Do dreams reflect true feelings/desires?

Posted , 3 users are following.

Hi,

My husband and I were watching a youtube video last night and the guy in the video reminded me of my abusive ex (it was the way his mouth moved when he spoke). I told my husband this after we were done watching it because it was really bothering me. Anyway, I spent most of the night thinking about this youtuber and how he reminded me of my ex. My husband and I went to bed, and of course I had a dream involving my ex since I was thinking about it so much before I went to bed. The dream started with my husband kind of calling it quits with me and I kept bothering him to get back together and he agreed. When I went to meet my husband he turned into my ex (in all the dreams I have had involving my ex, he is always nice, never abusive). The dream was fine, nothing bad happened.

Anyway, I wake up and now it is the only thing consuming my mind. I know I truly do not have feelings or desires to be with my ex but my dream has made me feel this way and I don't know what to do. Is this normal? This has happened before but I did not spend much time thinking about it because I did not struggle with OCD back then like I do now.

I do not have these feelings when there is not a trigger.

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Edited

    dont give your dreams that much power. most dont make sense. your brain picked up bits and pieces of what you were watching and stored it . that is just a biological process. sometimes it appears in dreams but not always. it just did in your case. has nothing to do with you true desires.

    i have had so many weird or embarassing dreams but i simply laugh them off knowing i would never want any to be real in my life.

    same for you. dont put so much stress on yourself .its just your brain spitting out images and maybe words it stored. dreams arent smart haha you are ok! dont overthink this cuz its not worth it

  • Posted

    Hi,

    This definitely happens to me, i was with an abusive ex many years ago and little things can trigger feelings that have long gone. Try and be compassionate to yourself as dreams can stir up distressing thoughts and feelings that we ruminate over especially with OCD. sorry i haven't got much advice but know that you're definitely not alone in your feelings

    • Posted

      Thank you so much for your reply, it is reassuring to know that I am not alone in this experience. The feelings aren't true and are long gone like you said, it can just be so difficult with the ruminating because you think about something so much you start to actually feel that it is true. Thank you so much for your reply.

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