Sexual Abuse Support Group

Our dreams are certainly a part of us, but beyond that you are the best person to decide. IMHO even therapists won't be of much help here, but they will help you keep your head on a good level.

Willingtobefree:

I agree with MickKay. You are the best person to decide about your dreams. A therapist may ask you questions but it's you that must come up with the answers.

One way I found helpful for myself was to write the dream out and then take every part of the dream and give it a voice. For instance, if I dreamed I was drinking a cup of coffee and a car swerved around the corner and knocked me over I would give voice to the cup/coffee/car/corner/being knocked over, etc.

The story that results may give you some interesting clues both about yourself and your dream.

Dreams have meaning, but you are the only one who can say what they are.
xx

Willingtobefree:

Realized this morning that I did not explain what "give it a voice" means or looks like...sorry. Let me do that now.

Same dream of a cup of coffee...etc. Giving voice to the cup looks like this:(I describe the cup I saw in my dream but begin each sentence with the word "I"):

"I'm a tall cup. I have a long handle that makes it easy for others to hold me. I like being tall because I can hold more. I have a great design on the outside and one on the inside, too. I am unique because most cups only have a design on the outside, but I let others see my inside design as well. I am solid because I have a large base and I'm not easily tipped over. I have a long crack running down one side but it has been so masterfully mended it's hardly noticeable"....etc.

The point is I'm describing the cup in my dreams but am starting each sentence with the word "I" for at some level my description of the cup is also a description of me...maybe not literally, but figuratively speaking.

For instance, if I were to relate my description of the cup in my dreams to my essence I would say: In reality I am not tall, but in fact, I've always FELT tall. I take in lots of life so do hold more. I believe I am unique and am not afraid to let "safe" people see the inside of me. I am grounded and not easily tipped over. The long crack running down my side is the abuse but I have done so much healing around the abuse that it's become virtually invisible.

Hope I've given you enough to do this exercise if you wish to.
xx

Thanks for suggesting that exercise Suz! I may use that myself.

I haven't tried the exercise yet. But I do plan on it. I think for me the dreams were trying to get through to me. It took a very long and hard session the last few weeks with my cousnelor for me to remember that I was powerless as a child and that I couldn't defend off my abusers. It still hurts knowing this but once I allowed the thoughts to sink into my thick brain, the dreams went away.