Catharsis Dream Meanings

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Catharsis Dream Meaning: From 1 Different Sources

Your dreams may often be cathartic vehicles to help you resolve difficult and painful emotions. The basic idea of catharsis is to purge or let off steam. It is thought that if a person is angry, letting off steam can help them feel better and reduce the likelihood of aggression.

Many films, plays and books contain cathartic scenes in which various characters express intense feelings of rage, anger, guilt or hostility and, by so doing, resolve the key issues in their lives. Catharsis also occurs in dreams; your unconscious conjures up various scenarios in which negative emotions are expressed or acted out. It is urging you to face up to difficult feelings and take action to resolve them in your real life.

Dream Source: The Element Encyclopedia
Author: Theresa Cheung

11 dream interpretation about catharsis related.

Burning

1. Consuming passion.

2. Worries and fears (house or other structure burning).

3. Release, cleansing, a form of catharsis— often emotional, frequently sexual. ... burning dream meaning

Laughter

1. A catharsis; release and relief.

2. Reverse: unhappiness, loss.

3. A period of financial good luck (to hear children laughing). ... laughter dream meaning

Perspiration

1. Suggests the possibility that anxiety has proved overwhelming, an obstacle in itself.

2. A need or desire for phys­ical work, manual labor, as a catharsis.

3. A difficult period may be about to pass, a restoration of reputation. ... perspiration dream meaning

Theater

1. A need or desire for emotional catharsis, cleansing.

2. A sense of the “dramatic”; overblown situation or event.

3. Feelings of success in personal affairs and friendships. ... theater dream meaning

Abreaction

Example: For some considerable time I have been troubled by a nightmarish dream which is so realistic sometimes I think I am going to die. In my dream I have swallowed something which is literally choking me or is going to poison me. I wake up and rush down the stairs to the kitchen, spitting and choking, holding my throat and making all sorts of disturbing noises which frighten my wife. I have had this dream as many as five or six times a night. My doctor says it could be to do with the last war. I was a child then and my dad constantly had to wake me up to take us down to the shelter, sometimes as many as four times a night, and we were bombed out twice. I cannot recall having any fears about this at the time’ (Mr KT).

Abreaction is a re-experiencing of painful or traumatic events or situations. In many dreams it is obvious that the process underlying dreams is attempting to trigger an abreac­tion. This suggests the dream process, as Jung and Hadfield say, is a self-regulatory one in our psyche. In many cases where a person explores the feeling content of their dreams in a confident way, abreaction occurs. Although it has been given different names in recent years, such as primal therapy, rolfing, discharge, catharsis, abreaction is still a basic psycho­logical healing process. Pans of our experience become re­pressed because there is an automatic reaction in us to avoid pain. Therefore painful experience may never be fully felt or understood at the time. Reliving them allows us to review and integrate vital information about ourselves. Frequently all the analysis in the world cannot relieve a neurotic pattern until the repressed emotion holding it in place is released and un­derstood.

The strength with which we hold out against allowing our being to abreact spontaneously is seen in the above example. Mr KT is brought to the brink of reliving his very stressful childhood again and again. Yet he manages to avoid actual memory and, in particular, the experiencing of any childhood emotions and fears.

The opposite is shown in this account by Clive, who explored with me a dream about being shot in the arm in his father s shop. ‘For several hours I could find noth­ing about the dream. My mind simply wandered. But with help I persisted. Suddenly I seemed to break through, first to seeing how the shop was a place in which I have uncon­sciously experienced great emotional pain. My father was al­ways criticising. Never a word of encouragement. Then I burst into powerful sobbing as I felt the pain of wanting my father to love me, instead of cnticising all the time, and help me grow into somebody capable of meeting life. And then, some­thing I just had not wanted to see, the 30 years of my life I had wasted by avoiding any contact with authority. My father was the original authority in my life. I had cut off from him be­cause of the lack of support, and I had done the same with school and other authority situations. But what a relief to un­derstand myself, and to meet that young vulnerable boy I used to be. How I loved him and understood him/myself.’ abroad General: your feelings about that country.

If you have lived in that country: overall experience of that place. Were you happy there, lonely? What characteristics of the people did you take in?... abreaction dream meaning

Tsunami

Dreams of a Tsunami represent that you are in need of an enormous emotional catharsis. You are undergoing massive, radical and quantum change, physically, mentally and spiritually.

See Water, Ocean, Tidal Wave, Venting Dreams, and Breakdown/Breakthrough Dreams.... tsunami dream meaning

Waterfall

Dreams of a waterfall signify surrender, and that you are cleansing, purifying, and having a having an emotional catharsis. Also, a waterfall signifies that you will have a continuous stream of wealth and abundance.... waterfall dream meaning

Psychodrama And Dreams

In psychodrama there is no in­terpretation’ of a dream.

The dreamer unravels the meaning of the dream by acting it out with the help of others.

The dreamer acts the main role of him or herself, and directs the helpers in the other roles. In dramatising and exploring the dream in this way, the obvious as well as the hidden meaning, associations and emotions are made clear.

