Recurring nightmares in adults

[100milesanhour]

Hi

Does anyone have any experience on recurring nightmares in adults?

I have had the same nightmare for the last week and last night, I slept for 2 hours because of how many I've had.

They're all the same nightmare. Nothing changes. I don't know why this is happening to me.

I don't feel anxious, stressed (I do now these nightmares have started)

My nightmare is absolutely horrific and I don't know what's triggered them.

I'm so tired.

have you spoken to anyone and described what happens in your nightmares

What is it about? Have you tried a wind down to bed time, try to block any thoughts of the dream, if it creeps into your mind before falling asleep then concentrate on your breathing - the noise the length the feeling of your chest expanding the feel of the bedding on your skin. Try relaxation methods - the tension and thoughts slipping out of your body (if you've seen Harry Potter, I imagine how they get memories out of their heads). Also you can find out, in dreams certain things signify other things. Like teeth falling out isn't because you need to visit the dentist etc!

I wish it was something as simple as my teeth falling out.

My nightmare is horrific. I'm traumatised that my mind even came up with it, I'm trying to work out if I heard it on tv or the news or something and that's where it's come from.

I don't even know who I would talk to about what happens in it.

I used to get weird panic attacks during the night (not the same, I know), I'd sit up with the lights on feeling scared that I was losing my mind, and every time it happened, the moment I shut my eyes I'd end up straight back to my nightmare/dream/panic.
I booked myself in with a local hypnotherapist (certified non woo-type), we talked through it all, she was completely unfazed by everything I told her (especially the odd bits) and she gave me fairly fast-acting techniques to deal with these episodes. I still use them years later.

One involves breathing and visualising colours (breathe in calm white, breathe out the panic/dream black). The other involves physically getting out of the bedroom, visualising the dream in front of you as a sheet of paper, folding the 'paper' up and treading on it, squashing it into the ground (sounds weird but it worked for me). I think I was told to repeat this last one till the panic had receded.

Otherwise I wonder if a GP could help you access help? Sounds absolutely horrible for you, I really hope it stops soon.

Can you tell someone IRL about it? I find that sometimes seems to take the power of it away.

I will be talking to someone about it.

I came to stay with my parents tonight (hubby is away out for boys night and won't be home until tomorrow)

I don't understand where this has come from, im waking up sweating. My son came into my room because I woke him up because I was shouting out.

I will try those breathing techniques, thank you very much for telling me about them x

I second the talking to someone IRL about it. Glad you were at your parents' house last night, my DP always sleeps through everything but I'm comforted knowing he's there.

I found talking to people I trusted helped me, it just seemed to diminish the power of the experience as Hercules mentioned above. Didn't stop me being scared of going to sleep but it helped.

Believe me, mine were horrific! Not sure if it was linked but I was in quite a new (and fantastic!) relationship but my violent graphic dreams were about me basically maiming him!

I've had this happen in the past. My mind found the tiniest thing - a word on the TV, something I briefly glanced at during the day etc and then as it tried to categorise my experiences it used these to sort of shape the story around. Dreams don't necessarily mean anything, it could just be that you're struggling with some source of anxiety (even something really insignificant) and your brain wants to process it and put it away.

Think through the dream and see if there's any small details that might be linked to something that has happened to you recently?

The other thing is that your sleeping environment can sometimes influence how much REM sleep you have, making you dream more or less.

After thinking it through, I watched a film a few weeks ago where the storyline is so similar to my nightmare so I feel it's stemmed from that only instead of the characters, it involves my family.