What Could This Dream Mean?

Reader’s Question

Q. Hello,

My name is Jessica, I am 22 years old, and I’m from South Florida. My question for you is about a recurrent dream I’ve been having throughout my life. I don’t believe in Dream people or those palm readers and crap, so I wanted some professional advice, to determine whether I should talk to a professional in person.

When I was about 10 years old, I had a nightmare that I was running and being chased by someone, I think it was a man, but in these dreams I don’t look back to see who it is chasing me….the person is wearing all black, and their face is covered by something that looks like a ski mask. I am being chased down a lonely road, surrounded by heavily wooded areas. The weather conditions are chilly, and it’s gloomy, kind of like cloudy out. No sunshine at all. I am being chased, and this person shoots me in the back…

Now at that point, I jolt, and wake up and have like a sharp feeling in my middle back, and I’m cold. Its so real, that it’s not even funny. I have this dream all of the time now, and it is becoming more and more frequent. Ironically, I have chosen a life of Law Enforcement, and have decided to dedicate my life on the streets, patrolling. I patrol in an area heavy in gangs, and shootings, and now I’m kind of freaked out. I moved to North Carolina, and there are a lot of streets that look like this, and it’s weird, and I’m becoming freaked out about it. Another thought I wanted to add in, is that I feel like I’ve been having déja vu…I feel like areas I’ve never been to before, I actually have, and people feel too familiar, when I’ve never lived in North Carolina before, it’s like I’m living a life, that I feel like I’ve already lived…really weird sometimes.

What does this mean, and why do I keep dreaming it, and why is it becoming more and more frequent?

– Jessica, North Carolina

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

A. We dream about seven dreams a night but only remember those that awaken us. Emotionally traumatic dreams, like the one you describe, are common in childhood. Dreams tend to reflect our moods — anxious folks are being chased, depressed folks dream of death/dying, etc. Dreams also include our experiences of the past week, as though the dreams were sorting recent memories. If a dream is scary enough, it then becomes a permanent memory that contains the emotions created by the dream, in this case fright, anxiety, fear of death, etc. These emotion-containing permanent memories are called “emotional memories“.

Everyone has a collection of good and bad emotional memories. It’s why we smile when seeing a friend or hearing a favorite song — or why we become immediately upset when being reminded of an unsetting event in our life. Recalling the memory also recalls the emotions of that time.

Your current job has placed you in a situation similar to that childhood emotional memory. As a result, you are now on-guard and hyperalert to any situation that might be similar to the childhood nightmare — that creates the sense of déja vu. It’s like hearing the first notes of a song and guessing the name of the song. Your brain looks at a scene, then guesses what memory fits it best - in this case, your nightmare. Dealing with Emotional Memory takes some work. I’ve written an article on the subject of Emotional Memory. It describes how we can water-down trauma memory.

Because the memory is so active, it may be an indication that you are under above-average stress at this point in your life. If your sleep, appetite, concentration, and energy are also a problem, you may be experiencing an anxiety or depressive disorder. When depressed, for example, the brain uses emotional memory to torment us. If you are also experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety, seeing a mental health professional is recommended.