Do Recurring Dreams Mean Anything?

Check out this answer from Consensus:

The meaning of recurring dreams is multifaceted and can be understood through various lenses, including evolutionary functions, psychological well-being, and creative processes. While theories like the Threat Simulation Theory provide valuable insights, the content and significance of recurring dreams can vary widely among individuals. Further research is needed to fully understand the complex nature of these persistent nocturnal experiences.

Recurring dreams are a fascinating phenomenon that has intrigued researchers and dreamers alike. These dreams, which repeat themselves over time, often with little variation, raise questions about their significance and underlying causes. This article explores the meaning of recurring dreams by examining various theories and research findings.

Theories on Recurring Dreams

Threat Simulation Theory (TST)

One prominent theory is the Threat Simulation Theory (TST), which posits that dreams, particularly recurring ones, serve an evolutionary function by simulating threatening events and rehearsing threat avoidance behaviors. Zadra, Desjardins, and Marcotte (2006) found that many recurrent dreams do indeed seem to manifest a threat simulation function, leading to repeated rehearsal of threat perception and avoidance. However, they also noted that a minority of recurrent dreams have origins unrelated to threat simulation1.

Content Analysis of Recurrent Dreams

Studies on the content of recurrent dreams provide mixed support for TST. For instance, research on young adolescents’ recurrent dreams revealed that while many dreams involved confrontations with monsters or animals and physical aggression, only half contained threatening elements. This suggests that while threat simulation may play a role, it is not the sole function of recurrent dreams2.

Cultural and Biological Universality

The universality of typical dreams across different cultures also sheds light on the meaning of recurring dreams. Research comparing Japanese and American dreamers found that certain recurrent themes are shared across cultures, suggesting a common phylobiological structure. This indicates that some recurring dreams may reflect universal human experiences and concerns3.

Psychological and Emotional Factors

Unresolved Issues

Another perspective is that recurring dreams highlight unresolved issues in the dreamer’s life. These dreams may symbolize ongoing conflicts or problems that the dreamer has not yet addressed. For example, recurring dreams often identify a particular script issue that remains unresolved until new insight or changes in the environment enable the dreamer to alter the script4.

Childhood vs. Recent Recurrent Dreams

A comparison of recurrent dreams from childhood and recent years found that childhood dreams were more likely to be threatening and involved folkloric or fictional characters. In contrast, recent recurrent dreams lacked these elements, suggesting that the nature of recurring dreams may change over time as individuals grow and their concerns evolve5.

Psychological Well-Being

Recurrent dreams have also been linked to psychological well-being. Studies have shown that recurrent dreamers often score lower on measures of psychological well-being and report more negative dream content. This correlation suggests that recurring dreams may occur during times of stress and be associated with a deficit in psychological well-being9.

Creative and Integrative Functions

New Connections

Contrary to the idea that recurring dreams are mere replays, some researchers argue that every dream, including recurrent ones, is a creative product that makes new connections. This view suggests that dreaming is not about memory consolidation but rather about integrating new memories into existing memory schemes, guided by emotion6.

Do recurring dreams mean anything?

Timo Partonen has answered Likely

An expert from University of Helsinki in Psychiatry

Upsetting dreams or nightmares about a traumatic event which are recurring may indicate post-traumatic stress disorder, and in young children these can take the form of frightening dreams which may or may not include aspects of the traumatic event. Otherwise, recurring dreams with identical or closely similar contents tend to tell that something what happened or is going to happen is bothering somehow, and that the brain is continuing its work on the issue even while the person is asleep. What kind the exact contents of such dreams is, it is bound to the past or current cultural influences under which the person was or is still living.

Do recurring dreams mean anything?

Tina Sundelin has answered Unlikely

An expert from Karolinska Institutet in Sleep Research, Psychology

The answer to this question depends on what is meant by “meaning”. If the question pertains to the potential meaning of the contents of a recurring dream, the answer is “unlikely”. However, recurring dreams occur more often after stressful events, for certain people, and for example in cases of PTSD. So in terms of whether having recurring dreams to begin with might mean something, the answer is that it might indicate that you’ve recently been stressed, are a bit dissociated, or are suffering from PTSD. (Note: this does not mean that recurring dreams equals PTSD. Recurring dreams are very common.)

