My irrational fear for abductions is back, please help!

[Quakeulf]

Years ago when I was a little kid I used to be so incredibly afraid of getting abducted by aliens I sometimes couldn't sleep at night. As I grew older, it sort of disappeared and I forgot about it. Then I discovered skepticism and this site, and then the thought of abductions just seemed silly. Now, things have changed, and for some reason I am becoming more and more afraid of abductions.

I keep having nightmares of me being abducted by all kinds of aliens, where they do the clichés like dragging me around inside this dark, damp, badly-lit cavernous area with breathing walls and some rather high-tech ornaments are attached to the rather organic parts of the walls, and they toy with my emotions through mind-control and force me to feel all kinds of emotions and I cannot control myself at all. They force me to feel fear, like real deep fear, and when I wake up I am always cold-sweating and I can't go back to sleep until I put some lights on. This happens a couple of times a week at most.

[EDIT] Also, these dreams are very vivid, almost as if you could call them lucid dreaming or something. It's as if I am there, breathing and feeling and reacting to everything including the heat and texture of the various surfaces to the way I am so very aware of my situation that I can fully control myself until they do their mind-control things.

No, my childhood did not involve anything unusual at all. It was not very different from other kids' childhoods.

Please help me, this is driving me insane.

[Blackwell]

Have you sought any professional help? Or at least read Sagan's The Demon Haunted World?

[Phil]

. . . . they do the clichés like dragging me around inside this dark, damp, badly-lit cavernous area with breathing walls and some rather high-tech ornaments are attached to the rather organic parts of the walls, and they toy with my emotions through mind-control and force me to feel all kinds of emotions and I cannot control myself at all. They force me to feel fear, like real deep fear, and when I wake up I am always cold-sweating and I can't go back to sleep until I put some lights on. . . . . .


Just like every one of my family gatherings.

[DrewD]

My advice, seek out a professional and see if it helps.

[Quakeulf]

Ok, I appreciate the advice, but what kind of professional should I seek? Not this kind (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/)?

[EDIT] And just what can this professional do to help? Hypnotize me? Sorry, but I won't buy that.

[DrewD]

Ok, I appreciate the advice, but what kind of professional should I seek? Not this kind (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/)?

[EDIT] And just what can this professional do to help? Hypnotize me? Sorry, but I won't buy that.

Well that kind of professional would sovle your problem. If you hired one of those the aliens would not know what hit them (pun intended).

The professional help may be able to find the cause of the irrational fear of alien abduction.

[Quakeulf]

The professional help may be able to find the cause of the irrational fear of alien abduction.

Ok, so I just go to the yellow pages and look up "professional", then? :boggled:

[Hokulele]

Try this thread (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?postid=2936428#post2936428) for some information/advice.

[Kariboo]

I would try to find a therapist that specializes in anxiety disorders. Also ask if they use CBT (cognitive -behavior therapy). Your dream problems could be sleep paralysis, but also just your subconscious dealing with stress through giving you bad dreams. The problem is that it is causing you anxiety when awake, hence use a therapist that deals with anxiety. The CBT will help you find a therapist who does not use hypnosis etc. to help you but will deal with your thoughts and emotions on an evidence based way

[ksbluesfan]

Give in to it. Invite the aliens to abduct you. Put a big sign in your front yard that says "Hey spacemen, I'm right here!". Wait patiently. Give us updates every 10 years or so.

Or you could talk to a psychiatrist who specializes in OCD and anxiety, as others have mentioned.

[TX50]

You say this has started up again recently. What changed in your life
about the time this started?

[Quakeulf]

Nothing big has changed, really. I still do what I use to do. Right now I have two jobs, but I was even more stressed earlier this year when I did programming courses at the University in Oslo, so stresswise this doesn't make any sense.

[Flo]

Nothing big has changed, really. I still do what I use to do. Right now I have two jobs, but I was even more stressed earlier this year when I did programming courses at the University in Oslo, so stresswise this doesn't make any sense.


You may just be extremely tired, which lowers your threshold of resistance to stress, which in turn augments your anxiety level. As others have advised you, try to find a professionnal who specialize in anxiety disorders.

[Broes]

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.


When I was young, I had scary dreams about falling. It drove me silly, I fell of buildings, cliffs, stairs, etc and each time I woke up sweating and gasping.
Eventually I decided to change it, it was driving me mad and I slept very bad. From then on, when I had the chance in my dreams, I would willingly goto the edge of a tall building or cliff and jump off. On my way down I would try and fight the urge to panic, instead I would try and defiantly embrace the inevitable.
Now, whenever in my dreams, when I am at a high building in my dreams, I will smile and jump off, extend my arms and soar, never hitting the ground again...

