[Yearning0723]

Usually I don't do this, because I don't subscribe to the idea that dreams are on a completely separate plane than waking thoughts and also because sometimes, contrary to Freud's beliefs, a cigar is just a cigar. But I have one dream that I've had variations of at very specific times that I think it might be important to discuss with T.

I sometimes have dreams of people I care about dying, and I noticed that with former teacher/mentor/faux-mother-figure, I would have very frightening recurring dreams of her either being very ill and about to die (and me not being able to see her or her kids not even telling me) or of her already being dead and me being at the funeral or her dying as I was trying to get to her but it was too late. I realized that I started having these dreams when I started to really trust her and believe she was in it for the long haul (she wasn't, go figure, but I believed that for awhile) and then these dreams came out of nowhere and happened practically every night, and then tapered off when I realized she wasn't actually as trustworthy as I'd thought.

When I was fifteen, I would have the same recurring dream of my mother either dying or being dead and me either not knowing or not being able to get to her in time to forgive her and tell her I love her, and those dreams prompted me to re-establish contact with her because I didn't want her to die without us having made up. I had a dream a few months ago about current mentor figure having cancer and being close to death and me not knowing about it and not being able to see her before she died, but it was just that once, until last night, when I had a very vivid dream of her and my mother having cancer simultaneously and both deteriorating very rapidly and me not being able to get to either of them or chose which one to be with.

I don't usually have conscious fears about people dying, but I suppose I must have unconscious ones, since dreams are usually about things you're scared of...they are incredibly unsettling, but maybe not unsettling enough to discuss with T over the millions of other things we need to discuss, ex. our relationship, our last session, me potentially finding a new T, other stuff going on in my life right now.

[sweepy62]

My t encourages dream processing, especially those that involve my past, which are frequent nightmares, I been having that has happened in my past. I write them down. Im not ready to talk about these yet.

[Leah123]

The Jungian perspective is that your dreams of death actually represent parts of you dying off, which isn't necessarily a negative: that can refer to dysfunctional parts or transitions. Jung postulated that individuals in our dreams represent aspects of ourselves, not really other.

In terms of trauma, PTSD comes with the symptom of nightmares relevant to the trauma, so those dreams can have more literal elements as well.

I agree though, that sometimes dreams are straightforward. Other times though, dreams of someone dying may be wholly symbolic of other struggles, or even growth.

Anyhow, you might want to know your therapists perspective on dreamwork when you discuss, one size doesn't fit all.

[Asiablue]

Could the deaths symbolize a fear of disconnection?

[HazelGirl]

I really think it might be a representation of the struggle you feel with those relationships right now.

[RTerroni]

Have never done that before but it might be something to consider.

I do dreamwork with my (jungian) t and have found it to be really helpful in understanding my Self and why I react to things the way I do, etc. I've recently been practicing focused dreaming where you state your intention by writing it 3 times before falling asleep. Usually for me when I dream anything about someone else, it's a representation of some aspect of myself.

[RTerroni]

I guess if I end up having multiple dreams about my Therapist that it might be something to consider talking about during Therapy. I never really had that with a Therapist in the past.

[Petra5ed]

I do dream work a lot and it's really fun. Like you I used to think a lot of dreams were just BS, but after keeping a journal I'll tell you most of mine are actually like a kind of bizarre poetry. Dreams are how our brains store information, while you're asleep your brain decides what info to store and what to forget, it also saves emotional memories which are what I think the feelings evoked by the symbolism in the weird dream. So in my view interpreting dreams is like reading the unconscious. The nice thing about them is I can always tell my T all of a dream without being embarrassed because after all they are just dreams and things are merely symbolic.

I've had the parent dying dream before. Dreams are always symbolic of things and rarely literal. In my situation it was when I was facing the reality my parent was never truly there for me. Yours could be different.

[withoutthelove_]

As a child, I always had a recurring dream of trying to reach out to my mother, but whenever I did she was surrounded by other people who were more important. I mentioned this in therapy (I write everything in my diary and share it in session) and that's where my "mummy issues" stem from.

I have had dreams about T abandoning me, dying. The abandonment ones are the strongest, and I mention them to T when I feel they're relevant. We don't discuss them though.