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A recurring dream is a specific form of a dream which one experiences it repeatedly over a period of time. Although there may be positive aspects to a recurring dream, research has shown that they tend to be negative and could resemble a nightmare. I quickly took an interest in recurring dreams when I had one once when I was twelve and another when I was around fifteen. My dream was about my immediate family and I taking a trip to Niagara Falls, (which I had never been too) and waiting in line to go down a huge water slide. There were two separate lines; the one we were in had a huge wait and there was not a single person within the other line. I was too anxious waiting that I jumped over to the other line and went down the slides. It feels like two seconds before I realize this slide was out of order and I was sliding into the Niagara Falls heavy water fall, which led me to think I was not going to make it out alive. Within what feels like 5 seconds, I wake up from the dream before I hit the bottom. I have had this dream one other time since and I still woke up before I hit the water. Ever since this dream had occurred, I have been trying to figure out the meaning behind it and why it has not happened since.
According to case study done by Antonio Zadra, there seems to be patterns within people’s recurring dreams. “These include recurrent dreams of flying, falling, being chased, taking an examination, loosing one’s teeth, and nudity” (Zadra). He also states that “These themes are similar to typical dreams, or non-recurrent dreams that many people report having had at least once (e.g., Griffith, Miyago, and Tago, 1958; Kramer, Winget, and Whitman, 1971; Ward, Beck, and Roscoe, 1961).”
Within Zadra’s same study, he states that, “60% to 85% of recurrent dreams are described as being unpleasant by the subjects who report them.” He also mentions that in a study of just females, 40% of the dreams were “unpleasant” and only 10% were described as “pleasant” and 8% were described as a mix of both. Zadra had also ran a study within children and adults which led to the conclusion that children tend have more unpleasant dreams than adults. “Both studies showed that as people grow older, fewer recurrent dreams are reported as having threatening contents” (Zadra). Furthermore, this leads me to the different types of themes that pop up within the different age groups recurring dreams.
In a different study by Zadra, he took 163 different recurrent dreams that had all happened within the last six months and the dream had to be “almost” identical to the one they had prior to it. He classified adults as 18 and above and children as 12 or younger. Within this study, Zadra found that the most recurring theme found within both adults and children was of the dreamer being chased. However, children reported being chased by things such as monsters and wild animals. Whereas adults reported being chased by humans, such as, burglars, strangers and shadowy figures. I found this data to be extremely interesting because it allows you to better understand what a child fears and how those fears change when you reach adulthood. It would be strange to hear about a child having a recurring dream about a burglar chasing them when they probably are not aware of what a burglar is.
After reading this study, it led me to my next question, which is what real life factors could lead to having these recurring dreams? Sigmund Freud stated, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” In other words, we dream things that are relevant to what I or is going to happen within our lives, whether we know it or not. For example, if you think back to my own reoccurring dream, I was falling down a waterfall to which seemed like my death. Maybe that was a way of saying that if I get anxious and jump ahead I may fail? I could even take it in a direction that my family will fail somehow. Although there are no clear-cut factors, there has been research to help back up what some of these factors could be. According to Jane Anderson, a dream analyst, “All dreams reflect what’s been going on for you during the last 24-48 hours. Your dreaming mind is sorting through all your experiences- the conscious ones (the ones you were aware of) and the unconscious ones (the ones you weren’t aware of), comparing them to your past experiences and memories (which is why you often dream of the past) and general updating your hard drive, where your hard drive is everything you think, feel and believe about the world, consciously and unconsciously.” This leads me to believe that when you have recurring dream, a recurring feeling or factor must have happen recently to set it off. For example, someone may have a recurring dream when they get out of a serious relationship and then never have the dream again until they get out of a different serious relationship years later. Ultimately, because there is no clear conclusion, it is a matter of assumptions and what seems to make sense.
Due to my own personal experience with a recurring dream, I decided to look a little further into the falling feeling many people experience in your dreams. The feeling I am referring to is that tingly sensation that makes you wake up whenever you feel as if you are going to fall or are already falling. Although there is not an actual term to this sensation, it was often referred as the “jerk awake.” According to the article, “Falling Sensation While Sleeping: What is it & What to Do,” the falling sensation occurs when your body is so relaxed and disengaged while sleeping that it does not feel connected to your physical body. Even though I have found out why this happens, it still does not answer the question as to why it would of happened in my dream, leading me to think that it there is more to it than this.