[thatguywhojuggles]

http://www.csicop.org/si/9805/abduction.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9D04E0DB113DF935A35754C0A96F958260

[rats]

Hello Quakeulf,

I experience long, vivid, nightmare dreams regularly. They can be so realistic it often takes some time and thought to figure out whether they really happened.

I find that routine, less alcohol, and more than 4 hours sleep per night all help reduce the frequency of nightmares. They are also definitely influenced by stress levels. Talking to a counsellor helped me deal with the aftermath of nightmares, and figure out some root causes. You say your life is less stressful than it has been in the recent past, but perhaps you're now dealing with the fallout from the stress you dealt with previously.

As a reminder, a forum is great for support and ideas but is not a solution.

Best of luck with the sleeping. *hug*

[Quakeulf]

Thank you all for your support and help, but quite frankly I have ZERO belief in any kind of therapist or therapy out there. It's just a silly waste of time and money to talk to someone like that, and after all, it's all up to you to get over it, no one else. It's not like he's going to make Keira Knightley propose to me or something, so why even bother.

Also, the last time I had some alcohol was this summer, so I'm not exactly a heavy drinker. I get around 7 hours sleep every night, just so that is straightened out.

[Ipecac]

So, if you're not interested in therapy (which could actually help you), what do you expect us to suggest? How else could we possibly help you?

[Locknar]

Thank you all for your support and help, but quite frankly I have ZERO belief in any kind of therapist or therapy out there. It's just a silly waste of time and money to talk to someone like that, and after all, it's all up to you to get over it, no one else. It's not like he's going to make Keira Knightley propose to me or something, so why even bother.

Also, the last time I had some alcohol was this summer, so I'm not exactly a heavy drinker. I get around 7 hours sleep every night, just so that is straightened out.

If you won't accept professional help (ie. you have zero belief in it), I'm not sure what anyone can say to help.

Routine, stress, alcohol, etc. all can be factors, but you've eliminated those. So....that leaves you with laying awake at night, worried that after traveling countless billions of miles through space aliens will abduct you as they have nothing better to do?

If leaving the lights on helps as you've suggested...then do it. I suspect that eventually this fear will pass on it's own. That said, I think couceling is a viable option.

[ksbluesfan]

If you don't believe in therapy, then embrace your fear. What's the worst that could happen? I promise, you will not be abducted by aliens.

[Big Les]

Sorry to hear you're struggling with this; must be especially difficult being a sceptic and still being afflicted by irrationality. Don't write off CBT. Borrow "CBT for Dummies" from your library if they have it, and see if it seems like it's for you. It seems to work well for some depressed people, it might just help with your anxiety too. I'm pretty sure it's nothing like you imagine it to be (celebrity "therapy" or hypnosis or whatever).

[Dancing David]

Years ago when I was a little kid I used to be so incredibly afraid of getting abducted by aliens I sometimes couldn't sleep at night. As I grew older, it sort of disappeared and I forgot about it. Then I discovered skepticism and this site, and then the thought of abductions just seemed silly. Now, things have changed, and for some reason I am becoming more and more afraid of abductions.

I keep having nightmares of me being abducted by all kinds of aliens, where they do the clichés like dragging me around inside this dark, damp, badly-lit cavernous area with breathing walls and some rather high-tech ornaments are attached to the rather organic parts of the walls, and they toy with my emotions through mind-control and force me to feel all kinds of emotions and I cannot control myself at all. They force me to feel fear, like real deep fear, and when I wake up I am always cold-sweating and I can't go back to sleep until I put some lights on. This happens a couple of times a week at most.

[EDIT] Also, these dreams are very vivid, almost as if you could call them lucid dreaming or something. It's as if I am there, breathing and feeling and reacting to everything including the heat and texture of the various surfaces to the way I am so very aware of my situation that I can fully control myself until they do their mind-control things.

No, my childhood did not involve anything unusual at all. It was not very different from other kids' childhoods.

Please help me, this is driving me insane.

It sounds to me as though these may be intrusive thoughts which is common in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I used to worry about death by fire, death by car crash and the worst was death by firey car crash.

I have major depression with co-occurent OCD and Panic Attacks.

[Dancing David]

Ok, I appreciate the advice, but what kind of professional should I seek? Not this kind (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/)?


I would recommend that you seek out someone with accredation and experience. Look in your phone book and talk to people. They should be able to tell you their experience and give references.

