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Do you have nightmares?

Recently a therapist told me people normally do not have nightmares. I’m curious if that is true. What is your experience?

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babsy 6 Apr 10
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37 comments

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I used to have nightmares. Not exactly so anymore. First, try to remember your dreams the minute you wake up. Write them down then or you will forget later. Today if I have a nightmare it involves saving someone from something, or things that might have been. Often some of this is mixed with final thoughts at bedtime and things going on in your life right now. What you end up with is disquised versions of anxiety mixed with hope and doubts. Very often you can interpret your own dreams this way. Not much in these dreams is really real in a valid sense.

One of my dreams involved driving. I drive for a living and used to do that years before also. I like driving. In this dream I was driving but the situation was different. My ex wife was in the dream and all of us (even others) were trying to keep dry. The dream was weird but I woke up to rain outside that you could hear on my rooftop.
Remember also that some dreams might be started by that last minute ham sandwich!

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I had a dream that actually came true. I dreamed that an idiot asshole because president.

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After 911 I did for many years, I think it has not happened in about 3 years. I’m from Staten Island, watched the buildings go up, lost friends and all of my friends lost friends. The surveys never seem to include my answer. Took 3 days to get an email response from my best friend who was a fireman on the pile, all he wrote was, “It’s hell, Joe is dead”. Can’t even type that without it flooding back.

Sorry for your losses. So. Sorry. Hugs to you and yours.

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Glad I don't. But I do have reacurring dreams that have sequels haha

Ljane Level 2 Apr 12, 2018

I’ve only had one like that but those are awesome!

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I married one .

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Used to be a licensed electrician, I would have nightmares about wiring a new home and the drywall would be in place before I could wire the house.

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I need to write them down or tell them into a tape recorder. Steven King has written a lot of his works based on his nightmares. If you want to induce nightmares sleep in a cold room.

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Now that I think about it... my nightmares ended when I gave up trying to be religious like my family and parents.

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Mine are like I'm on a toll road and when I get to the booth, I have no money and on and on where I can't get where I need to be. Another one is that I'm in college and find out during the last week of the semester that I was enrolled in some class and had never gone and then had to make it all up and take an exam that week.

and arent you naked too?

@btroje As a kid I used to have a recurring dream where I am at school, after a couple of lessons I'd realise I'm naked from the waist down, then the panic set in and I'd wake up

@GothRik I had that same dream but I was still in my tighty whities! What's up with that dream? Is it an achtype? Is that the word??

@farmboy2017 you have to wonder. I have had more than one dream showing up to work with no pants and not realizing it till I am there

@farmboy2017 archetype is the word. I am not certain I would call it that but I know what you mean. It seems pretty universal

@farmboy2017 @btroje I guess it's all to do with our 'unnatural' inhibitions that are indoctrinated and over-stressed from an early age

@btroje sometimes. Last time I had to tell Johnny Depp over and over that he was in the friend zone.

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Not often. Maybe if I have the flu. Or a bad taco.

skado Level 9 Apr 10, 2018
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Night terrors. Yeah. Frequently.

My son has them. Awful. Hope they pass for you.

@Archer mine stem from deploying to the middle east a few too many times.

I hope your sons pass as well.

@brandon-scott Thanks for your service. Sorry you are plagued by it.

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If I ever have a nightmare, that signals me that I'm not getting enough of certain hormone balancers.

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Haven't had the waking up screaming my lungs out because there were strangers in the bedroom one since my ex-husband left (yes for real) but normal garden variety ones still (usually some dark distortion of reality). Think there is a recurring them here, except when I'm running a fever my nightmares are always about the parts of my life I need to do something about (as if I need reminding.)

Kimba Level 7 Apr 10, 2018
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If you call conflict dreams nightmares?

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I can't share the article from a paid CME site but nightmares are common across the lifespan and occur more commonly with stress. THey are only considered to be pathological if they interfere with a person's function

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Rarely.

Coldo Level 8 Apr 10, 2018
2

I used to occasionally, but not had one since becoming an atheist about 17 years ago. I think dreams reflect our fears and aspirations, (as well as other emotions). Atheism released a lot of fears in my mind, I may get the odd 'bad' dream, like someone vandalising my motorbike. but that is the worst they get. The good dreams/fantasies have got better over time. 🙂
PS I couldn't vote, since there wasn't an option for 'Used to'.

@babsy Wasn't complaining, it's difficult to come up with every option, without hind-sight. i just wanted to add extra data for your poll. 🙂

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I still have dreams about, or related to when my father beat me as a child. Dreams of helplessness to defend myself are bad, but the ones where I’m unable to help my friends a family are worse.

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I don't remember my dreams - and I'm okay with that. That means no bad ones.

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I dream often, have repetitive and serial dreams, with nightmare events occasionally remembering them.

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I have a lot of dreams every night, and some of them are negative, and some are positive. Quite often something triggers and I realize I'm dreaming while in the dream and that's a lot of fun because I become all-powerful for about five or ten minutes. But to answer your question, yes I have "bad dreams," but I don't use the word nightmare because to me that implies boogyman type dreams and they're not that. My bad dreams are like falling off a cliff, or living with my x-wife (not joking) or being shackled to a young earth creationist. (not kidding, an actual dream I had)

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Seriously though...... night before last I dreamed I was in a hotel room with an old woman. She was taking a bath, and the phone rang. I answered, and a man said he was coming over. I told him he had the wrong number and hung up. A few seconds later I feel a tap on my shoulder and the same voice said "I'm here". I woke up immediately, and didn't go back to sleep for hours.

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When I was about 4 (1948) my stepfather, an alcoholic, drove us on mountain roads, which I don't remember. But, till about 15 (1959) I had nightmares of riding in the back seat of a car going over the edge of a mountain road into the air and falling forever. Well, until I woke in a sweat. My stepfather died in a mountain crash. I have never liked heights.

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Frequently.

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My nightmares vary. Usually they contain a large amount of social anxiety and stress, but about once a month, I get one that shakes me a little. It peterbs me on some primal level of fear. Whether I can’t outrun it, I can’t fight it, nor can I define it. It’s an inculpable fear that definitely peaks my adrenaline and makes it hard to sleep or want to sleep. I’m glad they happen though. It humbles me and checks whatever ego I had thinking I could survive certain situations. Outside of nightmares my dreams are pretty provacative and I have no clue why lol

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I'm a prolific dreamer. And I love that I dream so much. My favorites are dreams where I can fly and when I dream about my dad. Sometimes I'll dream a dream so long it'll start repeating, like a record that's skipping. I think of it as my brain not being able to create anymore. Sometimes, when I have nightmares, I can wake myself up from them. The worst experience I've had is sleep paralysis. It's only happened twice and it was terrifying.

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