Childhood nightmares and dreams in general *TW*

{A careful TW here because of the general discussion about nightmares and possible traumas}

Did you had any recurring nightmares as a kid? What kind of dreams do you usually have? I have always remembered two different dreams and especially one of them makes me really anxious still when thinking about it.

The dream was that I woke up in my room at night, everything was normal looking, but then I saw a dark characted peeking in from the doorway. I curled up in my bed scared af and prob continued to sleeping after some time. This happened countless times and usually several nights a row.

I'm still wondering why it bothers me so much after all these years. Is it trauma related, I don't know, but it was during that time I don't remember much snything else. In my adulthood I have usually seen only random different dreams, usually different plot, ppl and such but the world they are occurring is the same, meaning the places seeing in the dreams are part of the same world. I wonder is it somehow linked to my inner world. And nightmares are usually me being a bystander witnessing some violence.

Dreams are weird, just saying..

Hello there!

The nightmare you describe sounds a bit like the regular thing people have during sleep paralysis and such. Yep, it can be terrifying! But it does not mean it's objectively trauma related.

Unless of course you nad this sleep paralysis/nightmare thing often enough to make you stressed all the time. This can cause trauma if it's bad enough especially if nobody can comfort you afterwards. Anything can cause trauma if it's stressful enough.

So yep, you can get trauma from bad recurring nightmares! Does not mean it has a meaning about what happened to you in the physical world. It can, of course. But it's also possible that it's "just a traumatizing nightmare".

Hope this helps!

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Envy