Be sure to ask them if they use behavioral strategies, if they respond strangely then don't see them. Ask them if they feel that benefit can be obtained in twelve weeks, if they waffle then avoid them. The correct answer is "We should be able to target a specific issue and you should see results after 12 weeks we may need to set new goals."

Be wary of any one who uses words like 'integration', 'unconscious', 'inner child' and especially 'regression'.

There is a book called The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook and another one I can't remeber Feeling Good. They are both behaviorally based and very easy to use.

[EDIT] And just what can this professional do to help? Hypnotize me? Sorry, but I won't buy that.

[Cainkane1]

Are you a victim of abuse? Many of the people who feel they are being abducted have been physically, sexually or verbally abused as children. Go to a psychiatrist and see what your problem is.

[Soapy Sam]

Put a notebook, pencils and a clock by your bed.
Start keeping a dream diary. Note times of waking.
Keeping a sleep / dream diary can be fun, but can tell you things about yourself you did not know. If I wake in the night, I generally fall asleep again in a minute or two- but sometimes talk to the GF while awake. In the morning I will have totally forgotten these - but will occasionally have odd pseudo-memories of what we said. It feels like something I'm imagining, yet is an actual memory. Occasionally, I have found myself in possession of a bit of data I could not have imagined , yet which feels "false".
If you are waking briefly, (even for seconds) and being aware of your surroundings, these awareness memories may confuse you days later. The mind is wierd, whether awake, asleep or half and half. Keep records so far as you can. If you do consult anyone, it may help them too.

Try this thread (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?postid=2936428#post2936428) for some information/advice. (Thanks, Hokulele).
Sleep paralysis, hypnopompic / hypnogogic dreaming , lucid dreaming and alien abductions seem to have a lot in common. The phenomena are absolutely real (except for the aliens) and very well documented, but not well understood. I recently heard of what sounded like a very similar case, except the sufferer was having memory lapses as well. Very disturbing for him.

[Quakeulf]

Thank you all for your help!

I am not suffering from OCD at all, I had a check on that just recently. I am also not a victim of rape and/or abuse in any way.

I have looked into this sleep paralysis thing now, and it seems to match my situation a little, but I will look more into it before I say anything definite.

And regarding therapy, why even bother when you can say the same on the internet and get way better response from people I respect more? As already stated, it is just a wasted effort better spent doing something constructive.

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

So, if you're not interested in therapy (which could actually help you), what do you expect us to suggest? How else could we possibly help you?
I would like to add my voice in saying that speaking with a therapist can be extremely beneficial; especially during times of our lives when we are under a lot of stress or pressure. A good therapist won't tell you, "Oh X is your problem." they're going to help you talk through things and figure out why your feeling/thinking whatever you are feeling/thinking. Basically (at least the ones my wife has worked with, or been a client of) they are really good listeners that have professional training in asking the right questions.

[Miss Whiplash]

And regarding therapy, why even bother when you can say the same on the internet and get way better response from people I respect more? As already stated, it is just a wasted effort better spent doing something constructive.

Well, for one thing a therapist can prescribe one of the scores of anti-anxiety medications in existence and a forum on the internet cannot. These vivid dreams can stem from a panic disorder or you could suffer from some physical problem like sleep apnea, or a combination of the two. If you do not want to go to a therapist, go to your MD. At the very least you'll get some Xanax, you'll get enough sleep to get a-hold of yourself, and the dreams will go away.

[sinclairmcevoy]

Well, for one thing a therapist can prescribe one of the scores of anti-anxiety medications in existence and a forum on the internet cannot. These vivid dreams can stem from a panic disorder or you could suffer from some physical problem like sleep apnea, or a combination of the two. If you do not want to go to a therapist, go to your MD. At the very least you'll get some Xanax, you'll get enough sleep to get a-hold of yourself, and the dreams will go away.Drugs are bad m'kay? Unless therapy doesn't work. Saying a therapist can perscribe drugs, while it is true, shouldn't be the reason to go and see one. M'kay?
Try sleeping with the lights on to begin with.

[Autolite]

Try looking on the bright side! If you are in fact abducted by aliens you will be the very first person in the entire history of mankind. Doesn't that sound exciting???

[Collin Merenoff]

I think it's called a hypnopompic hallucination. Sometimes when I'm half asleep I hear a buzzing sound with random words, or feel as if thoughts are being put into my head. It doesn't scare me because I know it isn't real. It's even kinda fun, sort of like an acid trip without real acid.

Have fun with it. It's your own world. You might even imagine some female aliens. ;)

[Quakeulf]

...they are really good listeners that have professional training in asking the right questions.
Well screw society if you have to pay and make and appointment to find a good listener. That is just depressing, man. Really, terribly, horrifyingly depressive.

