Analyzing Dreams and Uncovering the Subconscious Mind : Analyzing Dreams and Uncovering the Subconsc

[cookie]

thanks, tammy

 

[Noone.]

No dreams for me but what about night terrors? Any thoughts on those.

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

Night terrors are a form of a sleep disorder, and are common for people who have been traumatized.

During REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is when we dream and then our body goes into a transition of Non-REM where there is no dreaming. When we are in Non-REM we are not fully asleep. It's possible a body movement such as grinding teeth will cause the individual to be trapped between a wakeful state and sleep state. This creates an emotion, usually fear, which wakes the individual up, but not be totally awake.

Usually a stressful day or week will cause night terrors. I believe that the emotions associated to the trauma is trapped in our body and can be activated randomly or with a body movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror

I hope this was helpful
Tammy

 

[Noone.]

I just wish the nightmares were the same so I knew what to expect, their always trauma and something out of my medical scope of practice. I remember the bad ones because of the complete feeling of helplessness as I awake screaming, I tell my family don't touch me to wake me up and don't stand to close you never know. Whats odd is the trauma is never to myself why?.

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

Hi firehouse, I understand what you mean. My nightmares generally are about the trauma and a few issues going on in my life at the current time. Also, my regular dreams always have a hint of my trauma in them. If I didn't interpret dreams and understand the symbolism I wouldn't have ever known that.

I keep a dream journal and the same symbols show up repeatedly, even in my normal dreams. Playgrounds, Vans, guns, snakes, cloths, food, children ages 3, 5 and 8.

I had a real cool dream about a month ago that was in cartoon, and even though the symbols I saw didn't scare me while dreaming, they started to take my dream in a bad direction. Some how my sister's voice redirected me to look at the positive things going on in the dream.

When I woke, I noticed that the dream was really neat, but when I saw those symbols (Van and Playground) things started coming to life, and I think it's because they are trauma related.

I'm not sure I understand? Are you saying that the trauma is happening to someone else in your dreams and not to you?

No one is allowed to touch me when I sleep either. I had real bad episode when my son was young and shook my shoulder to wake me. I feel so bad for him because he said I pulled a knife on him once when he woke me.
______________________________________________________________

I went to read about your trauma to see if I could figure out what you were saying. I just read that you save lives for a living. Thank you!!!!!!!

I think I understand why the trauma is always happening to others in your dreams. It's because you see the physical and emotional trauma others go through all of the time. As a general rule we dream about the events that happened within the last 24-48 hours. Also, being on call is a trigger for you. It's like you are always on guard just waiting to see a trauma, and that carries over into your dreams.

Take care
Tammy

 

[Noone.]

Thanks for the reply, it's tough how these things work, and yes the trauma never happens to me always to someone else, like this one. I was atop a tall ladder around 30ft or so it was just sticking out of the ground {weird but ok}, and my sister was below asking me to get down. As I looked around I say a huge metal play set with alot of kids and adults playing on it. When I started my desent I heard a loud crash once I got to the ground the play area was destroyed and people were thrown everywhere, as I got closer there was a women holding a small child the look on the womens face was that of pure horrer the child was still, with her eyes wide open as I looked down I say a pile of flesh and cloths the girl had been completely degloved by the collapseing gym set I was horrified there was nothing I could do for this girl, I woke up sweating and screaming what the fxxk where the hell did this come from. I haven't been able to forget this one the smell of flesh and blood was oh so real I could taste it. I told my friend about this one he said I need help, reallyyyyyyy!!!!. Anyways thank for your input Tammy it's appreciated. Ken

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

Hi Ken, after reading your dream I feel another reason your dreams are about other people getting hurt is because you've had to learn to distance yourself from the horror of seeing tragedies. If you don't find a way to distance yourself you would go in sane. This is a normal defense mechanism that a person in your line of work would use.

