Crazy Nightmares Made Worse By SSRI's

[reallynow]

I always had nightmares, every night since this PTSD stuff began. Not always completely about my specific abuse though, sometimes only about violence or rape etc., but not by the person who did it to me in real life. I don't know if those nightmares count towards PTSD nightmares or are normal nightmares.

Anyway the ones which are specific to my trauma are recently more frequent, probably because of my more frequent triggers lately. However they take on scary contexts, basically embodying my worst fears and worries about the trauma. I think to myself after if I wanted those dreams since I keep dreaming them. I always feel so disgusting and dirty after. Rational mind just gone.

Thats one thing, but as my title implies, the SSRI's I've been taking have made the dreams so much more realistic, and makes me believe even more that I wanted the dream to happen. Anyone have these worries with or without medication interfering? Do all nightmares link to PTSD or just the specific ones?

 

[kris]

I also have experienced more intense vivid dreams after starting on ssri's, and my therapist tells me that dreams are your mind telling you that you need to get something out. You must talk about your trauma, for the dreams to stop you have to talk about what happened. Even if it is not the real abuser in your dreams in some way the dreams are linked to your trauma. That's what my therapist tells me anyhow...

 

[Lucky Laser]

I've had a bit of an opposite experience. When I started my SSRI, the nightmares lessened. They were still about PTSD related issues... every single one of them... but they didn't bother me as much. When I STOPPED taking the SSRI, for about one week, I had the WORST nightmares and not just PTSD related ones, some of these dreams I had no idea I was capable of thinking up! Now, off the medication, my dreams are about 50% PTSD and about 50% general bad dreams. I don't think I'm the best example though because I've been on SSRI's treatment for quite awhile.