[Quakeulf]

Isn't seeing a therapist for everything really an American thing? I get the feeling many make a habit out of seeing their shrink there, much more than they do here in Norway.

Well, for one thing a therapist can prescribe one of the scores of anti-anxiety medications in existence and a forum on the internet cannot. These vivid dreams can stem from a panic disorder or you could suffer from some physical problem like sleep apnea, or a combination of the two. If you do not want to go to a therapist, go to your MD. At the very least you'll get some Xanax, you'll get enough sleep to get a-hold of yourself, and the dreams will go away.
Of course I'd love to eat pills for breakfast. :o No really, I do like my vitamins and prescriptions if I get a disease or somekind of infection, but doing drugs to keep my head straight just doesn't feel right to me. I could as well do meth or cocaine then.

I used to think I had sleep apnea, but it wasn't that either...

Thank you all for your help so far.

[rats]

So Quakeulf, to summarise...
You're hostile to counselling, you manage 7 hours of sleep per night, you're not stressed, you don't drink alcohol, you don't want medication, and you disagree with most of the possible medical or psychological (if those are the correct terms?) problems people have suggested.

I totally understand being hostile to counselling. I wouldn't go myself until my boss made me (bad situation to be in!). I agree counselling is often turned to when a good chat over tea with friends is all that's needed (I've been living in England too long!). And perhaps you'll be fine following a few suggestions made in this thread, like keeping a dream diary and sleeping with the lights on. I really hope you are, keep us posted, and most of us will not-pray for you. However if after a month or so things aren't looking up, please come back to this and the other suggested threads to try and open your mind about the counselling option.

Best of luck.

[TX50]

I think it's called a hypnopompic hallucination. Sometimes when I'm half asleep I hear a buzzing sound with random words, or feel as if thoughts are being put into my head. It doesn't scare me because I know it isn't real. It's even kinda fun, sort of like an acid trip without real acid. [...]


It's true. I've had what would have been some utterly horrific nightmares
that I suppose might have affected me badly had I not known (inside the
dream - which is what the OP also describes) that they were actually
dreams. I recall one where "Satan" was enthusiastically trying to rip my
lungs out through my back. From out of the squalid recesses of my memory
came the tune and words of "All I have to do is dream" by the Everly Brothers
which [bizarrely] I then proceeded to sing to myself until "Satan" lost
interest. "Yay! The Everly Bros pwnd The Evil One!"

Someone mentioned the falling dream. I used to have those too until I took
up SCUBA diving (during which one effectively "flies"), after which they
completely disappeared and have never recurred. Now in dreams I fly, not
fall (causation vs correlation phallusy there probably :blush: )

I've noticed too that people here often seem very quick to suggest therapy.
Must be an American thing. :rolleyes:

[Vitnir]

If you don't want to go to a therapist then I too would suggest a general doctor and ask what prescription drugs can help with this problem. Not all drugs turn you into a zombie but the sideeffects can be troublesome for sure but you won't know until you have a try. There shouldn't be any stigma attached to SSRI drugs for instance, it's not happy pills or magic but they have legitimate uses for specific conditions.

[jsiv]

Isn't seeing a therapist for everything really an American thing? I get the feeling many make a habit out of seeing their shrink there, much more than they do here in Norway.


Because it's even more of a taboo in Norway. The thinking is that you should always keep your problems to yourself and not bother anyone else. There is certainly no less need for it Norway than anywhere else. Mental health is something that has been seriously neglected here for decades. There is little reason not to see a mental health care professional (as opposed to some nutty "alternative" therapist) for real problems.

But rather than pick up the phone book and start calling therapists at random, have you considered seeing your physician (fastlege) as a starting point, just to see what he says? Not to necessarily get any drugs prescribed, but to see what experiences he/she might have had with similar things before and what possible referrals he may be able to give you?

I don't think you should be put off by the stereotypes from American television.

[Flo]

Well screw society if you have to pay and make and appointment to find a good listener. That is just depressing, man. Really, terribly, horrifyingly depressive.


Not just a good listener, but one who can offer constructive advice and solutions. If that kind of people was so easy to find at the corner bar or on internet forums, the whole field of psychiatry and psychology wouldn't have had to be invented.

Most of us here will lend you an ear, or more likely an eye, and offer encouragements and general advice, but we don't know enough of you to ensure it is perfectly adequate.

[athon]

Mate, I can totally sympathise. I've suffered from occasional night terrors for a large part of my life. Luckily they've been quieter the past couple of years, with only occasional nightmares. It'd be nice to think they'll stay like that.

