With horror come nightmares, and the other way around. And the worst is not being able to wake up from them or believing you have although you haven’t yet. Yet, still, be left with what they provoked after doing so. Alike Intrusive Thoughts & Feelings and Visual & Auditory Hallucinations, although more common, they can be horrifying or point to something horrific.
CAUTION!
If you experience nightmares in a recurrent and persistent manner, especially tormenting ones, please seek help from qualified professionals as soon as possible. They should examine them and get to the root of them so that they will cease.
But what are nightmares, really? Most, if not all of us, humans, have dreams while we’re asleep. Sometimes it’s as though we didn’t have any dreams. And sometimes it’s as though we had 7+. They range from convincingly coherent to absurdly nonsensical. From vivid to vague. From impactful to slippery. But when dreams turn bad, when they’re unpleasant in one or more ways, to the point where they’re unsettling and upsetting, we call them nightmares. Dreams allow us to rest, but nightmares rob us of that. You may abruptly wake up from nightmares or be trapped in them while you endure them. Frowning, wincing, shaking, sobbing, screaming, and more if they are severe. And although it may be relieving when they finally end and you’re out of them, they may hover over you afterward, continuing to drain your energy and keeping you from regaining it.
Should you be concerned? Having nightmares is common. Everyone has them at one point or another. However, their degree of frequency and intensity could be concerning. Especially since, the more frequent and intense, the less able you are to get proper and required rest to remain well physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Why do they happen? Nightmares are often a reflection of your fears. They show you and put you through what you fear. What you dread and what you’d rather be free of. Shame, guilt, a sense of worthlessness, or a sense of powerlessness. They might be a blessing disguised as a curse, in the sense that they grant you the opportunity to know yourself better and work through your issues. The subconscious is constantly gathering and processing information, in far higher amounts and at greater speeds than you consciously do. And while you sleep, some of that slips over to where you can catch it. Then it’s on you to sort it out and make sense of it. It could also be one of the Symptoms of Consuming Too Much Horror.
Nightmares are quite personal, but there are a few recurring themes that many have come up against:
• Being naked in public.
• Needing/wanting to speak or yell but making no comprehensible sound or no sound at all.
• Running but being extremely slow, not getting far, or ending back where you started.
• Getting lost and trying to find your way back/out.
• Being separated from loved ones, particularly ones you’re closely attached to or heavily depend on.
• Using tools and utilities but they aren’t the right ones or they’re broken.
• Failing a test or course and having to repeat it, regardless of how long it’s been since then.
• Falling hair, teeth, nails, or other significant parts of you.
• Encountering, being approached, or chased by strange, disgusting, and/or threatening creatures.
• Being partly or completely paralyzed.
Etc.
Suffering from nightmares doesn’t have to be a permanent state. They will cease as the problems underneath them are addressed and solved. So, pay attention to them.
Are you troubled by nightmares? Are you living in one?