Nightmares

[Aspie's Friend]

My 14 yr old son (diagnosed Aspie) has nightmares so bad I moved his bed into my room so I can calm him when he wakes up. I just read this is an aspire trait.

He wakes u an average of once or twice a night (the reason I am up now). Occasionally skips a nights. He does not watch movies (because he is so sensitive).

His nightmare are about driving off a bridge, being in a car accident, falling and slender man-- (from a commercial)

Any ideas how I can help him overcome them?

 

[tree]

If it were me, having the bad dreams, I would be writing
them down in my dream notebook. I write down any dreams
I have that I remember, good/bad/indifferent.

It is a way of remembering them, of getting them outside of me.
And I can review the topics, if I want to. Get an idea of what I was
making pictures/stories about while I was asleep.

If I were having bad dreams often, I would make sure I was eating
foods that didn't bother me, maybe taking a bath before I go to
bed, making sure I get out to walk so there is room in my head, I
breathe better, and my muscles get to relax.

Using Gestalt analysis is a revealing way to think about dream content.

I would make sure that I wasn't eating any foods that bother me. I'd
take more calcium and magnesium.

That's what I'd do if it were me having the bad dreams.

Here are some ideas other people suggest.
http://dreamstudies.org/2010/09/02/14-tips-for-getting-rid-of-nightmares/
http://www.wikihow.com/Fall-Asleep-Again-After-a-Nightmare

 

[Judge]

Might be helpful if somehow you can interact with your son in interpreting the metaphor of a car going off a bridge and exactly how it may relate to his actual daily anxieties. Maybe there's an event that has triggered them...so figuring out what it actually is might help him to get over what is really bothering him.

Anxiety in general can be daunting for most of us. It's always been a monkey on my back...and yes it does sometimes translate as a metaphor in my dreams as well. Usually a "fear of failure" scenario.

 

[Mia]

Recall having different sorts of nightmares at that age, mainly related to falling, flying, running, being chased. Sounds quite usual for a teen, would read books, newspapers, and watch television which caused me to have nightmares at the time.

Unsure as to why they affected me so strongly at that particular age, from about twelve to fifteen years of age. Much may have had to do with hormonal and growth changes, noticing boys for the first time, being sometimes bullied at school.

These kinds of dreams have quite a lot to do with feeling as if you have little control over yourself and your life. Exams, physical changes, social changes. All together it makes for a very confusing and difficult time.

 

[tree]

That's how the dream analysis works.
The dreamer thinks about the story that he has
told himself with a dream.

Saying 'gestalt' sounds arcane, but is really only
about finding the meaning of the picture-story,
finding the pattern of it. Seeing what it means
to the dreamer.

A dream I didn't like to have was "I have forgotten
to feed the animals and now they have reproduced
in grotesque ways, some are dying, it is very unpleasant,
I have failed to take care of creatures who couldn't take
care of themselves."

Yeah, that was some anxiety there.

 

[watersprite]

Aspie's Friend Your son is not the only one. I have had them my whole life. They occur in greater number when I am forced to make changes and/or do something new. Getting vigorous exercise every day if possible helps a lot. Having a peaceful interest which can be done alone every day also helps. (For example only, for me it is growing a few plants and either caring for them or simply being with them daily.)