COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT DREAMS...

 

In the article, I have tried to answer the basic questions you may have about dreams. Here I give you answers to some of the frequently asked questions about dreams and dream psychology.

 

 

Q. What factors lead to pleasant or unpleasant dreams?

 

A. Dreams are related to your state of mind. It's natural to experience unpleasant dreams when you are going through a lot of stress or have anxiety. Bad dreams mostly result from a bad state of mind. As opposed to this, you experience pleasant dreams when you are not in a depressed state of mind. When you are feeling good about life, it reflects in your dreams as well.

 

 

Q. What are recurring dreams?

 

A. Dreams that occur repeatedly are recurring dreams. There's a certain set of images of people or places which keep occurring in the dream. People with post-traumatic stress disorder have recurring dreams of the traumatic event. These dreams may carry a message about something you are not noticing. Some of the commonly experienced recurring dreams are those of falling from a height (may mean you feel a lack of support), missing an exam (may mean that you are actually afraid of exams) and being unable to move (may indicate that in real life you are in a situation you are not being able to get out of). More in meanings of recurring dreams.

 

 

Q. What are nightmares? Are these same as night terrors?

 

A. Nightmares are bad dreams that create feelings of horror or sadness. The person who has a nightmare sees horrifying images or experiences situations of fear or discomfort in his dream. Night terrors are not the same as nightmares. Children commonly experience night terrors and they occur during the first few hours of sleep. After a nightmare occurs the person is seen with his eyes open and with a look of panic. Nightmares are less common in adults.

 

 

Q. What is lucid dreaming?

 

A. A lucid dream is one in which the dreamer is completely aware of what he is seeing in the dream. In a lucid dream, the person dreaming can exercise some amount of control on the content of the dream and his role in it. On some days you might have woken up with a feeling that you had a dream, you could recollect the dream clearly and you were completely aware of what was happening in the dream when you were dreaming. Perhaps you were lucid dreaming.

 

 

Q. Do blind people dream?

 

A. Yes they do. It's just auditory senses are more common in their dreams. Images are absent, less common or blur. It also depends on whether the person was blind from birth or lost vision in an accident/illness years later. Their last memories of sight reflect in their dreams.

 

 

Q. Can dreams predict future? Does every dream have something to say about what's going to happen in the future?

 

A. Yes, dreams can predict the future, but not all dreams are predictive. Most dreams are reflections of your state of mind at that point of time. But there are theories which support the existence of something called precognitive dreams. Theorists say that having precognitive dreams is a rare ability some people have.

 

 

You had a dream last night? Try to recollect all that you saw, identify your psychological associations with the dream images and link all of them. More than what the elements of your dream symbolize, it is about what the elements mean to you.