To finish, the dreamer is encouraged to take the dream forward, altering it to what feels more adequate and satisfying. This gives the person opportunity to express and enact what was absent in the dream, and provides release from recurring dreams, and catharsis where necessary. ... psychodrama and dreams dream meaning

River

Dreams of a river represent fluidity, change, and the feminine principal of the path of least resistance. You are going with the flow and connecting with your sensuality.

If you dream that the river is flowing gracefully, then you are in sync with your emotions and instincts.

If you dream that you are going against the current, then you are resisting your instincts, intuition and deeper feelings.

If the river is raging, then you are having an emotional catharsis, dealing with strong emotional currents.

If you dream that you are crossing the river, then you are taking great risks and making courageous changes in your life.

See Ocean or Water.... river dream meaning

Why Remember Your Dreams?

Your dreaming mind has access to information that is not readily available to you when you are awake. Your dreams may reveal your secret desires and subconscious feelings.

In remembering your dreams, you will have an increased knowledge about yourself, bring about self- awareness and self-healing. Dreams are an extension of how you perceive yourself. They can be a source of inspiration, wisdom, and joy.

You don’t have to interpret your dreams in order to solve your problems. But just as there is the saying that “Death cures cigarette smoking,” you might find that listening to your dreams may help you solve your problems before you run out of time.

Dreams are always “true”—it’s just that what they mean isn’t always what we think they mean. Sometimes a dream gives a warning of danger, but if you pay attention to the dream and change your ways the danger won’t necessarily happen. And most often a dream’s meaning will be metaphorical, not literal.

For example, a woman may dream that her husband is having a sexual affair, but it would be a mistake to conclude that her husband is really having an affair. The dream is simply providing the woman graphic evidence that she somehow feels betrayed by her husband. Once she acknowledges that feeling, she can then start examining her life consciously—and honestly—to find out why she feels betrayed and what she needs to do about it.

All dreams essentially tell us one important thing: “Wake up!” That is, just as you must wake up from a dream to remember it, the dream itself is telling you to “wake up” to the truth that you try to hide from others—and from yourself.

Of course, there is a positive as well as a negative side to remembering and interpreting your dreams.

The negative side is that you may come across a side of yourself that you really don’t like or are afraid to know about. You may discover that you aren’t (always) the “Miss Goody Two Shoes” or “Mr. Nice Guy” that you profess to be during the day. You may discover that your childhood was not all ice cream, roller-skating and amusement parks. You may end up shedding light on dark places and recall secrets long repressed. This can be scary stuff.

The positive side is that you go through a metamorphosis or catharsis and become -- you. You become the “you” that you were always meant to be. You will become truer to yourself and therefore, you will find that you are happier.

Learning to recall your dreams may help you become a more assertive, creative person. In remembering your dreams, you are expressing and confronting your

feelings. Remembering your dreams can help you come to terms with stressful aspects of your lives.

But this may be easier said than done. Five minutes after the end of the dream, half the content is forgotten. After ten minutes, 90% is lost. Dreamers, who are awakened right after REM sleep, are able to recall their dreams more vividly than those who slept through the night until morning.Obviously, remembering your dreams is vital to interpreting them. So, how can you better remember your dreams?... why remember your dreams? dream meaning

Performing On Stage

Universal Landscape: Visibility in life; public exposure.

Dreaming Lens: Were you prepared for your role or not? How were you attired? At what level of success did you perform? Did you know the audience or were they strangers? What was their response? Was it familiar territory or a strange or odd setting? Is this a recurring dream or a single occurrence?

Personal Focus: Art imitates life and the theater has always been a metaphor for the unfolding drama of our everyday experience. In fact, dramatic structure replicates the process of conscious awareness on stage just as it happens on the personal level. First, there is an inciting incident that causes a crisis, which plays out in the story that is being told. After a climactic confrontation, the crisis resolves itself through an organic change in the psyche of the hero of the story. The catharsis that results alters both reality and the perception of reality for all involved.

Life can often feel like a performance. In this way, dreaming of this image indicates that your unconscious is expressing a sense of your current life as being under public scrutiny. This is a common recurring dream, signifying the dreamer’s sense of feeling exposed or fear of performing up to standards. The subtlety here is in whether you are on stage because of heightened vulnerability or because you are hiding your true feelings by “acting” your way through an experience.

By considering the timing of the dream with regard to current situations in your life, you can discover your true sense of preparedness for what is being thrown at you at the time of this dream. By examining this thoroughly, you can assess whether this dream means you are feeling incompetent to face a challenge in life, or if you are feeling prepared to perform at peak capabilities. A highly stylized performance could indicate inauthenticity in some area. Conversely, it could connect to a powerful sense of creative originality. Forgetting your lines may represent your discomfort in some role or false persona you are putting on for the approval of others.

Life is often like a performance. How you feel about this dream reveals how you feel about how well you are performing at this moment in time.... performing on stage dream meaning


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