At NSU, a conversation took place between students and a psychologist about academic nightmares

On September 10, an open meeting “Nightmares: Why Our Psyche Frightens Us in Sleep” took place at NSU as part of the “Free Talk” series. Students and guests of the university discussed with by Vladimir Ivanov, a psychologist from the psychological support department for NSU students, about dreams, nightmares, and how to cope with them.

Vladimir Ivanov said that in his work he relies on the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung and has been systematically working with dreams since 2018. In Jungian psychology, the dream is viewed as one of the ways of working with the unconscious alongside free associations, amplification, interpretation, and other methods.

According to the psychologist, interest in one’s own dreams can begin with the simplest action — writing them down. Vladimir himself once started doing this during a period when he was looking for a way to help himself: he took a notebook and a pencil and began to write down everything he could remember after waking up.
He advises treating the dream as a story or fairy tale that the psyche tells the person about themselves. At the same time, the psychologist recommends not rushing with interpretations, not trying to immediately find a universal explanation for each image, and to give up on dream dictionaries. The very process of careful observation of dreams can be important.

— To Everyone should develop their own way of working with sleep, it is a creative process, — noted Vladimir Ivanov.

To keep a dream journal, the psychologist suggests setting aside 10–20 minutes each day to write down the dream by hand. In his opinion, this not only helps to record the content of dreams but also allows one to slow down amid the fast pace of life. Vladimir himself writes down his dreams in a notebook for a week, and then transfers them to an electronic document to search for recurring images and observe their changes over time if necessary.

Special attention at the meeting was given to nightmares. According to the psychologist, they can be considered as a signal through which the psyche tries to draw a person’s attention to what is happening in their life. If this signal is ignored for a long time, it can become increasingly intense.

— I always feel glad when I have nightmares. Because then I realize that I was blind to something, and finally my psyche managed to get through to me, — shared Vladimir.

At the same time, what seems like a nightmare to one person may be perceived completely differently by another. Therefore, the content of a dream cannot be evaluated outside the individual’s experience.

The psychologist also suggested viewing a dream as a multi-layered story that cannot be fully explained by a single interpretation. A person changes, new events and experiences enter their life, and because of this, a familiar dream can reveal different aspects over time. It is important not only to ask oneself what a particular image means, but also to consider the dream from different perspectives.

The specialist specifically addressed recurring nightmares. According to him, working with dreams over time can change a person’s attitude towards their characters and plots. What once haunted the dreamer can later become their ally. Therefore, even a frightening dream should not necessarily be perceived solely as a source of fear.
One way to take a closer look at dreams is to neutrally recall the past day before sleep, and then mentally address your unconscious with a question about what is happening in life. This is not a request for a ready-made answer or to solve a problem; rather, it is an attempt to start a dialogue with your inner world and see what answer may come in a dream. However, as the psychologist emphasized, this does not guarantee that the needed dream will appear that very night.

Meeting participant Lina said that she came to it out of her own interest in dreams and nightmares:

— The topic of dreams and nightmares in particular is very close to me; I see quite a few of them, and I wanted to somehow understand what they mean. I have heard many pieces of advice regarding how to generally start taking an interest in dreams and understanding oneself through them. And although this process is not quick, it can bring a lot of new, interesting, and useful things into life if you do not rush and pay attention to yourself, your feelings, and sensations.

She was especially struck by the idea of nightmares as a warning from the unconscious.

— Nightmares are a way for our psyche to signal that something is wrong in our life, that something needs to be changed, — noted the student.

At the same time, the participant does not believe that one must necessarily look for ready-made answers at such meetings. She noted that the topic of dreams is subjective and vast, so the meeting rather gave her new directions for reflection.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Vladimir Ivanov emphasized that paying close attention to one’s own dreams is, first and foremost, a habit of noticing and respecting one’s inner world. And with nightmares, despite their unpleasant content, one can try to approach them not only with fear but also with curiosity: why did this dream appear and what does it suggest to pay attention to?