Horrific violence... Very vivid.

[Cadizz]

Hi there, I'm having extremely vivid dreams that are very violent. I'll tell you about last night's one, as it was the most vivid and left me the most disturbed... It starts with a man confronting my father, I headbutt the man and as he stumbles back, his eye turns in to a large open wound with no eyeball and blood starts to pour. The scene then skips to a dingey, horrible looking squat-like house where I am with a group of 3 girls and 5 or 6 guys around my own age (none of whom I recognise in real life) , but in the dream, one of the girls is my gf. She is petite and pale with wavey red hair (kinda looks like a young Isla Fisher) - anyway, it becomes apparent that the guys are plotting to kill her. We skip to a nasty bathroom and she is in the bath with two of the guys standing over her... As they both get knives out of their pockets, I and the other girl are stood behind them without them knowing and my gf looks me in the eye with a look of terror. In sync, myself and the other girl creep up behind the two men and cut their throats. I saw through theguys head and this part is so vivid that I can feel the bone crunching against the blade and can hear him gargling the blood. He then turns around with his head hanging off and we start to joust with our knives. He then punches me in the face with his blade and my whole face just becomesan unrecognizable lump of flesh. I then die in my gf's arms. Other dreams have included me tying a man to a chair, shaving his hair, opening the top of his skull with a pizza cutter and eating melted cheese from his brain and paying a man £5,000 to eat a whole raw chicken in front of me and I laugh as he starts to vomit and crap his pants. I'm a 23 year old non-violent man and these dreams are really scaring me. Soany help in figuring them out would be appreciated, as im too embarrassed to tell my doctor. (I should add that I dont have the sleepdisorder where I scream and shout and act out the dream, I sleep soundly)

[JoannaB]

I think part of the purpose of these dreams may be to scare you or to help you realize that you are scared. Why are you scared really? The dreams I think are not a cause but rather a symptom that something is disturbing you. Of course, as always, if this does not sound right to you, feel free to disregard. One word of caution though: do not start thinking of yourself as a violent man because of these dreams. As long as your waking self is nonviolent and disturbed by these dreams, you are not a violent man. Also I don't think there is anything to be embarrassed about: sane people can and do have insane dreams. If I were you, I would talk with your doctor if you doctor is someone whom you trust. Face to face advice from someone who may understand better is preferable to advice from strangers over the Internet. What you need I suspect is to consider the bigger picture of your life and issues you are facing, and not just these dreams out of context. Sometimes dreams may mean something completely different than a face value superficial first reaction might suggest: your dreams may not really be about violence, the violence may stand for something else. I recently read a Buddhist book in which the author admitted to going for years to a therapist about depression, and then reaching the conclusion that the depression hid an anger, but then she had progressed or regressed into a combination of depression and anger which was not helpful at all, and it was not until she discovered what issues were underlying the anger, and that it was not anger at all after all that she was able to move beyond it. I hope that unlike her it will not take you years to discover what the issue really is. Peace.

[Cadizz]

Thanks for the resoponse. I've been having work and money problems for the past 8-9 months and basically my life isn't where I've always imagined it would be at this age. So I'd imagine that to be the cause, but I just didn't get the connection to the unbelievably graphic violence and was worried I was losing my mind haha.

[snoop]

Violent dreams are normal, more so for males than females statistically. I don't know if it is indicative of anything about personality or desires or fears or anything like that. In my violent dreams, I am typically in front of someone that is some way bound or unable to defend themselves or move. And, without feeling hatred or even thirst for blood or like my life is being threatened, I feel compelled to kill these people. I feel as though I am nearly being forced to, as if by another person or some mysterious force, but I know full well that nothing is forcing me to. I just feel like I must. Then, I proceed to kill whomever is bound in front of me. 9 times out of 10 it was with something other than a gun, some kind of blunt object or a knife. The person also usually takes forever to actually be killed, forcing me to hit/stab/attack them over and over until they finally do. Try and not let these dreams bother you. It might be saying something about my personality, but usually my dreams don't bother me at all.

[JoannaB]

Thanks for the resoponse. I've been having work and money problems for the past 8-9 months and basically my life isn't where I've always imagined it would be at this age. So I'd imagine that to be the cause, but I just didn't get the connection to the unbelievably graphic violence and was worried I was losing my mind haha. No, definitely not loosing mind if violent dreams are "all" that is wrong. To loose mind your waking mind would need to be lost as well, so if the dreams produced an insane reaction in your waking self - a reaction that was not how normal people would react to them, that would be a worrisome sign. If you had posted same dreams and said how much you enjoy them and look forward to them then it would be warning bells ringing that something is wrong with your sanity, however your current reaction makes me suspect that you are quite sane - though of course, I don't know you well enough to be able to judge that, nor am I a qualified professional. However, let's put it this way: nothing you have posted thus far suggests insane person, but thus far I think it suggests sane person with disturbing dreams. Edit: come to think of it perhaps all these dreams are saying is that you are disturbed, as opposed to content, that your mind feels turbulent? Edit2: although come to think of it one of the most horrifically violent nightmares I recently had filled with gore in a horrific civil war type scene actually occurred right after one of the most pleasant content days of my recent past, so actually even a content mind is perfectly capable of producing horrific nightmares inexplicably at times.

[sarahripley7]

I too have had extremely violent dreams. I'm either mutilating someone or a random stranger will kidnap me and won't let me go. I'll often wake up sobbing or trying to yell. I don't yell out things people would understand its just weird noises escaping my throat. This happens at least once week.I also have dreams about my family dying and no one will. Stop to comfort me. Sincerely, Sarah Ripley