[11Iseethefuture11]

First of all I suffer from depression, and the last medication I took was Prozac about a month ago but it gave me extreme insomnia so my doctor told me to get off of it and wait, and now he's prescribed me a new medication which he said would help with my depression and sleep, I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. I tend to go to sleep much later and wake up much later when I'm depressed like right now and I tend to dream a lot. I have reoccurring dreams, they are not exactly the same, but they do have a common theme to them. I have 2 main types of dreams

1) Something that has to do with my troubled past.
a. They usually take place in previous schools I've attended to, but not always.
b. The people in these dreams do the same things the people did to me and around me in the past.
c. These don't happen as often anymore but I do still have them.

2) Being with the woman I love.
a. Usually places I've once been, a good number of those places are schools.
b. Sometimes the woman is someone I once knew and sometimes it's someone I've never met.
c. Sometimes these dreams make my day, sometimes I think about how it was only a dream and makes me depressed for the day.

And another note, my dreams are very realistic. If something sad happens in my dream I usually end up crying, or wake up crying. If something or someone angered me in my dream I will wake up saying stuff and being angry. If something frightened me or made me suspenseful I will act accordingly when I wake up.

I just want to know what you all think.

[Perna]

To me, recurring dream themes seem to mean that there are things we haven't resolved from earlier in our lives. They are themes of our lives that may need working with in therapy? Do you have a therapist for your depression and do you discuss your dreams?

I worked with my dreams in therapy for 3-4 years and it really helped as a therapy practice.

[Gojamadar]

Hi,
One of the problems with dreams is that the medical profession does not attach much importance to them.
Your dreams look after you while you sleep and wake you up when you had enough sleep. Your subconscious uses your past experiences, especially the unpleasant ones to wake you up. It also uses emotions of all sorts. Have you not heard the expression: "He/She got up from the wrong side of the bed"
Many times dreams set the mood of the day. It is normal.
If you are depressed or taking medicines, your dreams need to be more vivid and sometimes more violent to make you do the task your subconscious wants you to do.
My guess is that you had unhappy school times and your subconscious uses your negative past experiences to wake you up.
Try to regard your dreams as your guardian angels. Be they good or bad they're always trying to help you.

[Perna]

There was a good NOVA show on dreams exploring what Gojamadar mentions, the science of dreaming: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/dreams/

[seeker1950]

Hmmm..11Isee...I too have recurring dreams, often of my time in school, college particularly, also very often of trying to find shelter. Also, like you, I tend to sleep later and go to bed later, and I recognize this as an aspect of depression. I'm taking Zoloft. I would be interested to hear what medication your physician prescribed.