tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post1344470171842310161..comments2024-02-05T11:32:25.407-05:00Comments on I'm just F.I.N.E.-- Recovery in Al-Anon: Drunk dreamsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-33690885561992724152012-10-12T03:16:16.665-04:002012-10-12T03:16:16.665-04:00I've been thinking about this post for some da...I've been thinking about this post for some days now Syd. Dreams are not static or fixed, they don't just recycle the past -- my own 'drunk dreams' and dreams about my alcoholic mother have shifted and evolved as I have changed over recent years.<br /><br />What comes across to me in this dream is not the specific content (the drunken wife at the concert) but very deeply rooted fears of abandonment and humiliation, perhaps the fear that this might happen again, that this remains such a buried part of your Unconscious you are drawn back there to reslve something. I could be wrong. I don't think the past is set like an unchanging groove along neural pathways, I think that as you change, more of that old intensity is evoked along with buried material because healing is taking place at some deep level, painful but ultimately liberating. But of course I might be wrong.<br /><br />What you're describing does not sound like the frozen loop of PTSD to me -- I know my own experience of that and I sit in groups listening to women from north Congo and Rwanda talk about what is stuck or frozen in them as trauma. This feels different. Again I might be wrong and it would be interesting to see what else the dreaming might reveal as time goes on.Mary LAhttp://louisey.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-90091695364236120262012-10-11T01:28:39.411-04:002012-10-11T01:28:39.411-04:00A disturbing dream is hard to shake, although it i...A disturbing dream is hard to shake, although it is better than the disturbing thing being real. I'm glad yours was a dream only.jenny_ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15475480579733466963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-4169881583322909352012-10-10T22:11:26.031-04:002012-10-10T22:11:26.031-04:00Oh man,
I am like the wife to which you refer. I ...Oh man,<br /><br />I am like the wife to which you refer. I am the stumbler, the gutter-dweller, the woman now in recovery. <br /><br />My husband often has dreams about me which he refuses to share. I wonder if he is suffering the same deep PTSD which has created grooves in his neural pathways. I did not know there was a program of recovery for people like him (and you, of course). And it seems as though it is a program similar to mine, so perhaps he can realize some of what I go through.<br /><br />I agree that creativity is a wonderfully healing activity. I have just begun to write, and it is a miraculous tool and even redemption to lay out my stories in such a way that they are kind of sadly beautiful vignettes, instead of nasty memories. My husband cannot read them, though. They cause him so much pain because unlike you, he does not have a way out.<br /><br />Thanks a million. Best of luck!Catherinehttp://www.qualifiednightsweatsofanaddict.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-85696029091560346882012-10-09T10:19:57.664-04:002012-10-09T10:19:57.664-04:00I know that it's in there, in my mind. I don&...I know that it's in there, in my mind. I don't know if it will leave but at least I know how to process it. Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-46006431368421051342012-10-09T10:19:09.485-04:002012-10-09T10:19:09.485-04:00You are so right. I can dream about what I have d...You are so right. I can dream about what I have done and awake with awareness but to dream about those I love being in a terrible state fills me with gut clenching anxiety. Thank God, it isn't real today. Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-1927735767895013222012-10-09T01:46:20.368-04:002012-10-09T01:46:20.368-04:00Sharing dreams is very powerful sharing, the deep ...Sharing dreams is very powerful sharing, the deep recesses that need a voice. Truly enjoy Carl Jung.<br />Jung claimed that dream analysis is the primary way to gain knowledge of the unconscious mind. He says that the dream is a natural phenomenon which we can study, thereby gaining knowledge of the hidden part of our mind. The images are symbolic of conscious and unconscious mental processes.Di-Githttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10770400058372063740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-17494867168055744512012-10-08T08:53:49.266-04:002012-10-08T08:53:49.266-04:00Syd, I think we can never do enough work or proces...Syd, I think we can never do enough work or processing to erase what has made such an impression on our souls. I haven't had a drunk dream for a long time, but I always thank God when I have one because it is a wonderful reminder of where I am today. When I have dreams about other people being drunk, I don't have those same feelings of gratitude, I wake with worry. It is a hard thing to love an alcoholic. