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Benedict Arnold

Have you ever had a nightmare as an adult?

How did it compare in type and content to childhood nightmares?

Posted - March 10, 2017
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Responses


  • 17261
    Yes, and unlikely my childhood nightmares this was very real and realistic. Oomph.
      March 10, 2017 2:40 PM MST
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  • The closest I've come is dreaming that I was back at work and unable to do my job. :(
      March 10, 2017 3:44 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Like mentioned inside another question, I never (with few exceptions) remember my dreams. I can tell in the morning if it was a bad, indifferent, or pleasant dream by my physical appearance in the morning. Ahem.
      March 11, 2017 5:15 AM MST
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  • Now there's a first class comment. That would certainly tell you what kind of sleep you've had. With me, it's the bottom sheet and possibly the tangle of blankets.
      March 11, 2017 2:26 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Mhmm. I would prefer less mornings where I'm tired because of bad dreams (even if I don't recall them). Meh.
      March 11, 2017 3:55 PM MST
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  • 17261
    You are, and luckily I had a few. Pleasant thoughts sent in a secret direction. Mhmm.
      March 11, 2017 4:07 PM MST
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  • 3375
    I too have noticed that the dreams I have as an adult are very realistic.  
      March 11, 2017 3:59 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Right so. Oomph.
      March 11, 2017 3:59 PM MST
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  • 3375
    Some I have awoken to that make me feel like I either need a good cry or a hug.  No kidding.  I have always been a vivid dreamer.
      March 11, 2017 4:01 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Like said, I never remember my dreams, but sure id prefer less of these exhausting ones ruining my sleep. :-/ 
      March 11, 2017 4:05 PM MST
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  • 3375
    Some I can recall at the moment of waking, but forget by later day.  I know the most disturbing ones either involve a stranger looking to harm me or I am lost somewhere, desperately trying to get home.  I also see my dead parents in some of these dreams and they are never pleasant moments.  
      March 11, 2017 4:10 PM MST
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  • 17261
    The last one I remember, April 2015 was about losing someone close to me without a goodbye. :-/
      March 11, 2017 4:17 PM MST
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  • 3375
    I have had a few dreams like that.  :(  
      March 11, 2017 6:33 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Meh.
      March 12, 2017 1:36 AM MST
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  • Oh yes, Dozy I have indeed!
    It was adult nightmares that launched my interest in dream interpretation.

    As for content: As a child it was monsters or something and my parents came running and we always got THAT straightened out.
    As an adult, they began around 1990 and were typically Nazi concentration camp dreams - and the typical Jungian interpretation was that for some people, just being in the world can feel like a concentration camp. As you know, however, I cautiously play with the idea of reincarnation, and being born 1944 that IS the era...

    Once I spent the whole night dreaming of running to escape the Nazis; so horrific I would awaken in terror; and then as soon as I went back to sleep the dreams would continue. And so detailed that had I wanted I might even have searched for records to verify, but that is not my purpose. I did use the dreams to understand (provisionally) why my early life might have been so fearful and anxious.

    So the nightmares were useful, ultimately they helped me have a more peaceful life.

      March 10, 2017 3:15 PM MST
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  • Takes a balanced person to find peace in nightmares. :)

    The concentration camp would be a terrible scenario and must have been the subject of nightmares for many people. Did I ever give you a copy of Yevgeny Yevtushenko's poem, The Light Controller?  It's an amazing mix of horror and beauty and is probably the most moving thing I've ever read. It talks about this insignificant little man, Izzy Kramer, who was working in a power station -- but there were two parts to Izzy: the present person and the one who lived through a concentration camp. Powerful stuff. 
      March 10, 2017 3:50 PM MST
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  • Izzy knows; there’s a great need for light,

    so that neither you nor I will ever again see

    the barbed wire of ghettoes,

    nor yellow stars frozen to sleeves.

    * * *
    You gave this to me June 19, 2016, 8:24 PM.

      March 10, 2017 4:31 PM MST
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  • I guess I did at that. :)
      March 10, 2017 5:03 PM MST
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  • It's unforgettable.
      March 10, 2017 6:11 PM MST
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  • Yes,  but most of the ones I have had as an adult revolve around me being in a normal day to day thing in my normal area.   At some point though the streets or something of that nature don't line up with reality and when I realize it I get terrified I get terrified.    The the harder I look around for something familiar the more off the scenery becomes.   It's really strange,  I know in the dream where I am,  I am certain it's that place.   Some things are right but just misplaced  or whatnot.   For example I know I am home but all the rooms and what's in them is out of order.   It takes me awhile to notice it, when I do I start to panic.   It's like being somewhere I know well but everything is completely unfamiliar.
      March 10, 2017 6:09 PM MST
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  • Those are strange dreams, Glis. I've had street dreams, even with a twist, but nothing like that and certainly no fear.
      March 10, 2017 9:27 PM MST
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  • It seems like a really benign situation but is very unsettling and creepy.   The other strange thing is I become lucid towards the end of them whenever I have it and realize I am dreaming,  can wake myself up after that.  
      March 10, 2017 9:37 PM MST
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  • Yes.  I was probably in my 40's and had a dream of my father raging and bellowing.  I snapped bolt upright in bed and shouted out loud.  My breathing was short and shallow and my heart was pounding.

    A lot of work related dreams were nightmares.
      March 10, 2017 7:14 PM MST
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  • Not very pleasant, Whistle. I don't envy you those. Thanks for answering. 
      March 10, 2017 9:28 PM MST
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