Dreaming about T crossing my boundaries...

So last night I had a very weird dream about a T...it wasn't my T but I think it's really odd. Basically this T was much older than I am ( my current T is close to my age) and he kept being very inappropriate with me. He kept trying to hold my hand, put his arm around me, touch me near my private areas...yeah. I was very upset and kept pushing him away but he ignored it. Then he started to tell me all about his personal life. I was getting really uncomfortable. He started giving me gifts - he started with a make up bag and I tried to politely decline but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Then he gave me like several more gifts - all sparkly and make-up related. He downplayed my concerns. Then he told me he wanted us to meet for like 5 hour sessions and I was like, um no. First of all, I cannot afford that!

Near the end of my dream, I tried to move forward with our session and tell him my concerns of what is going on in my life and my feelings, but he seemed to be more fixated on me. I finally started yelling at him. I threw all the gifts he gave me to the ground and they broke. I was yelling at him and said, "all you are doing is minimizing what im saying! thats all that anyone ever does. you're not even helping me. i told you i dont feel comfortable with these gifts etc.!!" I eventually punched him in the arm and he came after me and took me down to the ground. Then I woke up.

So the funny thing is, my T is very well-boundaried. I have no concerns here. What the heck? It was one of those dreams where you wake up from it with a lot of emotion and it stays with you for a large part of the day. Anyone else have any dreams about therapy that don't seem to fit your situation? I know it's only a dream, but it kind of shook me up.

Is there any chance that maybe it was inspired by things that you've read here?

I haven't had any dreams about my T that I can remember. I would not be surprised to find myself yelling at him in a dream or having him yell at me. I have a lot of bad dreams, but fortunately if I get busy as soon as I wake up I don't remember much about them.

But I definitely know that feelign of the dream-mood sticking around all day. It's horrid!

I had a dream that I kissed a Therapist of mine but it really meant nothing to me, so likely this was just something in your subconscious mind and nothing else.

BTW it seems like you can remember a lot about your dreams

Can you ask the T-in-your-dream why he is pursuing you? what does he say?

If you mean, think about what the T in the dream might say.....the first thing that comes to mind is, "what do you mean pursuing you?? That's ridiculous!" So in other words he would be very dismissive

Yes, that's what I meant. Hmmm. does that help at all?

Yes - unfortunately I have some very vivid dreams that are basically nightmares. They've happened quite often since I was a small child. I even remember some of the nightmares I had as a kid even now...

I'm not sure, but I'll think on that one. Thanks

Sometimes our unconscious desires which we dare not admit to in our waking life, play themselves out in our dreams.

Hello Freewilled-

People have suggested some good possibilities about your dream. What came to my mind was one of a few ideas. One, was there something that happened in the therapy that felt intrusive or dismissive or in some way felt like it might be crossing a boundary even if it was on a smaller scale? It may have been something that transpired that wasn't necessarily glaring but that was filed away in your mind as bothersome. Another idea I had was that maybe the dream represents another situation or relationship where you felt a boundary was crossed or you felt dismissed or intruded upon. Maybe you had the feelings that you described in the dream but in another setting?

Perhaps this situation was played out in real life in your childhood?

I'm wondering if you have "hidden" feelings about your T. (I don't know your genders or your true feelings toward your T.) this is just a hunch. Dreams to me are usually an indication of our subconscious minds feeling something deep down that we are reluctant to feel in real life. Possibly this is something that got triggered from a past T. session? I think it might be a good idea to bring it up with your T., if your bothered by it a lot.

My therapist specializes in dreamwork, Jungian particularly. She notes that most of the characters in dreams are simply aspects of ourselves, so you could consider where/how in your life you are feeling or being dismissive/overbearing, either in your internal landscape, i.e. not being attuned to yourself, or in your external world.

There are a couple other types of dreams as well- dreams where you'd processing trauma and the characters don't necessarily represent you, i.e. dreaming of something related to abuse, and also processing dreams: sometimes abstract but often recognizably themed rehashing of day-to-day events.

Do you ever wish your therapist had softer boundaries? Maybe your unconscious was trying to show you what that would look like (to the extreme!).

All I can think of is it's something related to the unconscious. I've consciously become aware of my desires of intimacy with my therapist. My therapist is the person I'm most intimate with (emotionally). This created some sort of tension and a desire for something deeper. A desire of filling a void. Not saying this is how you are. Just wanted to share that bit I've to offer.

I'm really not sure but I think this idea seems to fit a little bit....I'm not comfortable with the idea of having any needs (especially emotionally) and definitely not from my T. But I'm a mess and that's why I go to see him and I do share more with him than anyone else so.....I do have a void - a hole that can't be filled. Maybe I'm afraid of being "close" to him so I don't want him to cross any boundaries. Of course not to the extreme, but even minor things like showing care in the most minuscule ways sets me off a little bit and I push him away. Gosh - must be "fun" to get to be my T

Thanks - I do have a history of people close to me being dismissive. Or I take it that way....idk. It's even painful for me to think about right now so the idea of my T being that way is a nightmare to me....I don't think he is, but I do worry he will be a lot of the time so I know I hold back more than I should.