Recurring dreams

[lammers1980]

I know that dream interpretation is a very subjective thing and that there are many schools of thought regarding what causes them, but I have a question regarding recurring dream themes.

It seems that for the last 5 years or so, I have been having recurring dreams about being back in high school. The are not identical, but more variations on a theme. Sometimes I am attending my own school, other times it is another real school, and sometimes it is an imaginary school. Also, for the most part, it seems that I am not high school aged, but in fact my own current age (20-24 during the span they have been occurring). There have even been times that I was in elementary school!

Does anybody know if this means anything? Could it be that I have unresolved issues from this time? I endured severe bullying in grades 5-8 and fell into depression in my later high school years, resulting in numerous lost friendships and relationships. Sometimes I think I never really was able to resolve a lot of the issues from that time, make ammends with the people I knew back then and whatnot. Could these dreams have something to do with it? I know when I am having them, they tend to have positive feelings attached to them, but when I wake up, I feel a certain poignant sadness.

If anybody has insight into dreams and what causes them, please share your insight.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I recently summarized my general feeling about dreams on another forum:

Dreams are basically the brain's way of filing recent experiences and memories. Think of it as a huge filing system, based on meaning or semantics. While you dream, items in short term memory (recent experiences, your "inbox") are sifted through and compared with an array of items in long-term memory (folders in the filing cabinet) -- do these two things match? no? okay, check the next file... do these two things match?... etc. That's why dreams often seem so bizarre, because of the seemingly unrelated or impossible to link juxtapositions. It's simply information processing -> filing.

The exception is dreams about traumatic or highly emotionally charged or worrisome / anxious events, which tend to be more "episodic" in nature -- rather like a video or movie of the memory -- and these may be "recurrent dreams".

Other than that, looking for obscure symbolism in your dreams is like looking for predictive meaning in horoscopes.

Recurring dreams are different than non-recurring dreams but I think the key to why they are occurring/recurring is often more in what is happening to you now. What is going on in your life currently that might make you question yourself, your self-concept, your sense of belonging and moving ahead in your life - look for unmet needs or goals not met - look for sadness or disappointment in yourself or life or other people. Compare the feelings that are evoked by the dreams with the feelings that are predominant in your waking life.

It's not so much the content of the dream but the feelings and the themes...

 

[^^Phoenix^^]

Just out of curiosity, (i have no dream analysis background) but what themes are your dreams taking.

Are you being bullied in the dreams?

Robs

 

[lammers1980]

I am not bullied in my dreams. It is more like average day to day stuff. I always wonder if people will notice if I am older than them. They never do though.