How do you shake off bad dreams? *no trigs*

say · Post by **say** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:06 pm

I sometimes have very vivid, violent dreams that scare the bejesus out of me. I know they aren't real, but the feelings they provoke - fear, sadness, horror, general ickiness - often stay with me for a day or more.

I had a truly terrifying dream last night, and I tried my usual methods of snapping out of it by waking myself up, doing my morning routine, listening to my favorite music on the way to work, etc...but it's not working.

How do you cope with the feelings nightmares cause? Any tips for shaking it off more quickly?

claire · Post by **claire** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:42 pm

ooo nightmares suck ... a lot - im sorry you have lots i do too ...

if i wake up in the middle of the nigh and i need to go back to sleep i do one of several things depending on stuff (like the temperature outside my bed

)

i do the getting up and starting going to bed all over again (but you said you do that)
i read (although sometimes makes it worse)
but the best one is nursery rhymes - i just lie there with my eyes open singing nursery rhymes in my head. They just seem 'safe' somehow and eventually i drop off to sleep.

if the yuckyness of the dream is still there in the morning - i kinda can't shake it off (like you i guess) but i try not to be in the place where the dream was.
So if i dreamt somethin yucky set in the shops - then i don't go to the shops for a while.

apart from that - no clue.

but i hope you can shake the yucky feelings off really soon.

take care
xoxo
claire

kankuro · Post by **kankuro** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:47 am

you should try a dream catcher, i have one and that keeps them away, i also have a rosary hanging above my bed, im sure that it helps somewhat even though im not a practicing catholic. thats all the advice i can give....sorry i cant give you any more help

mallie · Post by **mallie** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:02 pm

I very rarely recall dreams, and even among those nightmares are rare, but when they've been bad I've felt edgy and disturbed for quite a long time into the next day, so I can relate to an extent. Because its so infrequent for me, I've never had to come up with strategies to deal with it.

My best suggestion would be to try and make sure you're relaxed before you sleep - nice and calm and not tense. Doing some relaxation exercises, deep breathing and such before you sleep, could help. Making sure you've got ways to cope if you wake up - something that feels safe. Maybe even write out your dreams when you wake up, and bring it up with your doctor or a therapist if it keeps going on. Even if you can just look at it again when you're not in the grip of the emotions the dreams bring on, it could help.

I'm sorry I don't have anything more useful. I hope you find some good ways to conquer this. It sounds tough to deal with.

Cellardoor · Post by **Cellardoor** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:34 pm

hey say, u want to know something really weird?! i was just gonna do a post allmost identical to yours! lol, weird, anyway, so one of my methods is to say out loud to myself in the morning that i had a bad dream and then say exactly what happened in it, then explain to myself to forget it cos it was only a dream. it kind makes you face up to it, it works sometimes... hope your ok anyway... el xxx

say · Post by **say** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 2:16 pm

Thanks, y'all. I'm going to give all of these a try.

Kaelyn · Post by **Kaelyn** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:40 pm

I see I'm a bit late.... but you could try lucid dreaming as a weapon agianst nightmares.
(just google lucid dreaming and there's tons of sites explaining what it is and how it works and how you can get a lucid dream)

say · Post by **say** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:18 pm

Kaelyn - I've tried lucid dreaming before - sometimes I can make it work, sometimes not. It's a really cool thing to try, though. Has it helped you?

Chimera · Post by **Chimera** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:25 pm

I watch cartoons or children's movies. I collect DVD's from the 80's that I loved as a child (The Last Unicorn, The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, etc.) They help me feel safe.

Sometimes I'll listen to silly, happy music, and that helps snap me out of it, too.

Curling up with a cup of hebal tea and a nice light book can also help.

Jessica

Mindpoison · Post by **Mindpoison** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:32 pm

I've been going through a very similar thing. Around this time last year I used to have extremely disturbing dreams that terrified me from sleeping for up to 136 hours before my body would just crash

I did some psychodrama with my T and it helped stop. But recently I've been having nightmares again...not the same ones, but very vivid, pretty disturbing ones.

Comfort objects and cuddle-things help me...I don't know if that's considered immature, but they make me feel safe. Before I fall asleep I'll surround myself with blankies, stuffed animals and I have soothing photos on the walls that I see when I wake up. Most of the time my dreams provoke fear, so I try to focus on making myself feel safe. After I wake up if it's not the middle of the night, I'll call someone to talk to. It helps to have someone *tell* me that I'm safe, I'm in control and I don't have to be afraid. My T used to tell me to talk to myself before I fell asleep...say things like, "I'm in control of what happens in my dreams, nothing in my dreams can harm me" etc. but I always feel really stupid talking to myself.

Though if my nightmares continue like this I'm going to ask my T to do some more psychodrama with me since that seems the most helpful for my recurrent nightmares.

sonik_tooth_fairy · Post by **sonik_tooth_fairy** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:10 pm

I dont really have nightmares as such, but I have incredibly vivid dreams that really disarm me, sometimes for three or four days.
I tend to write them down as soon as I wake up, in great detail. For some reason that gets them out of my system. I dont know if that would help you aswell.

Also i meditate to clear my mind, This is about the only time that I meditate (also when I am being tickled).
I breathe slowly and deeply, in through the nose, out through the mouth. I count my breaths from 1 to 10 and then start again. When I inhale I concentrate on the sound of the number, and when I exhale I concentrate on what the number looks like.
This is actually quite difficult, and its hard not to get agitated when other things pop into my head. However the very fact that I have to concentrate so hard means that it really works to clear my thoughts.

Hope this was helpful x

kickingmyself · Post by **kickingmyself** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:03 pm

This is such an interesting topic. Don't know how much you all know about dreaming, so here's what I know... The reason nightmares can leave you feeling so unsettled is because your brain can't tell the difference between what happens in your sleep, and what happens in waking life. This is why if you dream you are running, you wake up with a fast pulse - your body has responded with the same physiological reactions to the dream that it would use if you were awake.

Do you have the same bad dream or different ones? Recurring dreams happen because our subconcious is trying to tell us something - something important to our mental well-being - and once we've worked it out, then they should disappear. For example, I used to have a dream that I was raping a woman (I'm female, this really freaked me out!!) and eventually worked out that in the dream it was ME that was the woman victim, and that basically it was about how I let people take advantage of me - haven't had the dream since.

Have to say though that I always have the same kind of dreams where I'm fighting evil, running away from bad guys or choking - so obviously my subconscious still has a lot to tell me! I have managed on a few occasions to take control of dreams e.g. turn and face someone who is chasing me, but this is a tricky technique to learn.

Hope some of this helps - feel free to ask questions!

bus

How do you shake off bad dreams? no trigs

How do you shake off bad dreams? no trigs

Who is online