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Dreams

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Bucky12

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I have recently been struggling with sleep more than usual. Usually I either pass out or don't sleep at all but latley it has been very different. I will fall asleep and then in every dream I have my abuser will be staring at me from the corner even if they have nothing to do with the dream at all. I was stalked for 6 months so I am unsure if it is just me processing this but has anyone else had something similar like this happening. It's causing me when I wake up to have extreme anxiety and dissociation. If you have had something like this have you found a way to cope?
 
Hi @Bucky12, welcome to the site. I also have strange and disturbing dreams about my abusers. It's scary and affects me for days. The subconscious is powerful. I don't really have any advice but some other people may have advice on grounding techniques. Best wishes to you. 😊
 
I have recently been struggling with sleep more than usual. Usually I either pass out or don't sleep at all but latley it has been very different. I will fall asleep and then in every dream I have my abuser will be staring at me from the corner even if they have nothing to do with the dream at all. I was stalked for 6 months so I am unsure if it is just me processing this but has anyone else had something similar like this happening. It's causing me when I wake up to have extreme anxiety and dissociation. If you have had something like this have you found a way to cope?
Hello friend,

I'm sorry for the dreams you are having which are troubling you. I have some too. Mine are usually a matter of having a happy situation in my dream, but still feeling all my crippling waking symptoms even in my dream. The symptoms ruin the happy situation in my dream.

Now that I write it, I'd say my dream reflects my reality, only in dream form.

I'm probably not the best guy to talk about coping skills. I'm pretty new to coping and am sadly a bit shy in the healthy and effective coping skills department.

It does help me to get up and get myself busy doing something. Anything. Just not ruminating about the dream.

I lifted some weights and went for a walk today. That helped me considerably after having been shut up in my house for 8 days with a cold in my head and chest and rainy grey wetness outside.

I'm sure folks here will give you lots of ideas for how to cope and process your dreams.

I hope you have as good a day as possible.

Woodsy1
 
Hi @Bucky12, welcome to the site. I also have strange and disturbing dreams about my abusers. It's scary and affects me for days. The subconscious is powerful. I don't really have any advice but some other people may have advice on grounding techniques. Best wishes to you. 😊
Aw, Thank you for the welcome I appreciate it!😊

Hello friend,

I'm sorry for the dreams you are having which are troubling you. I have some too. Mine are usually a matter of having a happy situation in my dream, but still feeling all my crippling waking symptoms even in my dream. The symptoms ruin the happy situation in my dream.

Now that I write it, I'd say my dream reflects my reality, only in dream form.

I'm probably not the best guy to talk about coping skills. I'm pretty new to coping and am sadly a bit shy in the healthy and effective coping skills department.

It does help me to get up and get myself busy doing something. Anything. Just not ruminating about the dream.

I lifted some weights and went for a walk today. That helped me considerably after having been shut up in my house for 8 days with a cold in my head and chest and rainy grey wetness outside.

I'm sure folks here will give you lots of ideas for how to cope and process your dreams.

I hope you have as good a day as possible.

Woodsy1
Yeah, I am pretty new to coping skills myself. I tend to work so much to distract myself so I don't have to deal with it. Thank you for the reply I appreciate it. I hope you had a wonderful day.
 
Hi! Welcome here, even if I’m new too…

Stuff that has helped me is to set an environment were I feel safe and good. Aka no one else has the keys, not even my family or landlord. Incense or home perfume. A pet. A routine. Doing something nice before sleep. Imagining my safe space. Weeping a bit. Watch through the windows. But against nightmares… only benzodiazepines would do it for sure. I mean if I don’t take them I might not have nightmares, but certainly "complicated dreams" where I have to do stuff and worse it mixes with reality and I don’t really know if that shit happened or not (like I’m receiving messages or something).

I also experienced a lot of lucid dreaming when I was younger and have kept some form of knowledge of that. If it becomes too batshit or I can identify that a place doesn’t exist, then I’m able to take distance from the terror and just keep it anxiogenic. I can eventually decide what I do, and manage to wake up before it gets really bad. But yeah, nightmares of being chased are pretty horrible because they’re long and it can take many different figures. Also if I’m feeling anxious and have the impression I’m not gonna make the night I leave a small light on so when I half wake up I can sense the difference of lighting and anchor myself in it.

The trick for lucid dreaming is to sleep a lot… it’s when you’re borderline waking up that you develop that sweet spot of consciousness that becomes congruent with your sleep. It’s very bizarre and soothing. Thinking of it well, I guess I’m going to explore this again. I also had a journal of dreams that made me much more attentive to what I was dreaming. There are many "weird" things I did as a teenager thinking of it as entertainment or meditation, but now I see they were sort of self-made coping strategies.
 
Aw, Thank you for the welcome I appreciate it!😊


Yeah, I am pretty new to coping skills myself. I tend to work so much to distract myself so I don't have to deal with it. Thank you for the reply I appreciate it. I hope you had a wonderful day.
You are welcome. I did have a decent day. That's not wonderful, but it's better than some of the tormented days I've had lately. I'll take it!

I hope you find friendship, acceptance and support here. I know I am.
 
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