A Recurring Nightmare: Post #2

On Monday I began analyzing the recurring nightmare of a successful young Japanese-American physician named Suki. She has had this dream ever since she was a child.

Suki’s Dream

I was walking along a sidewalk in my neighborhood. It was broad daylight and there wasn’t a lot on my mind. Suddenly, I knew that there was a huge monster right behind me, and he was going to grab me. I raced into the first house I saw. It wasn’t my house, but I seemed to know it well. I ran upstairs to one of the bedrooms and hid under the bed. The monster followed me into the room and was looking all around for me. I was praying that he wouldn’t find me, but knew it was only a matter of time before he did. That’s when I woke up covered in a sweat, really frightened.

Isolating and interpreting the symbols

Now we come to the “Tell me about it” part of the analysis: I ask neutral questions to help the dreamer come closer to understanding each symbol’s metaphoric meaning.

Tell me about…

Walking:  Going from one place to another.

Sidewalk:  It’s a safe place to walk where you won’t be threatened by traffic.

Neighborhood:  It’s where I live.

Broad Daylight:  It’s light; it’s the active time; out in the open; it feels safe.

Monster:  It wants to destroy me. It’s a threat. It’s evil. It’s scary.

A house I know well:  I’m hoping it’s a safe haven for me, but it’s probably not.

Upstairs:  The higher level—more difficult for a “bad guy” to find.

Under a bed:  I’m trying to find the best place to hide.

Praying:  Calling on a higher power for help.

Only a matter of time before [he found me]:  My prayers were useless.

Reassembling the dream

It was time to put the dream back together, replacing the symbols with Suki’s comments about them. I would also sprinkle statements like “There is a part of me” and “inside of me” throughout the dialogue to remind Suki that every symbol represented aspects of herself.

There is a part of me that is going from one place inside myself to another. I’m in a part of me that is a safe place, where I won’t be threatened by my other traffic. I’m in the area inside of me where I live. It’s light. It’s the active time inside myself, I’m out in the open and it feels safe. But suddenly I become aware that there is part of me present that wants to destroy me. It’s a threat. It’s evil. It’s scary. I go to a place in me that I hope is a safe haven, but it’s probably not, even though it’s on a higher level. I’m trying to find the best place in me to hide. I call to my higher power for help, but it’s useless.

In my next post, I’ll see if I can help Suki explore what this is all about.

If you enjoy these posts, you can follow the discussion uninterrupted.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page to learn how.