Dream about screaming w/no sound

I keep having this recurring dream, I don't remember most of the first part but I am assuming that someone is trying to hurt me in some way. Then at the end I always try to scream but no sound comes out. I keep having the same dream where I try to scream and then when no sound comes out I start to panic and that is all I can usually remember. I think I usually wake up after that. Has anyone else had this dream or have any ideas about what it means or how I might get it to stop recurring? Thanks!

I have had 2 dreams like this in my life. In my dream, I scream and nothing comes out. The second time this happened I found out that although I did not hear anything in my dream, it was heard by my roommate in the awake world! I woke up with her peaking in my door and asking if I was okay as she sure heard me. Also, both these dreams occurred when I was trying to find a solution to a stressful issue that I had no solution for. Hope this helps.

Yes! I dreamed that I was moving to a new town, and there was some guy who kept following me everywhere I went, and I was creeped out, but he would not leave me alone. I tried to yell for help to some construction guys, but no sound came out. I went into a school, and tried to ask for help - no sound. I tried to use the phone to call someone for help, and again, no sound. I could not ask anyone for help, and this guy was hovering right over me and breathing into my hair, and nobody seemed to care - maybe they couldn't even see him - I don't know. I couldn't wake up, either, and the dream felt very real to me. After I woke up, it took a long time to realize that I had been dreaming. I thought I was still there.

T said that the guy following me around was my husband, and that I was refusing to communicate with anyone, and that was why I couldn't talk.

Is there something that you need to communicate to someone that you aren't? If so, maybe if you do, the dreams will stop. Otherwise, maybe you could look for other ways you might be acting passive or not speaking up when you need to.

I always thought generally if you're doing any actions in your dreams which could possibly be happening in real life they don't happen the way they should because otherwise you would wake up and do crazy stuff in real life. Like if you screamed in your dream you'd wake yourself up and scream in real life. (There are some exceptions, obviously as people do sleeptalk and sleepscream). And same thing with if you're running in your dream and you aren't getting anywhere...

I don't think the screaming necessarily has anything to do with anything...but the fact that you continually are having upsetting dreams could mean something. If it's a familiar incident then it could be PTSD symptoms or something similar.

Maybe you don't feel as if you are being heard by somebody in your life? Or maybe there is something your mind is trying to tell you and you haven't listened before? I also have recurring dreams, mostly where I am trying to run from something, and my legs are like cement blocks that just don't move, or I move sluggishly. Sometimes they're pretty frightening, and I still haven't figured out entirely what they mean. I agree with Rapunzel- it seems like the dream is trying to tell you that you need to let something out. Next time you have the dream, pay attention to how you feel during the dream, and when you wake up. Maybe those will provide some clues.

Yes, I did that; electrocuted my husband because I didn't pay attention/follow directions and he died, convulsing in my arms. If dreaming had been water, I would have gotten the bends coming up out of it! I was screaming but couldn't hear it but then woke and found that I was laying on my "good" ear so my screaming, though quite loud, I couldn't personally hear so I had been screaming even louder so I could hear and wake myself. I also was shaking my husband to make sure he was still alive :-) and this was 7:30 on a Saturday morning. Apparently it was so loud, long, violent, that he had to get up, couldn't sleep; I stayed awake long enough to make sure I wouldn't go back into that dream but then fell back asleep for a couple hours.

Goodness Perna, how scary! I hope you have recovered adequately from that.

That was at the beginning of therapy, many years ago. I've read where the first dream(s) when starting therapy help with expressing your issues ;-) I did a lot of dream work in therapy and, eventually, it became that my husband or therapist in a dream were like talismans to let me know whatever scary thing I was dreaming about, it was okay to work on/talk about that, that I was "safe". So I started looking forward to dreams where my therapist or husband actually were in a dream or their presence was implied.

I think frostypaws is on to something about your nightmares; recurring dreams are usually about a theme that is ongoing and individual in your life. Who did not hear you in the past? If you can remember when the dreams first started, that could be helpful too because that means your psyche thinks it's safe to look at now and work with (the problem probably occurred even further back in your life than the dream, perhaps childhood). Are you in therapy? If you are, I bet the dream started sometime during therapy. Dreams try to help balance us, get us back on an even keel or tell us where our conscious mind is unbalanced. If you go around telling people you're "fine" (like I use to) all the time, even when you're not, something like that, over time, could really get your unconscious roiled up.

Hmmm, I don't know if I can remember when the dreams first started, but I do know that it was definitely before I started in therapy. I haven't been in therapy that long, but these dreams have been going on for a while. You guys might have something with the theory of someone not "hearing me". I am a very passive, non-assertive, people-pleasing kind of person so there is theoretically many many people who haven't heard me, or who I haven't asserted myself too.

I used to have dreams like that when I was a kid. I can't remember specifics about them, but I remember screaming and no sound coming out in several dreams I have had. I don't know if they were recurring or not since I can't remember details, but I think sometimes they were recurring and sometimes it was a different setting/situation of the dream, but I sitll screamed with no sound.

I think it had to do with the fact that my parents never listened to or "heard" me when I was a kid. I was always very opinionated and outspoken. I loved to read and I wanted to show the world that I knew some things. I don't see this as a bad thing. My dad did. In his eyes I was a smartass and was not entitled to an opinion because of my age. My dad is a control freak and couldn't stand that I might know something he didn't. I stayed grounded for most of my teenage years. I got grounded every time I spoke my mind. And not for the weekend or anything. I got grounded for a month every single time I "shot off my mouth". I honestly just wanted to feel like an adult in the conversation. I was expected to act like an adult but I wasn't treated like one.

Wow I totally just went off didn't I?! I didn't mean to rant... Sorry for that. My point is that I think the other posters are correct in the assumption that you may feel like you aren't being listened to in some way.

I hope that you have sweet dreams soon!

I have been having the same dream for 2 week straight now and have no idea why!? I fall asleep had hear loud noises like music and like my TV is on or sometimes my name is whispered loudly in my ear. I try waking myself up at this point cuz I know what's coming next. Usually a black shadow or mass is at the foot of my bed or hovering over me. I'm tossing and trying to get out of bed but I'm paralyzed in my sleep screaming for help but no sound is coming out! I almost always call for my mom if that has anything to do with it. In the past I would call for my roommate or boyfriend. Ive even called for my dog haha. I hear myself screaming and sometimes I think someone comes in my room and tries waking me but I ask them and they say no. Its always the same MOM MOM help help me wake me up wake me up. I'm forcing myself to open my eyes but I'm paralyzed.
The past few nights the mass is trying to kill or harm me like strangling me with my blankets or suffocating me or grabbing me out of bed. I wake up in panic and sweating sometimes still yelling for help.
Ive had these dreams before but not this much every night now!! Sometimes I can feel or tell when its gonna happen if that makes sense. Idk if it is genetic but my dad has these panic attack/paralysis type dreams too. I just want to know why??