Brain blocking traumatic dreams...

First of all, I have almost 100% dream recall. I always remember all my dreams.

I talk in my sleep all the time. People tell me things that I say and I remember saying them in dreams.

Yesterday I got home and as soon as I walked in the door, all the people I live with just started immediately asking me the same question: "What the hell happened to you last night???". I had no idea what they were talking about. They said that at about 2 am, I started screaming like crazy and I screamed for almost a minute straight and finally stopped. Their exact words were that I "was screaming as if somebody were killing me." I couldn't remember anything. Then all of a sudden memories came back from a dream where I got hit by a train. I can remember seeing the train as it was getting closer and knowing that I could not do anything to avoid it. It's the first time in my life that I felt what it was like knowing that I was going to die. I remember screaming in the dream, but just for about 2 seconds then I don't remember more of the dream. I remember waking up but not screaming while being awake. I vaguely remember hearing my roommates talking about me before drifting off again.

My question is: If I only remember screaming for about 2 seconds, why did everybody hear me screaming for an entire minute? Is it possible that my brain has blocked the memory of such a traumatic thing as getting hit by a train? Like I said, I remember everything right up the moment of impact, but definitely not screaming for one minute. Did I continue dreaming after getting hit, I just don't remember it?

It may very well be that you just forgot it. Also, in especially traumatic or vivid dreams, some weird stuff happens to time. You may have only screamed for two seconds in the dream, and time just screwed up in your head, or you may be forgetting something.

When they said that you screamed for a minute it could of been more like 5 seconds.

you know when you're falling off a cliff and you wake up the second before you hit the ground, (which is like what chann's saying)? why do you think we wake up after "dying?" that's what I wanna know. did you have a dream when you actually die, and you keep dreaming about after your death?

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Originally posted by Alric
When they said that you screamed for a minute it could of been more like 5 seconds.

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maybe even some miliseconds

According to what I've read, most of the sleep talking we do does not occur during REM sleep. I think that during REM sleep, sleep paralysis is stronger, preventing us from talking, walking around, etc, while our mind is sending signals to do those things. It is possible that your scream happenned during some other stage of sleep, and that you just happenned to have a dream that could have caused a similar reaction.

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Originally posted by tryagain
you know when you're falling off a cliff and you wake up the second before you hit the ground, (which is like what chann's saying)? why do you think we wake up after \"dying?\" that's what I wanna know. did you have a dream when you actually die, and you keep dreaming about after your death?

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I've had a dream where I was a spirit and I could see with my whole body. It was amazing. I never experienced death though.

As for the question the brain does not want you to have fear or depression from a serious dream. That is one reason why it is so hard to recall many dream for some people. It is because your brain is fighting to keep you from knowing some information from your dreams.

I have mild narcolepsy, so the normal sleep talking, sleep walking and sleep paralysis rules are a little flexible with me.