Dream of family being killed by friend

[golfgirl143]

Last night i had a dream that my best friend killed my family. It's weird because i can vividly remember everything. The dream went like this, We were in class and she yelled at me in front of our whole class for not talking to her. I said "What the heck, man?" and grabbed my stuff and left the class, later in the day i saw that she blocked me from every social media site. I thought that maybe she was just going through a depressive episode (she's actually depressed in real life), so i was like whatever. That night came and i heard a loud banging sound from the backdoor, i grabbed a knife and i saw that she came bursting in my house with a gun (oddly enough i didn't use the knife against her). She went into my brothers room and stared at him and i was yelling at her saying, "What are you doing?!". She ran to my parents room and shot my dad right in the head. I was fighting with her, trying to get the gun from her hands and she shot at the headboard of their bed, and then she shot my mom right in the rib-cage. I don't know if my mom survived or not, but all i remember at the end of my dream is my brother and i being interviewed by some news reporter. What does this dream mean? To top it off, my parents really don't like my best friend since she can be very vindictive and uses her depression as an excuse for treating people like crap.

[RaveCrazedDave]

Quotting "Break free from OCD" by Dr Fiona Challacombe, Dr Victoria Bream and Professor Paul Salkovskis: (To clarify, I'm not saying you have OCD, I just think the quotes are relevant to the discussion.) For many people troubled by constant rumination, the question "why am I having this thought" is really important. And the reality is that rumination is not random. There is a pattern; loving mothers and fathers are troubled by thoughts of harming, abusing or neglecting their children, the religious person is troubled by blasphemous thoughts, the gentle person by thoughts of violence, the open minded person by racist thoughts and so on. (...) in OCD, the intrusive thought focus on your worst fears. (...) the person gets absorbed into trying to understand the content of the thoughts. However, the process that keeps the problem going is the rumination itself. Dreams only have as much importance as that you give them; they are thoughts. If this is something you're worried about, stop. I like analysing dreams, and I believe we can grow a lot personally from doing so, but this activity should be one of introspection. No symbol means exactly the same thing for two people, for example, so I find it quite silly and cruel that people proselityse the idea of asking others what your dreams mean so much. Yes, a second opinion may help if you're having trouble identifying where a thought you're interested in comes from, but the second thing that I don't like is that people are just too quick to dismiss simple and obvious answers that fit well with the circumstance. For instance, in your case, I'd say it's a perfectly natural dream to have. Lots of "random" thoughts go through our head, and while they do so they mix and intertwine and collide and dance and so on with each other, originating new thoughts in the process. I find it perfectly feasable that while you were sleeping, your mind wandered to the thought of your friends position and their relationship with your parents, and things just went from there in the most gruesome way (because what we fear becomes strong). This is a natural phenomena, and it is in no way anything to be worried about. It's a simple, albeit twisted, reflexion of your position between these two entities (your parents and your friend). Now, you could keep asking the question "what does it mean", but I think a much better question to ask is "what can I gather from this that can make my life better"? You might decide it'd be a good idea to invite your friend over for dinner so your parents can get to know them better and vice versa; something like that for example. I have this rule, which is has been amazing for me when dealing with my own mind in general: if it's good and empowers you, chase it; if it's bad, let it go.

[Darkmatters]

my parents really don't like my best friend since she can be very vindictive and uses her depression as an excuse for treating people like crap. I think your last statement encapsulates what the dream is really about. In the dream you just dramatized the situation in an over-the-top way, with everything turned up all the way. But I also think you're beginning to wonder about your friend, and if your parents may be right. People who behave the way you say she does generally have some sort of emotional problems that run very deep. She may have been treated abusively as a child and been damaged by it, and now she acts out and treats others abusively. I think your parents recognize this but you seem to be in denial or maybe just naive about it. People who show a tendency to be abusive toward others and try to cover up their behavior with excuses are demonstrating a certain kind of mentality - using their victimhood to cover their own terrible behavior. This is a sign of deep problems, and usually people like this will also emotionally manipulate others - pretending to be one thing while hiding what they really are underneath. Also they look for people who are naive and who are willing to believe the front they put on, because of course they want people around them who will be nice to them even if they explode now and then, and this kind of person is called a codependent or an enabler. I'm afraid you're being used as an enabler and you just aren't seeing it yet, and this dream is beginning to show you the truth in an exaggerated symbolic way. It doesn't mean your friend is going to kill your family of course - that is just symbolism. But it is showing you her inner nature, or at least what you're beginning to suspect her inner nature might be. Not the friend you thought she was but a wolf in sheeps' clothing. EDIT - Also, I just realized - in the dream you had a gun and you were surprised that you didn't use it to stop your friend - which means essentially you failed to protect your parents from her and so they were killed. Keep in mind dreams do use exaggerated symbolism - what it seems to mean is that you feel like you should have protected them from her but you failed and so they got hurt. This implies that somewhere inside you think they might be right, and maybe her killing them really symbolizes her hurting you. Often in dreams you switch roles with people - put yourself in their shoes so to speak. This happens I think when we feel like we hurt them and we're empathizing with them, exploring the experience from their side. I think you sort of imagined yourself in the position of your parents, who tried to protect you from her (by telling you she's no good and you shouldn't hang out with her) but they failed, because you ignored them. And now you're imagining how they must feel - especially if you do end up getting hurt - if she ends up violating your trust or betraying you or something. They would feel like they failed to protect you, just as you felt in the dream. So maybe the dream was really less about your friend and more about your parents, or rather you are experiencing how they might feel. Maybe you feel bad about rebelling against them in this way.