Recent, terrifying dreams.

I've had 4 consecutive dreams that have made it so hard to want to sleep recently, and I was wondering if there was anyone who knew how to explain them. I've outlined them to keep them short!

1. My best friend and I wake up to find ourselves stranded out at sea on a small cruiser, with 2 men who tell us that we're going to die. They both turn out to be men of suicide that have a fettish for hacking off their own limbs - one men even slices off his penis after handing me a letter saying that he wanted to be a woman.
2. A stranger busts into my home in the middle of the night and my Mum, my best friend and I have to kill him - I manage to get him down on his knees and I slit his throat several times with a kitchen knife.
3. I'm told by a fortune teller that on a certain night a man will come to my house looking for me, and that my Mum should tie me to the bed to make sure I allow him to visit. That night, my Mum, my best friend and I are at the house and I see a man's car outside. In my dream state I know who he is, but in real life I have no idea who he is, and when I get to the bottom of the stairs on my way to open the door for him, he's already swung it open and sprints at me to chase me up to my room.
4. I have a daughter and she's haunted. I go to put her to bed one night and monsters of some sort shoot and fly everywhere so I tell her to get into bed and escape the house, ending up at a block of flats where my "Nan" is staying. As she guides me round multiple staircases, I end up in a cathedral looking room and when I see a nun crying in the corner she runs at me. At the last second of passing me she looks up and screams into my face, and I scream out and my view turns to outside of my body when I can see that I've hung myself. When I wake up, I could've sworn it was just me reliving a film I had seen before, but I realised I'd just made it up.

God, I really do seem a bit messed. Any help?

All four issues seem to point to a loss of control. Any chance you feel like you're not in control of things in your own life? Oftentimes themes or feelings from our real lives come out in our dreams.

First dream might indicate an unconscious desire to eliminate any masculine qualities you feel you have. That's a more Freudian way of looking at it I suppose.

No, I would not consider you, messed up.

First I would say, "congradulations on being a somewhat lucid dreamer".
Remember, Everything in your dreams are representitive of you.

The first dream, You are not alone," finding ourselves stranded" Do you have any feelings/emotions that make you feel lonely/misunderstood? This dream is telling you that you are not alone.
The two men may have been spirits of past suicides and are warning you against such actions. In the letter the man said, " he wanted to be a woman". Something he was not. Do you feel that you are behaving in ways that are not true to yourself and what you are doing in your life? Do you feel stuck? Or abandoned from someone from the past?

The 2nd dream, A stanger (the unknown) bursts into your house and You/Mum/Best friend have to kill him. This stranger and having to kill him may be telling you that you have an inner fear of people and find it difficult to trust. Killing someone in a dream is not literal, you infer it to protecting yourself and controlling your emotions.

The 3rd and fourth dream with one perspective, someone is chasing you and you ran to a place of saftey, where you arrive at a staircase, rising above your emotions, seeing a nun running towards you, she screams and you scream back would tell me that you are finding your voice and seeking your own truth.
Looking out of the window and seeing yourself hanging is a dead end.

So look at what this is telling you and think this way, you are in emotional conflict and testing different ways of resolving things.
Find what works for you and dont be dismayed by others opinions.
It took a lot of courage to face fear. If you come accross simular dreams let that fear go straight through you and you will feel stronger and more inpowered by the way of your reaction.

Hi CRV...I'm curious as to whether you are on a certain medication and if it is new to you. I only ask because a number of years ago, I began taking Cymbalta for a nerve damage issue and I began to have extremely vivid, violent and terrifying dreams. I didn't necessarily mind - I love horror fiction, but still. They definitely affected my waking hours...

Your mind is telling you that you are a talented creative writer!