Recently a therapist told me people normally do not have nightmares. I’m curious if that is true. What is your experience?
I worked 25 plus years in the restaurant/hospitality industry and now experience "stress dreams". I am in uncontrolable situations, ie: serving dozens of tables at once spread out over vast areas, sometimes different rooms/floors, and suffer panic attacks while trying manage my customers in my dreams. Sometimes I awake in the midst of a RL panic attack. Does anyone else have these kinds of work related dreams/nightmares?
I used to have nightmares. Not exactly so anymore. First, try to remember your dreams the minute you wake up. Write them down then or you will forget later. Today if I have a nightmare it involves saving someone from something, or things that might have been. Often some of this is mixed with final thoughts at bedtime and things going on in your life right now. What you end up with is disquised versions of anxiety mixed with hope and doubts. Very often you can interpret your own dreams this way. Not much in these dreams is really real in a valid sense.
One of my dreams involved driving. I drive for a living and used to do that years before also. I like driving. In this dream I was driving but the situation was different. My ex wife was in the dream and all of us (even others) were trying to keep dry. The dream was weird but I woke up to rain outside that you could hear on my rooftop.
Remember also that some dreams might be started by that last minute ham sandwich!
I DO have nightmares ocassionally. They usually revolve around my mother's stroke and subsequent death. Go figure.
Depends on how you describe a nightmare, never had a night terror but most of what I'd call nightmarish are more creepy than frightening or a feeling of falling out of control as I'm not comfortable with heights
Used to be 5-12 a week. Now I'm down to 1-2 a week. Never in my life have I had fewer. {Yes I have PTSD, and have since childhood}