dreams affected by your anxiety?

[MrMike]

anyone here have to deal with the anxiety even in your dreams? too often i have dreams where i will be at some random place and in the dream i get a sudden urge that i have to leave that place and hurry back home....my safe zone. i actually start having anxiety in my dream. ill wake up feeling pretty on edge but i usually calm my self down enough to fall back asleep. ive been dealing with anxiety for over 30 years and this dream thing is something pretty new to me...just wondering if anyone else deals with this.

[Hidden]

Hi. I think this is the first time I have read about this issue on here - which surprises me given that all of us sleep at some point every day. When I was a young boy I was fascinated by the work of Freud - especially his work on dreams. Later I studied psychology at university and was able to look at a whole array of ideas and opinions on this topic. I came to the conclusion that there is a psychological and physiological influence on what we dream about. There is evidence that both these influences work together - for example MRI scans can show a persons empathy region in their brain, or how the brain of a psychopath will lack certain centres that deal with emotion.

Having rambled a bit what I am saying is this - I think that dreams will often be used to deal with issues which are too difficult for us to face in waking time. Dream time is actually a safe time in which to explore ourselves, our relationships and other issues of importance to us.

[MrMike in reply to Hidden]

thanks for your reply...makes sense to me. because of my agoraphobia, lack of health insurance and tight money i am not able to get any professional help for my condition...basically an issue too difficult for me to face most times..as you say. on a lighter note...im also single..do you think thats why i almost all my dreams im usually with a female that i can never identify? hehe.

[Agora1]

Mike, you're agoraphobic? I am too. Like Karlkohl said, I am able to interpret what I dream by what I fear during the day. In a lot of my dreams I am left at some random place and unable to get home. The fear is so intense that I wake up with tears rolling down my face. Another dream is that I am driving and yet forget how to get home.

It's no mystery in being agoraphobic that my dreams center around my home.

[MrMike in reply to Agora1]

hi Agora1...yes ive been struggling with agoraphobia for some time now. it has changed my life..and not for the positive. very stressful. so i guess it does make sense that the anxiety follows me into my dreams. i read somewhere that its possible for people to get control of things in their dreams....meaning that we can control what happens in your dreams as we are dreaming them. could this be true? my biggest wish right now is to go see a doctor. i have health issues that i have to put up with because i cannot go get treatment. i know one day i will overcome the agoraphobia...some how some way. thats what keeps me pushing forward. something else that keeps me going to seeing how many others are in the same boat as me...knowing im not the only one in this world going through this. i like your username by the way...hehe

[Agora1]

Oh Mike, not only do we struggle with the same disorder but have the same problems to deal with. I have medical issues that need to be addressed as well. Having anxiety is bad enough add to that being afraid to go out really makes your world a small place. Thanks for commenting on my username. I have had it for several years in another forum but you are the only one who ever put 2 and 2 together.

Have a good day my friend.