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How often in a dream is someone chasing you? Have you ever found yourself obscenely naked in crowded places – of course, also not in reality? We tell what these plots mean, especially if they are regularly repeated.
“Every two or three months I have the same dream for as long as I can remember. I look out the window of our apartment on the 12th floor, and in front of my eyes the plane flying in the sky begins to fall.
I see that it carries directly to our house. I begin to urgently pack up and for some reason I dig in things, deciding what to take with me. Or I become numb and look at this frightening, but beautiful fall, as if spellbound. Several times, instead of an airplane, there was a spaceship, but the essence is the same,” says 38-year-old Ruslan.
Two out of three people regularly have dreams with a repetitive plot. Among the most popular are when we run from someone or something scary or suddenly notice our nakedness in a public place. All these dreams are not accidental.
What do recurring dreams say?
Recurring dreams can reveal unresolved conflicts in our lives, according to University of Montreal psychology professor Thor Nielsen and his colleague Claudia Picard-Delan. It is no coincidence that we often see them during the crisis periods of life. In some cases, against the background of severe stress, such dreams can be repeated every night.
Of course, the detailed interpretation depends on who is acting as the dreamer. A person’s background, past traumas, and life circumstances provide clues to understanding the plots.
However, psychologists and neuroscientists who study the “science of sleep” also highlight common themes: people in different times, in different cultures and at different ages can have dreams of being chased, falling, being late, or passing exams.
It happens that for the first time we meet with such a dream in childhood. Then we forget about it for a while, and after many years, finding ourselves in difficult circumstances, we begin to see it regularly. The situation changes – and the plot again “hides” deep into the subconscious.
Good or bad?
As luck would have it, it is unpleasant dreams that repeat most often, or even nightmares: in them we again and again experience fear, sadness, anger, guilt. And in 50% of situations we find ourselves in danger.
But if we are lucky, we may relive the euphoria of a dream in which we fly, make love, or discover new places in a known and familiar space. For example, in your own apartment.
“We live in a very small “odnushka”, and for twenty years now I have been dreaming from time to time that a door suddenly appears in the wall, and behind it is a second room, which for some reason we did not know about. Or the kitchen suddenly turns out to be twice as large. And again the feeling that it was always like this, but for some reason we forgot about it, ”says Lina, 40 years old.
Sleep as therapy
Research shows that dreams help us regulate our emotional state and adapt to stressful situations. In a dream, it can be easier than in reality to survive this or that event.
We reproduce emotions
In real life, we often encounter difficulties, and in dreams the psyche helps us to live through the negative emotions associated with them. So the conflict unresolved in reality again and again reminds of itself. But usually, when the problem is resolved, these dreams go away.
- Dreams about global cataclysms – such as a flood – can arise from psychological trauma or experiences of abuse.
- Dreams in which we find ourselves naked or half-dressed are scenarios about our modesty, embarrassment.
- Dreams about passing an exam can be a “response” to unusual situations in life, where we need to show our qualities, prove something to ourselves or others.
If you are tormented by the same unpleasant dream, this may be a symptom of anxiety or depression – even if in the hustle and bustle of the day you crowd out these states with deeds and worries.
We are working on a solution
The plot of a dream does not always literally reproduce the situation from life. On the contrary, most often it is a metaphor, an image that the brain “offers”. But experienced feelings often duplicate real ones.
A separate topic is dreams in which we repeatedly experience an event that has traumatized us, for example, violence. They usually repeat the situation from life.
“I was 12 years old when my class teacher harassed me. For many years I did not remember this story, and then it surfaced – and I began to see dreams in which this situation was repeated. But each time I was older and stronger.
One day, I pushed the teacher away with all my might and woke up without my usual sense of helplessness. This was the last “series”, and I don’t dream about this story anymore, ”says 42-year-old Lera.
The dynamics of recurring dreams and changes in plots may indicate that we are gradually coping, living through the situation that caused them.
What if the dream is repeated and there is no improvement?
- First of all, recurring dreams, especially nightmares, are a ready-made request for work with a psychotherapist or psychologist;
- According to French researchers, it is possible to visualize a nightmare while awake and then rewrite it. That is, literally change an unpleasant scenario for the better. For example, in the case of a falling plane, describe a scene in which the pilot takes control and the dreamer watches the plane fly further. Or safely “land” him on the nearest highway.
- Lucid dreaming can help, but dream management requires some skill. And here, unlike rewriting the script in reality, there is no guarantee that the brain will listen to us and will definitely give us a “happy ending”.
In any case, recurring dreams should not be dismissed. This is one of the ways to listen to the subconscious and change something in your life for the better.