Every since having to put my beloved dog to sleep last week.. I have the same nightmare... it is a really terrible one...

I am sobbing.. and crying.. and actually screaming.. IRL... and the nightmare seems.. like it lasts forever and ever...

I am afraid to fall asleep...

[Perna]

When I was having a hard time in therapy most sessions and it would get time for bed on a therapy day I knew I'd have difficult dreams and be afraid to go to sleep but then I realized it's part of the process and the dreams are really just dreams and cannot hurt me. I started trying to pay attention to them and record them and take an interest in them and they became more experiments to me rather than quite so painful.

Can you write out the nightmare and write out other endings or possibilities and see if you can dream them instead? Can you wake yourself at a spot you don't like instead of continuing or do like they did in Harry Potter with the "Riddikulus"/boggart spell thing?

[Waif123]

Hi freewill,

sounds like it has been a tough time for you. The loss of a pet can be a huge trigger i know. If this dog helped you with your trauma, it can be even more devastating. I lost a pet, and to this day have dreams, were I wake up sobbing. He had been my protector.

Perna has suggested some very interesting ideas, I myself will have to try them, the idea of changing the ending and then hoping you dream that seems like a great thing to try.

I hope things are improving

[Kiya]

Perna! I totally did that with my worst recurring nightmare in therapy. Together - she let me- turn him into a boggart and come out of the wardrobe and my adult self (as lupin) helped my child self raise the wand and say Ridckuls and make him turn into something - well, not laughable, but something my childself felt she could handle. And POOF he went up into smoke and i can honestly say i've not had that nightmare since- it's been well over 2 years.
kiya

[Kiya]

All,
I have also done the change the ending thing -lucid dreaming. it seems difficult but it is worth doing. I had to tell myself ahead of time that i would become conscious in the nightmare and actively change the ending. I think it took about 3 nights to get it, but it did work. I was able to use that on several dreams.
Hope tonight is better, free.
hugs, kiya

[wisewoman]

There is a part of me that must know I am dreaming sometimes because I "know" when hubby wakes me up and says I am screeming in my sleep. I almost get mad at him like I wanted to resolve it but of course it's only a dream. ONLY.

Yes, giving them new endings is magical.

[Kiya]

i would get mad that "it was *only* a dream".

[_Hope_]

[BalishBun]

Ive had mondo-bazzaro nightmares in the past, but not so much anymore. They are just bazzar these days. I would blame it on the meds, but there is no change in my dreams before or after the meds. Im sorry you had to put your animal to sleep, Its hard hard hard! I hate that feeling, but know you gave them a good life.