncommon.

Emotional issues are far more esoteric than circuit board design. How does my psyche translate, "Knock down those memory blocks." "Quit shoulding yourself" "Take ownership of the issue."??? Those are a few of the translations I have given some of what I believe are my emotional healing dreams. All unsubstantiated, of course. My own professionals would rather cure dreams than understand them. Dreams are notoriously hard to describe... My own dreams of this nature seem to come during my peak phases; after good days. I theorate that the process needs good health to work with. Can't deliver across sputtering circuits?

Above all, remember that I am a certified nut... Just sharing my personal chicanery while I hope for you to find your personal clarity. The dreamer is the one with the internal data.

 

[Hashi]

You know the dream interpretation where everyone in our dream is some aspect of ourselves? I think it's Gestalt but I could be wrong.

Yes this is a Gestalt approach, also a Jungian one originally. I do a lot of dream analysis and find it helpful. The "aspect of ourselves" can be a clarification of what's going on with us, bringing our attention to something we're suppressing, or guidance as to what we need to do. (arfie, I love your description of dream solving.)

The golden rule of dreams is that they are nearly always symbolic and not literal. I agree with what people here have written, and think it would be good to include thinking about the women in the dreams, and what they might represent. Do they dress in a certain way, have a certain type of manner, belong to a particular social group, do things, say things etc. If so, what does that make you think of? That might help you identify a particular aspect of yourself that this is about.

Sometimes I have completely anonymous characters in my dreams - no identifying characteristics, no name, no face, no mannerisms - in which case I think I'm probably dealing with a generalised feeling or desire in myself. But I'd think carefully before deciding that's what it is. They have to be a complete blank. If I remember anything about their clothes, gestures, looks etc then I think that means they're symbolising something specific.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

Could there be a part of you saying you don't deserve to feel good (from trauma - not because you're not a wonderful person) and so you are knocking that idea down over and over?

Francie, What an interesting thought. I'll have to ponder this.

My own dreams of this nature seem to come during my peak phases; after good days.

Arfie, this is good to know I'm not alone. Certified nut or not.

it would be good to include thinking about the women in the dreams, and what they might represent

Unfortunately, by the time I felt comfortable enough to ask myself what the h3ll the dreams were about, I had forgotten some important details. They definitely had a characteristic but I can't pinpoint what it is.

I feel as though this thread has healed me in some way, though I don't have any more answers. How that has occurred is now I want the dreams to recur so I can figure them out. I'm not afraid of them anymore. Thank you!

 

[Hashi]

I have to write dreams down straight away. I have a pen with a little light in it so I can record them as soon as I wake up, even if that's in the middle of the night.

I've always found that if I don't listen to or understand a dream and the message in it is still current, I'll get that message again in a different dream, or the same dream again.

 

[Seasounds]

For dream proceesing, to add to all these good ideas, here are some more, that have been helpful to me:

1. After analyzing people, and events in my dreams, I've payed attention to my feelings/responses to the dream. This information has assisted me in the sequential steps, of unfolding the meaning of a dream. It is as if dreams start me on a journey of understanding an aspect of myself, that I have avoided. In participating in the unfoldment, I develop the safety to understand and face what the dream is revealing.
2. Dreams can be messages, for the individual having the dream, and for the culture from which the individual reside, from Jungian and shamanistic traditions.
3. I've been taught of being able to 'incubate' dreams. This has involved exploring the ideas, written (above) by other members-wondering and writing about the dream, and Ive also intentionally lead myself into the imagery of the dream, as I fell asleep.
4. Eventually, the meaning unfolds; I can tell that I've solved to puzzle when the meaning resonates with me and the repetitive, thematic category of dreams comes to an end.
5. While working through traumas, many times my dreams were not symbolic. (That is why I may explore dreams symbolic and literal meanings.) If the dreams were literal, they served to amplify a situation or feelingly, in which I was stuck. The dreams shifted when, in real life, I developed the skills, to resolve the conflict presented in the dream (e,g, if I was physically attacked in the dream, taking a series of self-defense classes helped).

Related to how dreams are messages for the dreamer and their society (#2 above) the theme of your dream, of anger directed towards women, it did resonate with feelings I've had, personally and socially. Personally, women often did not protect me from emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. If they did, they would've created conflict with, and/or would've faced domestic violence from, their husbands.
.
My society is limited, in teaching respect for women. I have a heightened awareness of how this pattern-of not standing up during abusive moments, or that of not valuing women, is repeated. In my personal and work life. I do what I can, to take new actions to support myself and others, in changing.

One of the many reasons I like this forum is that it allows a politically safe venue, for myself and others, to receive and give support.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

Change, these are all great suggestions. This one in particular:

intentionally lead myself into the imagery of the dream, as I fell asleep

should help me to engage with the meaning. I feel these women were about to betray me, tell something intimate about me that wold humiliate me. They could represent both me and my general relationship with other women over the years.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

It's interesting. When I reread me original post in this thread I state "I had to hit them." It was a deep need for protection, a deep anger and worry. I hit them in the face/jaw. A place where I've been hit before. It felt like I needed to hit them there to really shut them up.

There is also a vague memory of thinking of my mother. In interpreting this, I realize how much I hate how what I say often ends up embarrassing me. That I say and do stupid things and humiliate myself. I feel this is a trait I inherited from my mother. It is tied to an early trauma experience where something I did and denied doing as a child led to my public humiliation by a teacher and subsequent ostracization by classmates. It was something that I deeply regret how it affected and hurt others.

This is a continual trauma for me with many triggers associated with it. Perhaps this is where I need to work more.

 

[Seasounds]

Yes, I've been there. i found it helpful to make it a practice to enjoy every word i say, whether anyone , including myself, likes it or not. This is still a task for me. It requires that I really be 'in the moment' and come to my own rescue, pronto!

Sounds like you're letting the dream free your energy. Dreams can be so helpful. Hope you love your every spoken word!:)