Unfortunately, in terms of why recurring dreams happen, there are still not a lot of conclusions out there. Many physchoanalysists have tried to come up with a conclusion, such as Sigmund Freud, however, with the many theories out there is it hard to draw a conclusion to which one. Even though I did not receive a direct answer to my question, I was successful in finding out a lot of information to help me better understand recurring dreams. For instance, I know that myself along with others experienced a negative recurring dream, and in fact, it is much more common to have negative undertones rather than positive ones. I have also found out that age is a huge factor as to what you dream and your chances of having recurring dreams. Although it is more common for a child to have a recurring dream, adults still have them; they may just be about different things. Moreover, you cannot prevent having a recurring dream, but when you do have one, you understand that it is validating something in your life that your conscious and or unconscious mind is aware of. If I were to have a recurring dream again, I now understand that it is trying to explain or tell me something that is going on in my life or thoughts and that if it were to happen again, it would most likely be due to a negative aspect that is currently in my life or had recently come and gone.
Annotations:
Zadra, Antonio. "Reoccurring Dreams: Their Relation to Life Events." ResearchGate. Web. 17
Nov. 2015.
Zadra's case study focused on the Reoccurrence of dreams throughout all ages. The study ranged from adults to children who all reported to have a reoccurring dream. This study provided insight on the factors that could lead to a recurring dream. It was interesting to see the difference between children and adults reoccurring dreams and it is clear that age is a factor. Zadra also touches upon the reoccurring themes that our found within these dreams which include flying, getting chased, losing teeth and several others. After the case study was over, the results showed that the majority of the reoccurring dreams are negative rather than positive and that goes for all ages. The study all discusses that many people may have a reoccurring dream and it will end once the person who is having the dream is no longer stressed. The study also mentions that these dreams could pop up again once you are stressed again or something negative happens such as losing a job. Overall, Zadra's study was spot on to what I was expecting to read about reoccurring dreams and what may cause them. However, I did not consider that age would be a factor until reading this.
Johnson, D. M.. (1979). Forgetting Dreams. Philosophy, 54(209), 407–414. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3750615
This article discusses the views of Sigmund Freud and his theories on dreams. It mostly talks about why people forget dreams but also touches upon dreams in general. I found the article to be relatable because in the earlier parts it talks about concepts as to why people do not remember their dreams. It caused me to believe that maybe recurring dreams are the things that people do remember and the things that stick out to us throughout our days. I am not planning on using this article as a whole, but it allowed me to expand my thoughts as to why people may dream what they do and why it may happen more than once.
Anderson, J. (2003). Recurring Dreams. In Dream alchemy. Melbourne, Vic.: Lothian ;.
This chapter discusses different aspects that could lead to you having a certain dream and or a recurring dream. Here is a direct quote that I am planning on using within my paper to help make my point across as to why you may be dreaming what you are. “All dreams reflect what’s been going on for you during the last 24 – 48 hours. Your dreaming mind is sorting through all your experiences – the conscious ones (the ones you were aware of) and the unconscious ones (the ones you weren’t aware of), comparing them to your past experiences and memories (which is why you often dream of the past) and generally updating your beliefs about the world and your place in it. It’s a bit like updating your hard drive, where your hard drive is everything you think, feel and believe about the world, consciously and unconsciously.”
Jones, J. (2002). Dream Interpretation and Psychoanalysis. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
This article also touches upon Sigmund Freud and also talks a lot about the Psychoanalysis side to dreams. It gives more of a scientific approach and touches upon theories that Sigmund Freud had such as the method of associations. This method describes that you dream about what you are associated yourself with.
Falling Sensation While Sleeping: What it is & What to Do • IAC UK. (2012, October 24). Retrieved December 9,
2015, from http://uk.iacworld.org/falling-sensation-while-sleeping-what-it-is-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
This website is not so much scholarly, however, i wanted to incorporate it because it relates to my own personal recurring dream which is why i chose this topic to begin with. The website talks about the falling sensation that causes people to wake up during their dreams. In my own dream, I always woke up because I was falling so it was curious into finding out the reasons why.
MICHAEL SCHREDL, & JOELLE ALEXANDRA SCHAWINSKI. (2010). Frequency of dream sharing: The effects of gender and personality. The American Journal of Psychology, 123(1), 93–101. http://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.123.1.0093
This article did not correlate with my exact question but I found it to be relevant because it talk about how often people discuss their dreams with other people. It mentions a lot about gender and led me to wondering whether or not females would happen to have more recurring dreams than males.
Infograph: https://infogr.am/recurring_dreams