Why would anyone want nightmares or anxiety dreams? If you’re part of more than half the population which has experienced an anxiety dream or nightmare within the last month, then this may be something you wish to rid of, right? This unfortunate view of “bad” dreams as things to avoid is precisely what I want to talk about. Such an avoidance approach is much like putting a Band-Aid on a car’s blinking oil light because it seems annoying. Of course 50 miles later, it would be greatly preferable to have understood the warning. Though perhaps not obvious, the simple fact is that almost all nightmares and especially recurring dreams provide an extremely valuable service to the dreamer. If we block them, we are likely missing their immediate benefit; If we remember but ignore them, we may well be missing the vital message that they are trying to bring to us. 

Almost everyone has experienced one or multiple dreams that contain anxiety or outright fear. For some people, such unpleasant dreams or nightmares recur repeatedly. For others, the content changes while the theme remains the same, such as scenes of falling, of being pursued or attacked, being late or unprepared for a presentation or an exam, being stuck in slow motion, unable to move or scream, being naked in public to name a few common themes. Such anxiety dreams are associated with lack of progress by the dreamer to recognise and solve related conflicts in life. Though it has been scientifically proven that we all dream every night, fear of nightmares and other anxieties or misguided beliefs about dreams and the unconscious can even block dream recall. This can usually be overcome by learning about the useful nature of dreams and by recognising that the majority of nightmares as a bitter but necessary medicine that represents opportunities for personal healing through much-needed emotional release. They are often indirectly or directly warning us about current behavior patterns, life trends, or psychological imbalances that need to be remedied if we don’t want such unpleasant dreams to repeat, or worsen. If we block, deny or ignore such messages from the subconscious for too long, then it has to speak ‘louder’ to get our attention—often by bringing related events into our waking hours. I use the term ‘daymares’ for such events, which show up as sickness, accidents, relationship difficulties or other unfortunate life circumstances that then outrightly force us to deal with the issue at hand. 

Renowned psychologist Carl Jung observed that portions of our personality which we knowingly or unknowingly judge become disowned, and are frequently projected outward in dreams, taking the form of aggressors, devils, and monsters. Jung referred to these symbolic figures as “the shadow”.  Whether we become aware of such shadow elements through nightmares or daymares, re-accepting these judged and disowned portions of ourselves, is the message. So we truly are lucky to have such nightmares, since they provide a natural ‘pressure-release’ therapy for the psyche. They may even provide what amounts to an early cure if we listen to, make an effort to understand, and then act upon the valuable insights such dreams try to bring us. 

Occasionally, diet and especially medications can trigger anxiety dreams, and the latter can even block normal dream recall. The anxiety dreams can be due to physiological reactions or also because intake of such items disturbs normal sleep patterns. An example is a large dinner not too long before bedtime followed by a nightmare during the night. Though there is less to be gained in trying to understand or work with the specific dreams on such occasions, the message is usually the same—poor dietary habits or drugs are causing some serious physiological and psychological disturbances. Fortunately, non-pharmaceutical treatments exist that are remarkably effective. Some of the most useful techniques include dream re-scripting, dream lucidity, guided imagery and mainstream therapies such as gestalt, psychosynthesis, focusing, or other such methods.

After many recurring nightmares where I’m pursued by some terrifying figure, I learned of lucid dreaming and had the following dream: I’m in a frantic car chase with the pursuer right behind me. Swerving into a parking lot, I bolt out of the car and run with him hot on my heels. Suddenly, the scene seems familiar and I realise that I’m dreaming. Drawing upon every ounce of courage that I have, I swirl to face my pursuer, repeating to myself that it’s only a dream. Still afraid, I scream at him, “You can’t hurt me!” He stops, looking surprised. For the first time I see his beautiful, loving eyes. “Hurt you?” he says. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’ve been running after you all this time to tell you that I love you!”  With that, he holds out his hands, and as I touch them, he dissolves into me. I was awoken filled with energy, feeling great for days. Not only did the nightmare never return, but more importantly, I now find myself much better at facing unpleasant situations at work and in my personal life. Following what I learned in the dream, I’m much better at standing my ground and expressing my feelings when needed.

Gupta is a class 11 student at Greenland Int’l Collage, Biratnagar