I have always believed in spirit, and have had dreams such as the one you described, when someone dies. We are on the waiting list for a popular medium as my bf's brother passed recently and very unexpectedly. (Seeing what he has gone through... you have all my condolences and a huge hug.)

What's funny is I do have trouble accepting "voices from God". Maybe since I am sort of a wishy-washy believer?

I can see the difference between psychosis and spirituality in other people I just can't see it in myself. They blend together into one based on my feelings at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itRbwbVTrzw

Whatever gets you through the night it's alright !

Thank you for all your comments. I have always believed in spirit and always thought I knew the difference.

I think lacking self belief has brought me here. I am not seeing anything I don't already know. They're comforting dreams and definitely not trying to hurt anyone.

I know the difference between psychosis and the voice of God. Even while psychotic, I could tell it was not real.

When it is God, it is always right, it always happens. I used to have vivid dreams - about God and many other things. But the nightmares forced me to give them up - I suppress them with drugs.

I think dreams are in our minds. But if it helps you, then don't worry about it. I'm sure your brother loved you, and would want to help. And sorry that he died, too. My condolences.

It depends upon your heritage and what your spiritual bearing is.

If psychoses are too traumatic and they just plain hurt you, then a shamanic experience may not be what you need.

On the other hand, if you are of the condition where you can understand that which is beyond the veil and you have some sort of connection to that, you can do that in tandem with regular treatment.

But what I'd think is that one would mainly go into talk therapy and try to resolve past issues. For example, my delusions about men come from havign a distant and emotionally cold father. I always wanted a *rescuer* or I wanted my dad's love.

Indeed, the woman is correct to a degree-Often, psychoses often represent unresolved issues, for sure, but a psychosis is often so complex and twisted up that it really takes years to get a point to where it can either be gotten rid of or at least managed.

With meds, work with the doctor to insure that the meds work for you. As well, you can learn coping skills like breathing, or "going to that quiet space" or learn nurturance techniques to assist with the trauma from psychoses.

Disclaimer: Always check with your doctor and discuss all psychiatric issues with him.

this subject is up for debate, literally, in psychology and neurology circles. A great couple of books are "Spook" and "the God Part of the Brain".

Personally, I love this subject, even though I'm not really a believer. But I think you can conceptualize it as a poetic symbol; the concept of a ghost reaching out to tell you they're ok, they love you, etc. is kind of beautiful. No one really knows what happens after death. And there are theories about parallel universes and so on.

That said, those of us with mental illness need to be very, very careful with this stuff. I find it helpful to think of it in a scientific, philosophical way so that a hallucination doesn't take hold, so that psychosis doesn't hold.

It's also worth noting that lots of religious experiences happen with otherwise functional people. And this is coming from an atheist....

BTW, I think a dream wouldn't be worriesome, but rather comforting.

I too am sorry for your loss.

If you had visions during the day, however, that might need a bit of scrutiny as to how well you're doing.

I have to agree with Tommymott. Psychosis, when you research it, even talks about how while in psychosis people will often experience these type of things. It also says bipolar' s when manic can believe they saw God, or are God. I think it's just the illness. In my personal opinion, I believe in God and rely on Him heavily, but it's my faith that helps me through some of this stuff. In psychosis, it is treatable.

It's funny....I have run the Gamut of thoughts, beliefs, expectation and so forth when it comes to the difference between the bipolar experience and actual spiritual revelations....every time I think I am Sure about certain things that have happened, well...I'm not.

But about Dreams, I am more sure - simply because I can Study the mind and understand "where" dreams supposedly come from.

Many times I have typical dreams (of those I remember). Some other times I have had Very introspective dreams where I am trying to work something Out that I may not understand, and my subconscious mind helps me in symbolic ways I cannot create during wakefulness.

But there are other times, much fewer and further between, when I Know my dreams are not created by my own subconscious of previous information, no matter how scattered or unrecognized, but rather Received within my subconscious from other sources. And I would be hard-pressed to have someone convince me otherwise.

Isn't ' Gamut ' a Hindu God ?

From The Oxford Dictionary: Gamut -(the gamut)

1:the complete range or scope of something: the whole gamut of human emotion

2 Music a complete scale of musical notes; the compass or range of a voice or instrument.
historical a scale consisting of seven overlapping hexachords, containing all the recognized notes used in medieval music, covering almost three octaves from bass G to treble E.
historical the lowest note in the gamut scale.

Phrases

run the gamut
experie