[Loial]

So, I’ve been having a lot of vivid and disturbing dreams lately and I was wondering how our mental illness might affect that.

I find I dream an awful lot each night and that they are often quite strange or disturbing and involve others harming me.

I’ve been reading up and people with depression for example have more R.E.M. sleep (when people dream) and is more often intense.

What are your dreams like? Do you think your mental health affects your dreams?

[12AM]

I very rarely sleep without either nightmares or weird and disturbing dreams. Even when I take a nap for like 30 mins or less. I have C-PTSD though and I heard it's common for people who are suffering from it to have nightmares. Sometimes I have a sleep paralysis too and sometimes after I wake up it takes a while for me to figure out which one is reality which one is dream.

Ghosts, monsters, corpses and weird creatures are regular in my nightmares. While weird dreams often about in my dream I try to alter the reality by time traveling but always fail. I try to finish the unfinished story but never succeed.

[newtus]

My dreams are super intense. I have nightmares of all kinds. Almost every night. And sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night sweating or scared. Dreams affect my waking life too. Sometimes i have believed they were real for days.

When I was going through Geodon withdrawal at the crisis center I had very disturbing nightmares that kept waking me up. It was miserable. They were so vivid.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Don't typically remember my dreams unless I'm sick and thats because I wake up earlier or at least more often in the night. Sometimes I would be hallucinating in my dreams.....

[Iman]

Originally Posted by Loial

So, I’ve been having a lot of vivid and disturbing dreams lately and I was wondering how our mental illness might affect that.

I find I dream an awful lot each night and that they are often quite strange or disturbing and involve others harming me.

I’ve been reading up and people with depression for example have more R.E.M. sleep (when people dream) and is more often intense.

What are your dreams like? Do you think your mental health affects your dreams?

I don't dream or if I do, don't remember them. Probably heavy med combination I take. I think last time I dreamed was a year ago.

[ofthevalley]

I don't really remember my dreams.

I very rarely remember my dreams.

*Willow*

[Erti]

I've always had very vivid dreams. I do get night terrors every so often and wake up screaming like someones going to kill me. Scared my Ex a few times with it.

[SvanThor]

Very violently. Sorry to hear you're experiencing the same. Xx

I have dreams and the voices get into them sometimes
I think it's because the voices get loud and I keep hearing them in my sleep and they manifest into dreams

[Gr3tta_0]

I have two dream experiences i am told are strange: i can and do read in dreams, and i dream in cartoon.
I often watch movies at bedtime, and i am certain there's an influence there.

[Shoe]

Just this morning I dug this book out of one of my boxes. I read it a few years back and remember one chapter entitled Dreams and Hallucinations, chapter 6.
It is really interesting if you are able to check it out at the library or something.

https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Inner-W...he+inner+world

[Shoe]

Originally Posted by Shoe

Just this morning I dug this book out of one of my boxes. I read it a few years back and remember one chapter entitled Dreams and Hallucinations, chapter 6.
It is really interesting if you are able to check it out at the library or something.

https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Inner-W...he+inner+world

I just finished rereading that chapter so I thought that I would add to this post some interesting details.
REM (rapid eye movement) happens most of the time when we are dreaming. In 1976 these guys located the source of the REM to the pons in the brain stem.

I thought I would type out a little summary of some of the key points in the chapter.
1st off the overall subject of the book is something called Neuro-Psychoanalysis which tries to identify the different parts of the brain involved with different aspects of psychoanalysis.
The maps the dreaming brain and emotional brain are almost identical. The basic-emotional command system that seems to be mainly connected with dreaming is called the SEEKING system. It is a motivational system that is engaged in looking for something to satisfy our needs or appetites. Pleasure/Lust is a subsystem of the SEEKING system. I should also mention here that every time we dream we have an increased blood flow to out groin region.
Dreams and hallucinations come from the same parts of the brain which is located in the lower frontal lobes. Back in the 40's to 60's, when frontal lobotomies were all the rage for schizophrenics, one the criteria for whether or not the lobotomy was successful was whether the patient stopped dreaming.
I should mention that the lobotomy was replaced with a not as invasive operation called a frontal leucotomy.
I recommend reading the whole chapter if you can find the book.

[The_little_didgee]

My dreams are mostly realistic and very colorful. Sometimes they defy the laws of physics which can be cool. They are generally harmless and reflect what I have done the previous day or what I was thinking before bed. When I was depressed I had nightmares that were vicious. They usually involved death, accidents and mutilated bodies. Sometimes I woke up crying.

Originally Posted by Gr3tta_0

I have two dream experiences i am told are strange: i can and do read in dreams, and i dream in cartoon.

Wow, dreaming in cartoon! I wish I could do that. Do you ever draw them?

[Gr3tta_0]

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

My dreams are mostly realistic and very colorful. Sometimes they defy the laws of physics which can be cool. They are generally harmless and reflect what I have done the previous day or what I was thinking before bed. When I was depressed I had nightmares that were vicious. They usually involved death, accidents and mutilated bodies. Sometimes I woke up crying.


Wow, dreaming in cartoon! I wish I could do that. Do you ever draw them?

I do like to doodle!

I am glad that your dreams are improved.

[phractle]

This thread reminds me to keep my dream journal up to date.