Can dreams attribute to anxiety?

[cred]

Having an anxiety disorder myself, I was wondering if dreams can contribute to the disorder in any way.
For as long as I can remember, I've always had a reaccuring dream of being late. For school, work, an appointment...whatever. Not only that, but also being lost...without directions. Trying to find my way somewhere, with only limited time.

In real life, being late or lost can cause one to panic, and stress. But can dreaming it contribute to daily anxiety when awake? Does this make any sense?

[bio]

No, it's just the opposite.

Perhaps, the major culprit here is stress.

At best, stress level must near to possible zero.

cheer

[Mark]

My experience is that the stress I carry causes me to have the bad dreams. Not vice versa.
I'll be thinking about whatever is bothering me all day, then, at night, it all gets replayed again in the dreams.
For me personally, the dreams have made it more difficult to get over what is bothering me. Others I have spoken with have said the dreams actually help them deal with their stresses because the dreams usually end with some sort of resolution that comforts them. Makes them realize what is bothering them may not be that bad.

[col73]

To me dream help, and I shall explain why.

In march 2007, a close cousin of mine was murdered in my home town, we were like brother's, we grew up together, worked together etc etc, and when he died, a part of me died too, I hadnt seen him for about 5 years due to us having an argument or something stupid, I suppose we were both too stuborn to get intouch with each other I dunno.

during the following week, I was filled with anger, sadness, guilt, I wanted revenge on these bastards that killed him, I felt guilty because I hadnt got in touch with him for all these years when If I did he may still be here, and of course sadness because now he was gone.

Then during the following months, I began to have dreams about him which felt so real, it was as though he was still here.


one of my dreams

My cousin was sat in my uncles house, on the couch and I came in from the kitchen, there was my uncle and there was my cousin who was dead, I thought to myself " hang on hes dead " then I asked my uncle to touch my hand to tell me this was real, and he did, I then sat next to him and asked him 3 questions, 1 - Did you suffer, he replied " not really, I had abit of pain and then I was ok " 2 question " so what are you doing now, he replied " they have me helping people, 3rd question " whats gonna happen to the people who did this to you " he replied " Its already been sorted out and it aint good "

Another dream

I saw my cousin at the back of my uncles house, and he looked fantastic, he looked really healthy and happy, and all he said to me was " the colours are fantastic "

Now after all these's dreams I have had has made me feel so much better, In knowing he is still around and very healthy and happy.

So this has helped me with dealing with some part of my anxiety problems

I hope this all makes sense, I suppose you have to believe in the afterlife to understand, I dunno??

[Bessy Bumblebee]

I find there is a real between my dreams and my anxiety!

I have always had problems with disturbing and very real dreams. With the anxiety I take wee turns that feel like I am going out of my body and I get this real feeling of de-ja-vu! Well you know how it feels when you wake up and can remember a dream but the more you try to remember it the more it slips away from you! Thats what these turns often feel like!

Also I have had many panic attacks that have started off as flash backs to particularly nasty and/or real dreams! I avoid everything that may cause bad dreams! i hate violence of any kind! I dont even watch the news since I have found it gave me nightmares (have a phobia of planes - the news photoage of September 11th gave me so many problems I can tell you - especially when it comes to dreams!!)

Last week I dreamt I was walking past a play park and a teenage boy was shouting abuse at me so I stripped him and seriously beat him up! For days after it I had flashbacks to it and in that second of the flashback I couldnt tell the difference between what was real and what was dream and each time it set off a panic attack!

I think the dreams are probably a sympton of the anxiety but I also think that in a type of visious circle that they can be a cause too!

[NaturalAlternative]

I think the dreams are probably a result of your anxiety, not the opposite.

I find that when I am experiencing anxiety, my dreams will be very chaotic and stressful. Then, of course, I wake up anxious, so the vicious circle perpetuates itself.

Have you tried any Progressive Muscle Relaxation or breathing exercises before falling asleep? Sometimes this helps. At the very least, it will help you to fall asleep if you're having trouble sleeping.