Blood and Gore

This forum is amazing!!

I have kept a dream journal for nearly 10 years and I remember many vivid and detailed dreams. One thing that I have never been able to fully understand is why I have a common theme of violence in my dreams. For example, it is not uncommon for people to be murdered or raped, attacked or bleed profusely in my dreams. These dreams are not nightmares in that they do not cause me to break dream state and I don't wake up with an elevated heart rate or really upset anymore, since I'm used to them. I'm very sensitive to violence on TV and in my waking life in general. I have not been abused or had any violent act by another person inflicted on me in this lifetime. I did have 8 surgeries on my right ear between the ages of 2 and 9. My theory right now is that either these surgeries are the root of these recurring themes or that it is based in a past life experience. I would be interested to hear what others thought. Thanks!

Also, I run a dream forum which you are welcome to check out at : www.dreamnexus.net. It, of course, doesn't get the traffic that this site does, but please come and help it grow!

Hi jessica, Welcome to DreamViews ;)
Yes, we have quite a thing going here :D

Usually such things as violence stems from past experience, or negative emotions
In your case, you seem to have a possible exception :? Interesting...

It does bring to mind a program I watched on discovery, about anaesthesis
They mentioned that they are able to teach people new words under anaesthetic.
And although they forget how they learnt it, they retain the knowledge
They also had an experience of a man that remembered his surgery long after the event
And it also surfaced in dreams and sensations in his body

I'm wondering if you might not have a similar unusual situation :?

Well - welcome, and I hope someone has more to add to this...

FWIW, I had a particular recurring dream that involved a very bloody fist fight. One of the few dreams that did scare me and I was not Lucid in. Happened back when I was a teenager.....What this dream meant and its contents were of high interest to me since I did not dictate what happened and could not control it at all. I did some hunting around a few months ago and found all roads lead to 'change'. Fights, conflicts etc within dreams are supposed to represent significant changes in a person. For me the change was within myself....self image etc. just my 2c :lol:

Well, since you don't seem to have a violent history, it's hard to pinpoint the source of the dreams. I'd say that what matters most would be the effect that they have on the real world. So, are you interested in stopping the dreams, or affecting them in anyway? Also, have you had much experience in lucid dreaming before visiting the forum? Well, thanks for stopping by at DV! Talk to ya soon

First of all, a comment on recombinant's post about 'change'. I found this post very interesting and amusing since my boyfriend is currently creating a music project where he has a stage persona named 'Change'.

Then, regarding Placebo's comments about anaesthesis. I did not mention that the last surgery I had, when I was 9, I opted to stay awake for. It was a plastic surgery operation on my ear and I was, of course, high as a kite on pain killers, but I still clearly remember entering the operating room and that there was a nurse beside me and a convex mirror above the operating table that I could see out of the corner of my eye. The interesting thing is that I can remember all these details but I can't remember any of the actual operation. No blood or cutting. I do remember that the nurse made a comment about how hard I was squeezing her hand. My theory is that perhaps I had a panic attack or feelings of helplessness and fear upon the operation starting and I have blocked this trauma to the extent that it's only release is in my dreams.

I am very interested in regression therapy/hypnosis as a means of finally releasing this trauma...if this is in fact the root of my gorey dreams.

As far as lucidity, I'm lousy. As much time as I spend thinking about dreams, writing down dreams, studying dreams, etc...I've only been lucid twice for very short periods of time. I've tried several methods to aid lucidity with no luck as well and I'm so jealous of folks who seem to just naturally be lucid.

Thanks for the input!

Jessica

I remember listening to an Interview with Dr. Stephen Laberge in which he mentions that he knew somebody who was a pasifist, yet had graphic dreams about murders and killings (some which he commited)

Laberge come to the conclusion that the pasifist (spelling?) was a fan of crime novels, and he understood the structures of the storylines and projected them into his dreams.
He also said that because when you read something you enjoy it, so therefore you believe it real, even though you know it's not.
So this could be the basis for such aggressive dreams.

Of course I have no idea if you're a crime fan or not, so im not to sure, but i'd just thought i'd throw it into the mix.
The radio interview can be found hereif you're interested;
http://home.no/lucid/link.htm

You mentioned that you're used to the violent content now, but what about when you FIRST started having them? Were you disturbed by them then? Many of my dreams are also very violent and include painful sensations even though I am a avery calm, and passive person in waking life. It takes a lot to get me mad/excited, etc. yet my dreams tend to be extremely intense and graphic. I can remember reading a lot of Stephen King's, Dean Koontz, and other related stuff when I was in junior high and high school, though. I have never dreamed of their storys specifically, but some of these authors' writings still may have some heavy and powerful subconscious stimuli for violent dream content. The same may be said of movies or other media. Maybe some carry-over there.