I have drinking dreams (nightmares) which are extremely disturbing and leave me depressed and anxious the following day. I worry that these dreams are a sign of impending relapse. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Dreams about drinking are completely normal and especially early in sobriety. They are not a sign of relapsing. My relapsing was not due to dreams. I had not developed healthy coping skills to deal with reality. So I created many nightmares for myself without falling asleep at all.
We all have lots of dreams about things that used to be a big part of our life but are no longer a part of our life. I sometimes have dreams that take place in an apartment that I used to live in but no longer live in, I have dreams about a job that I no longer work at, etc. Drinking dreams are no different. Drinking was a huge part of our life for a long time. It's not unusual that it will sometimes be included in our dreams. Yeah, it can be disturbing, or at least annoying sometimes, but I don't give it any particular 'meaning' or have any special concerns about it when it happens.
In AA, I have heard many opinions about drinking dreams.
Here is something about the subject from AA that has made a lot of sense to me over the years. It comes from the AA book titled: Living Sober.
Chapter 12-- Get Plenty Of Rest
...
One more curious item about sleep after we stop drinking may be useful. Long after we have weaned ourselves from the bottle, a great many of us are started to awaken some morning or night realizing we have just had an all-too-vivid dream about drinking.
Not all of us have such dreams. But enough have for us to know that they are common, and harmless.
AA is not a program of dream interpretation, so we cannot point out the hidden meanings, if any, that such dreams have, as psychoanalysts and other dream interpreters do. We can report only that such dreams may occur, so don't be too surprised. Among the most common is a dream that one finds oneself drunk, and horrified about it, but has no memory at all of taking a drink. We may even awaken with chills, shakes, and other classic hangover jitterswhen, of course, we haven't touched a drop in months. It was all just a bad dream. And it may come out of the blue, long, long after our last drink.
Probably, it's a good thing that we find ourselves shook up and miserable at the notion of drinking, even in a dream. Maybe this means we are really beginning to get the idea, deep down in our bones, that drinking is no good for us. Sobriety is better, even to dream about.
The beauty of sober sleep, once it is achieved, is the sheer pleasure of waking upno real hangover, no worries about what may have happened in last night's blackout. Instead, it means facing the new day refreshed, hopeful, and grateful.
Welcome to MIP Thotagauta, ... .... ... When I asked my sponsor about problems with 'drink'n' dreams, he said a drink'n dream is just like any other dream, it 's just a series of thoughts ... and as long as we don't ACT on those thoughts, we'll be okay ... and that's worked for me for a long time ...
Pappy
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
In AA, I have heard many opinions about drinking dreams.
Here is something about the subject from AA that has made a lot of sense to me over the years. It comes from the AA book titled: Living Sober.
Chapter 12-- Get Plenty Of Rest
...
One more curious item about sleep after we stop drinking may be useful. Long after we have weaned ourselves from the bottle, a great many of us are started to awaken some morning or night realizing we have just had an all-too-vivid dream about drinking.
Not all of us have such dreams. But enough have for us to know that they are common, and harmless.
AA is not a program of dream interpretation, so we cannot point out the hidden meanings, if any, that such dreams have, as psychoanalysts and other dream interpreters do. We can report only that such dreams may occur, so don't be too surprised. Among the most common is a dream that one finds oneself drunk, and horrified about it, but has no memory at all of taking a drink. We may even awaken with chills, shakes, and other classic hangover jitterswhen, of course, we haven't touched a drop in months. It was all just a bad dream. And it may come out of the blue, long, long after our last drink.
Probably, it's a good thing that we find ourselves shook up and miserable at the notion of drinking, even in a dream. Maybe this means we are really beginning to get the idea, deep down in our bones, that drinking is no good for us. Sobriety is better, even to dream about.
The beauty of sober sleep, once it is achieved, is the sheer pleasure of waking upno real hangover, no worries about what may have happened in last night's blackout. Instead, it means facing the new day refreshed, hopeful, and grateful.
Yes I used to have some wicked nightmares as well. Really deep and disturbing, but they will past. In time you will sleep like you never slept before because Alcohol doesn't actually put you in a sleep as much as it puts you into a stuper.
I'm with you, they are scary. Anytime I've ever had a dream where I was drinking I'd wake up in confused and anxious until I woke up enough to realize it was just a dream. Still, I have always found them disturbing.
They have certainly tapered down to super-infrequent over the years (knock on wood lol), but I still get one now and again.
The one comfort I can get from having them is that I still get scared for a minute after having one, so that means to me that my sobriety is clearly still valuable to me, regardless of how I am feeling.
__________________
"God can move mountains but it helps to bring a shovel!"
