Treating Nightmares Naturally: Dream Therapy

NATURAL ALTERNATIVE TO NIGHTMARE RELIEF

Nightmares can be debilitating, leaving you exhausted, anxious or dreading bedtime. For many people the standard approach is medication, avoiding sleep or just trying to ignore the dreams in silence with no support. Dream therapy offers a natural, evidence-based method that helps you work with your dreams, not against them.

What is a nightmare?

Nightmares are classified as vivid, disturbing dreams that are distressing enough to wake you up from sleep, they often happen later in our sleep cycle, so generally in the early hours of the morning. They are different to night terrors which occur earlier in our sleep cycle and do not wake us up. They often contain scenes or feelings that invoke fear or panic.

What causes them?

They are more than just bad dreams, they can be linked to trauma, anxiety, stress or big life transitions. Some people have one single nightmare that stays in their memory for years, others have recurring or chronic nightmares, creating a cycle of poor sleep and reduced daytime function.

Important note:

It is worth noting that some medications can cause nightmares, so if you have just started, or stopped taking a course of medication it would be advisable to talk to your doctor about these side effects if they are causing you distress. The reason is that some medications suppress or block REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement, the period of time in our sleep cycle when we generally dream) so when the suppression lifts, our brains can sometimes rebound with extra intensity causing a temporary influx of experiencing nightmares.

Common misconceptions

Many people believe nightmares are just random with no deeper meaning or that there is something wrong or disturbed about a person who dreams terrible things. In reality, nightmares carry important messages from the subconscious and can signal unresolved emotions or trauma that needs gentle attention.

Dreams are almost never literal, dreaming of gory, violent or exaggerated scenes does not mean you are broken or need fixing. Often the most dramatic dreams have the biggest potential for transformation and healing, with the actual underlying insights being much less alarming. For example, a dream of being strangled can uncover the feeling that your voice is being dismissed.

What is the process of Dream Therapy?

Rather than being meaningless or dangerous, nightmares can become a pathway to healing when we learn how to work with them. The aim of dream therapy is to take the charge out of the nightmares by exploring the dream in an empowering way that gives you control.

I don’t just analyse or interpret your dreams; it’s a collaborative process where we experience your dream again together. I guide you through an exploration of your dream elements in a slow, safe way, encouraging you to stay present with your feelings, images and somatic sensations that the dream brings up.

We can work to change the dream or dream it forward to arrive at a safer resolution, find help in the dream or uncover powerful breakthroughs. As these insights emerge, the emotional charge of the nightmare often dissolves, sometimes immediately.

Evidence based and effective

Dreamwork is not just an alternative idea, it is backed by clinical research and decades of practice. Techniques like Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) developed by Dr Krakow, Embodied Experiential Dreamwork (EED) by Dr Leslie Ellis and Embodied Imagination (EI) by Robert Bosnak) have shown that working directly with dreams, especially nightmares can significantly reduce their frequency and intensity. Surprisingly, dream work can take effect very quickly, often in as little as one or two sessions.

If you are interested in a dream therapy session, bookings are available below.