Anyone else have nightmares? I dreamed I was in my cabin in a ferry. And then it turned upside down and started sinking. It was terrifying. All I could think of was “Where are my meds?” And I started searching for them instead of getting out. Why do you do stupid things like that in dreams?
Anyone a dream-pro who can tell me what this means? I believe dreams that have a strong impact on you mean something. You remember the dream and there is something you need to do with it or the (horrifying?) dream will return.
I had a dream of being paralyzed the other day. These are quite common I think, but I can’t recall having one before. It wasn’t like I was in a wheelchair or anything - I just couldn’t move in my dream.
What interests me most about my dreams are the ‘givens’ in them. These are not like events that occur to you in your dream, but provide a context in which the dream-events take place. For instance, in the dream of being paralyzed, I was in my room. Though it looked certainly not like my actual room, it was a ‘given’ that this was my room. In another dream I dreamt about a girl I know, but in the dream she looked very different, yet it was given that this was the same girl I know in real life. Maybe the most disturbing dream I had was when the given was that I was a murderer. The dream wasn’t really about acts of violence, nor was it about being in jail or fleeing from anyone. Quite ordinary things happened in that dream, though the context was that I was a murderer.
Meaning of dreams can be interesting, though I typically do not make to much of it. I do not think there is something like an objective meaning to them. I see them as little works of art of your imagination and the dreamer decides upon their meaning. Ofcourse, others may help and suggest ideas to interpret this work of art, to fill in the gaps and make it a coherent story. But I think the dreamer decides if this is indeed what it meant to him. So if someone suggests some wishes or desires that might put the dreamstory in a particular light, and these do not resonate with the dreamer, I do not think these can be said to be ‘the real’ meaning of the dream.
Freud was a very insightful man, but later criticism showed there was also a lot of conceptual confusion and conflation in his work. Such was apparent in his writings on dream interpretation, where he mistakenly thought he was advancing scientific claims about the causes of dreams (which he thought to be unconscious wishes and desires and the like), whereas in fact, he was imposing interpretations of the dream onto the patient. In general, we know very well not to confuse a causal history with an interpretation, but when it comes to the products of the mind, they get confused easily. Think of a work of art in a museum, how one may interpret it and give meaning to it. What does such consist of? And is it anything like a description of the causal history of how this painting came to be? I think not.
I read a book where dreams was mentioned. WHat you need to do, is look at the dream for a long time without makeing any conclusions. Then eventually when you are able to “feel” the dream, you might understand what the dream is about. Try to get a “feel” for the dream. When you have done this, you might just look up what a ship usually means online.
here are some suggestions for a meaning: “over reliance on meds?”, “Do people only see me as psychotic?”, “Do I really believe my doctor?”
Sounds like you need to shape up your perception on your personal recovery. Are antipychotics really the sole source of your success & happiness, or do you perhaps have to learn how to become more independent, staying afloat so-to-speak through other means?
A lot of people are missing out on a higher life because they think meds are a one-size-fits-all glove to perfecting life. It really isn’t. You have to develop tactics that help you survive. The longest living people who have been on Earth are med-free and using all-natural methods to survive. Perhaps you need to broaden out into more natural methods as well.