Do recurring dreams mean anything?

Susan  Llewellyn has answered Near Certain

An expert from University of Manchester in Sleep Research, Psychology

It is very likely that a recurring dream theme (being chased; someone breaking into the room you are in; or falling from the great height) relates to unresolved fear or anxiety from waking life. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when most vivid and emotionally arousing dreams occur, is thought to have a cathartic function for negative emotions, but this reduction in fearful, emotional reactivity may take some time to be realised. For example, after trauma, people may experience recurring dreams, which repeat the trauma, not exactly, but embed very similar content. Over time, these recurring dreams should reduce the fear experienced during waking hours when remembering the trauma. Similarly, research into the dreams of depressed people, who had experienced traumatic break-ups or divorces, showed that those who had recurring dreams about these difficult events involving the ex-partner, got relief from their depression. Sometimes, recurring dreams may reflect an unresolved problem in waking life, a deteriorating relationship, a work difficulty, or the making of a complex decision.  Eventually, a dream may point to a possible answer to a problem. Consequently, recurring dreams should mean at least partial resolution of problems in waking life or of the negative emotions associated with past difficulties. If this resolution isn’t achieved for trauma, the therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which mimics the eye movements during REM dreams, may also help.

Do recurring dreams mean anything?

Joseph Paul Forgas has answered Extremely Unlikely

An expert from UNSW Sydney in Psychology

Despite psychoanalytic claims to the contrary, recurring dreams have no hidden or underlying meaning, they simply reflect some of the garbled residuals of material that has been in the consciousness during waking hours.

Do recurring dreams mean anything?

Michael Schredl has answered Near Certain

An expert from The Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim in Sleep Research, Psychiatry

Yes, the fact that a dream theme, e.g., being chased, falling, being late, examination, loosing teeth and so on, is recurring is connected to waking life. Let me give you a simple analogy. A person with examination anxiety (in waking life) experiences every time an examination is ahead anxiety, worries, bad sleep etc., in a recurrent fashion. You might speculate why this person has this examination anxiety, but on the other hand, you can think about the fact that it is recurring. If the person would learn relaxation, imagine coping strategies etc. (there are a lot of methods to alleviate examination anxiety), the reoccurrence of the examination anxiety would stop. If you transfer this to the recurring dreams, the basic meaning is that the dreamer needs to learn a new skill to cope with the recurring dream situation. For example, instead of running as fast as possible (dream of being chased), confront the perpetuator (with helpers) and ask: “What do you want?” This can been done in waking imagination, training this new skill over two weeks once per day for five minutes can change the dream. It is also possible to look at connections between the dream theme and waking life. The basic pattern for dreams of being chased is avoidance (having fear and running away). I.e., you can ask yourself whether there are any topics in your waking life you are avoiding and tackle these topics. This would also very likely change the recurrent dreams, as dreams reflect waking life and if it’s progressing the dreams also progress. Other basic patterns are: Examination dreams = being evaluated by other persons or falling = Fear of losing control.

Do recurring dreams mean anything?

Nils Sandman has answered Likely

An expert from University of Turku in Sleep Research

Answer depends on the definition of “meaning”. Recurring dreams are not random and are most likely related to certain type of memories and experiences but they probably will not reveal much information to the dreamer besides the fact that the theme of the dream has or has had some significance to them. Even if these dreams do not convey new information, in some situations reminder of strong memories or concerns can feel very meaningful.

Recurring frightening dreams and nightmares are a defining symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is likely that traumatic events cause such a strong memory that this memory makes recurring appearances in dreams. In these cases, recurring dreams are connected to a prior experience with strong negative emotional tone. Changes in their frequency might be related to amount of stress and overall well-being of the individual who has experienced a trauma. Negatively toned recurring dreams are also not uncommon in depression.

There also exist recurring dreams that are not nightmares. These are harder to exactly connect to a certain prior experience but often they involve some event or person who has been meaningful to the dreamer in the past and might not be present anymore. These dreams are also likely to be connected to strong memory traces of something that has been important to the dreamer. These sort of dreams are often triggered by something that reminds the person of the meaningful thing in the past.