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-17693665388369731922012-10-08T08:26:43.212-04:002012-10-08T08:26:43.212-04:00Marcia, such a sense of relief to know that the dr...Marcia, such a sense of relief to know that the dream wasn't real. I tell my wife that I had a bad dream. She will ask what it was about. I don't tell her because it would only make her feel bad. Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-19699569661152309722012-10-08T08:25:40.519-04:002012-10-08T08:25:40.519-04:00They are draining and cause me to be shaken with a...They are draining and cause me to be shaken with anxiety until I am fully awake and aware that it was just a dream and not reality. Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-52999281297393973752012-10-08T08:24:34.748-04:002012-10-08T08:24:34.748-04:00I need to use quite a bit of recovery to get my mi...I need to use quite a bit of recovery to get my mind back to a good place after one of those dreams. And yes, the blogging and sharing about the dream does help. Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-20211214790653582512012-10-08T08:23:22.346-04:002012-10-08T08:23:22.346-04:00Those dreams are so disturbing. I'm glad that...Those dreams are so disturbing. I'm glad that your traumatic dream has not been around lately. Good. Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-68094703271954530352012-10-08T08:22:37.269-04:002012-10-08T08:22:37.269-04:00It was intense and so real. Upsetting really.It was intense and so real. Upsetting really.Sydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642843245634635843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-45211334152364882952012-10-08T08:18:00.413-04:002012-10-08T08:18:00.413-04:00Lately I have been having dreams where I will say ...Lately I have been having dreams where I will say something out loud. I wake myself. seems odd. Don't you feel a sense of relief? That it was only a dream?Marciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09072868519236902423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-38236622073699240702012-10-07T16:23:40.132-04:002012-10-07T16:23:40.132-04:00Ugh....those "drunk" dreams drain me. I&...Ugh....those "drunk" dreams drain me. I'm I wreck when I wake up from one and it takes a few days to get myself back together again. The PTSD idea....I too thought it was a bunch of self indulgent drama. BUT, I think now that its a name to be put to such things as drunk dreams. lol I think that if we want to call our rehashing of our traumas PTSD then ok....because the rehashing part, the going over and over in our minds these awful events...its real and it happens. Call it what we will. Annettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18326425173333184401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-62030052452585632852012-10-07T15:21:12.093-04:002012-10-07T15:21:12.093-04:00Syd, I used to consider PTSD a lot of bunk, but no...Syd, I used to consider PTSD a lot of bunk, but now I swear I had it for years after the worst of Andrew's addiction. All the blogging/rehashing of the details was very cathartic. Also put in perspective that things were much better now.<br /><br />We all deal with the trauma in different ways. I like how you try to see where these emotions come from, what they mean today, and what your reactions are now. Life is a constant process of self improvement that hopefully leads to peace and serenity in all things.luluberoohttp://justtobeisablessing.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-67886068597282763682012-10-07T14:01:36.798-04:002012-10-07T14:01:36.798-04:00I have one recurring dream. and that one is due to...I have one recurring dream. and that one is due to PTSD it does not have anything to do with drinking.it has to do with a beatting that I had many years ago at the hands of my father.it has been a while since that one showed up though,so maybe I'm finally getting over that trama.I hope that you are doing okwith your dreams.Mike Golchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14472496241893921107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904990175885851041.post-50283336947212031252012-10-07T11:37:24.144-04:002012-10-07T11:37:24.144-04:00whew...that had to be a pretty intense dream man.....whew...that had to be a pretty intense dream man...and dreams do allow us to see things that settle on our subconscious and confront it...Brian Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722940075884718007noreply@blogger.com