Being high on the ladder means you see things most people don't. For instance, you can see a huge portion of a city being high on a ladder while the people on the ground would only see a small percentage of the city.

Your sister is a representation of you. She is telling you to get down because in your own mind you know that continuing to see these horrific things will cause more problems in the future.

When you look down that could indicate that you have thought of leaving this job and you envision yourself being carefree and playful (play ground) once again instead of always being on edge.

Once you get the bottom the load crash indicates that you might feel that you failed in your line of work and you want to succeed. Their goes the thought of being carefree. You wonder how you could be happy and carefree if you give up on your job. It's a double edge sword for you. Should I stay or should I go?

I have to wonder if maybe something happened in your childhood that made you want to be a firefighter and save lives? The children in the dream most likely represent your "inner child" Did you have to grow up too fast and didn't get to enjoy your childhood? Maybe always having to take care of siblings or maybe even your parents/care givers. That would be why you feel there is nothing you can do for that mangled child is because you had no control over your childhood.

This may not be the case because I interpreted a dream for a person who does something similar to your line of work and the dreams of children doesn't seem to apply to their "inner child" I think that's because so many children have accidents and we tend to dream about things we fear or desire. Of course, in this case it's things you fear.

I hope that you can overcome these nightmares and night terrors. They seem to take on a life of their own. I used to suffer from them both at least twice a week or more. Now I rarely have them unless something stressful pops up. For instance, my trauma anniversary is December 18th, so I've been dreaming a lot the past month. Most are not nightmares (Thank God), but I don't like the images.

Take care
Tammy

 

[Noone.]

Yes my job is both physically and mentally demanding, I've seen the evil that man can do, all those I lost were out of my hands but they haunt my dreams. Work is an everyday trigger and I don't have to wait long for the next trauma to come along. The hardest part really is not the loss of an adult but the children and I've seen so many pass in front of my eyes it sickens me. People don't call us because they feel good they call when there at their worst and alot of the times there's nothing I can do. Just driving around is a trigger you see the teddy bear by the pole or the flowers neatly placed by the tree I see the four children whose bodies I took out in pieces or the motorcyclist who's head was still in his helmet 100 yards from his body, so it's no wonder I have these dreams when reality is horrifying in itself. I appreciate your insite Tammy it's very helpful and I hope Dec 18th isn't to painfull for you. I would like to post more of these dreams It may help to talk about them maybe. Ken.

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

Hi Ken, I think it's a great idea to post one of these dreams every time you have one. I believe it's theraputic and it releases the tension and fear. Also, if your able to find insight and understand the meaning behind the dreams it helps in two ways. First, you start healing by discussing the dreams. As you heal from discussing these dreams they start slowing down and eventually you will get to the point where these dreams rarely show up.

I can't say this with absolute certainty because everyone's psyche is different and you are dealing with this everyday. But from my experience, and helping other people I've noticed that the dreams slow way down after you ackowledge them and analyze them.

Take care
Tammy

 

[midi]

I just started reading this group now. It's really cool to have a place to talk about dreams.

Ken, I never realized that people only called you when things are bad--I always saw firefighters as heroes who risk their lives, but never actually gave any thought to the traumas that you face frequently. Thanks for opening up about. The dream world can be a scary place which traps us in our traumas.

 

[Noone.]

I drempt of a small boy, alone and quiet in a dark corner, he was tying his shoe over and over again. I sensed there was a problem but yet I said nothing. I pray he is ok and not with his sister whom I was unable to help. Ken.

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

midi, I used to feel the same way. I used to be plauged by nightmares and strange dreams constatnly to the point I thougth I was going insane. Now I rarely have strange dreams or nightmares. If I am extremely stressed out or right now it's about my trauma aniversary (December 18) I have had some bad dreams and a night terror. But in a few weeks that will all dissapear and I will be back to not remembering my dreams and maybe just having one nightmare about every other month. It gets better if you work on them, but it won't happen over night.

Tammy