Daughter can't get dream about gma off her mind

I'm wanting to interpret my 11 year old daughter's dream. My mother (her gma) who she was very close to and who's been a parent to her all her life recently passed away. This dream left my daughter very upset, very quiet and distant. Said it was the worst dream ever.. she described it like so..


A war is happening and she and her family have taken shelter. She can hear loud bombs going off and low air planes. While in this shelter she sees her grandma in the distance,she runs towards her to hug her and as she touches her she transforms/morphs into a man, a stranger. It keeps happening thru out the dream. She sees her grandma, goes to touch her and she turns into a stranger. She says she is freaking out in the dream saying 'im hallucinating, I'm hallucinating'

What's your opinion?

It sounds like she isn't ready to process the idea yet that her grandma has died. In the dream she sees her change into something different - alien from what Grandma was. It seems to me this is a sort of halfway stage to her accepting death - and repeating "this is a hallucination" seems like she's desperately trying to hold on, to pretend like it isn't real.

And of course the family taking refuge and bombs going off represent that the whole family is taking refuge from the terribleness of the event, drawing together for comfort as the outside world (reality) seems to be transformed into a hellish landscape.

Dream interpretation is very subjective and approximate at best.

I have lost my grandmother somewhat recently as well as my significant other both within the last 5 years. I was sad about loosing my grandmother, but life goes on. I had easier time adapting to my grandmother passing than with my significant other. I'm dependent on anti-anxiety meds and antidepressant to even function on a daily basis.

Dreams can mean different things for everyone. Is it a recurring dream for her? Has she had more pleasant dreams about her grandmother since her passing? If you think she is emotionally strong enough maybe you can ask HER what she feels her dream means. Her own interpretation will be more accurate.

As for my interpretation... the war and bombings could represent the state of reality the family is going through with her grandmother's passing, but her grandmother is there to comfort her in the dream. Her grandmother turning into a man could simply be representation of the change i.e. her transition into something different. If you guys believe in afterlife and reincarnation, it could even be her grandmother trying to comfort her by saying she is being reborn as a man and is not gone forever. Something like this can be hard to process and rarely makes sense. I still haven't made sense of passing of my significant other. The family must be still grieving, but I would suggest you guys talk about the good times around her. That might help her ease into it.

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Originally Posted by Darkmatters

It sounds like she isn't ready to process the idea yet that her grandma has died. In the dream she sees her change into something different - alien from what Grandma was. It seems to me this is a sort of halfway stage to her accepting death - and repeating "this is a hallucination" seems like she's desperately trying to hold on, to pretend like it isn't real.

And of course the family taking refuge and bombs going off represent that the whole family is taking refuge from the terribleness of the event, drawing together for comfort as the outside world (reality) seems to be transformed into a hellish landscape.

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Thanks. That makes sense. I read her this response and she agrees.