Meaning of nightmare?

Just noting that I didn't watch any scary movies or read anything disturbing before experiencing this. Had a dream that an old friend of mine was chasing me around, and I hit him over the head with a fire extinguisher. He fell to the floor, and in the dream I felt remorse. Suddenly the dream changed, and I was lying in my bedroom, but it looked a lot different. My wallpaper was rusted and peeling, and the ceiling was crawling with bugs. There was a banging noise coming from the wardrobe in front of my bed, and I could hear screaming from outside my window.

Whenever I have really bad nightmares like this one, I always wake up paralyzed. It's like where I partially open my eyes, but still can't move my body for at least 10 seconds, is this normal? The only thing I was thinking of before I went to sleep that night was my therapist telling me to remember more of my dreams. I told her about this one, and she said sometimes it's a normal thing in therapy where the client has crazy dreams like this. Why is this?

It might be night terror syndrome you have

It is because your mind is processing things you learned through therapy. Old feelings peeling away, the banging is your new self wanting to come out, a release of pent up feelings. The bugs are the old feelings that were once bugging you. It is a dream of change.

That makes sense Thunder Bow. Since I already started this thread, there's 2 more dreams I'd really like interpreted, one is mine and another is someone else's (I don't want to talk to my T about either one).

My therapist actually told me about a dream she had of me. This is my first time in therapy, so I'm not sure whether or not that's professional, but this is how it goes: Her work had told her a client had died, she was crying because she thought it was me. She was in some sort of bathroom with a ripped shower curtain, then went outside to see me dressed in a varsity jersey, about to catch a bus to a football game. This dream was after only 2 sessions with her, and I have an average build and never played football. What does this mean?

In my dream I was at a party, and I noticed my T peeking out at me from behind a corner, and for some reason she was now chubby. One of my friends came up to me and told me there was this odd woman wanting to talk to me, and made some joke about her being clingy. I started walking towards my therapist and she started adjusting her hair/preening (something she does a lot of when we talk in sessions), but then I ignored her and gave my female friend a long hug. My T then made an angry face and walked off (once at the end of a session I had with her in real life, I said bye to the T then bye to the office receptionist, and she made the same face).

Do you always wake up paralyzed after having had a nightmare? This sounds hauntingly close to a condition called sleep paralysis.

People in dreams often mirror parts of ourselves . Seeing you as an football player tells me that she sees you as being strong, and the you have healed. She may be seeing this in her self as well.

Your dream seems to mirror this as well. You feel she is not as important as your as your friend. Thus indicating that you have healed, thus not needing therapy any more.

I think you were spot on about my dream where I felt my friend was more important. Not quite sure about the interpretation on her seeing me as strong and healed. Her dream happened only after 2 sessions together, which strikes me as odd considering I usually never dream about someone until I've known them for at least a little while.

It varies with different people. She had a strong image about how strong you are.

Yep, its sleep paralysis. I had one event only.... thank heavens for that! It's extremely frightening. I dreamt I was laying in my bed and a creature was sitting on my chest and staring me right in the face. I wanted to scream but couldn't. I couldn't move either. It was like it wasn't a dream at all.

My ex woke me properly and asked what was wrong as he could hear me 'moaning in pain'.

There is lots of info on the web about the sleep disorder.

This dream may mean you had something you wanted to get off your chest in real life, but couldn't.

I spoke to the Dr about it. I thought there was something physically wrong with my chest. He said that chest crushing feeling I had is a typical symptom of sleep paralysis.