I've gone through periods of serious night terror events. Not nightmares - they're just bad dreams. I mean waking up with extreme emotions flowing through me. Misery, despondancy, fear...it's like the opposite of a wet dream. And it stays with me most of the day. The visual images and sequences in the dream aren't really all that scary, but the emotions I have during them are pretty severe.

I'm afraid my advice isn't going to help. I learned to deal with them. Accept the episodes as it was like I had a mental flu and I just had to wait for it to get better. I rationalised it as some unusual brain chemistry, and took a rather personally removed view of it. I can't say if this would work for you. It sucks, believe me, and I would often go several days on minimal sleep.

Therapy might work. Give it a shot.

Sorry I can only give sympathy and no advice. Good luck.

Athon

[Miss Whiplash]

Isn't seeing a therapist for everything really an American thing? I get the feeling many make a habit out of seeing their shrink there, much more than they do here in Norway.


Of course I'd love to eat pills for breakfast. :o No really, I do like my vitamins and prescriptions if I get a disease or somekind of infection, but doing drugs to keep my head straight just doesn't feel right to me. I could as well do meth or cocaine then.

I used to think I had sleep apnea, but it wasn't that either...

Thank you all for your help so far.

Anxiety disorders should be looked at as a type of disease, not some failing of will. You aren't "doing drugs." If you were having seizures, would you refuse to take medication to control them?

The choice is yours. You can take a chance this will go away on its own. It may or may not. You are not the only person who has suffered from "alien abduction" sleep disorders. In a paper i read, in the late eighties a woman suffered from the same type of dreams you are having. She became a chronic insomniac as a result for 10 years. It took a terrible toll on her health. As panic disorders sometimes do, it morphed from fears of abduction to agoraphobia. When that happened she had to seek help. Of course, she paid with her health and wasted 10 years of her life to not dealing with the root cause of her fears in the first place.

Your dreams are rife with symbolism - it could mean, subconsciously, you do not feel in control of your life. If you've recently left college and are now working, this is a major change in your life. Does working two jobs make you feel overwhelmed? Do you have high expectations for yourself? Do you feel you are not meeting your expectations? Are you satisfied with your career choice?

There's nothing wrong with seeking help when anxieties start to rule your life. Personally, when the anxieties of the modern world start overwhelming me and keeping me up at night, I take a Xanax. I'm strong enough to know when I need help and a good night's sleep. If that doesn't help, I go to the doctor.

[Miss Whiplash]

Drugs are bad m'kay? Unless therapy doesn't work. Saying a therapist can perscribe drugs, while it is true, shouldn't be the reason to go and see one. M'kay?
Try sleeping with the lights on to begin with.

Why do people lump anti-anxiety medications with street drugs? So long as it's taken under a doctor's care, it's no different than taking an antibiotic. No offense, but I've always viewed this type of thinking as irrational and bordering on superstition.

[supercorgi]

Why do people lump anti-anxiety medications with street drugs? So long as it's taken under a doctor's care, it's no different than taking an antibiotic. No offense, but I've always viewed this type of thinking as irrational and bordering on superstition.

I've got to agree with MW's position, prescription medication is abused by some but you can't compare these meds to street drugs. They are prescribed for real problems that severely disrupt people's lives. I've suffered from severe depression my entire life. There's evidence for it being biochemical (my dad was chronically depressed and his father commited suicide). I take antidepressants - they allow me to think relatively clearly and live my life. They are in no way "happy pills."

[Skeptic Guy]

(SNIP)
Your dreams are rife with symbolism - it could mean, subconsciously, you do not feel in control of your life. If you've recently left college and are now working, this is a major change in your life. Does working two jobs make you feel overwhelmed? Do you have high expectations for yourself? Do you feel you are not meeting your expectations? Are you satisfied with your career choice?

(SNIP)

I don't bring this up to say that you are wrong, but rather to honestly ask if it is really true that dreams are rife with symbolism. I always thought it was just random firings in the brain without real meaning other than what you read into it. But I haven't done or read any scientific studies on the subject; I'm just trying to remember what limited information I might have picked up in the past.

[Elizabeth I]

Drugs are bad m'kay? Unless therapy doesn't work. Saying a therapist can perscribe drugs, while it is true, shouldn't be the reason to go and see one. M'kay?
Try sleeping with the lights on to begin with.

Drugs are bad???

Fire is bad. It can burn down your house.

Water is bad. It causes floods and drowns people.

Hammers are bad. You might drop one and break your foot.

Drugs are a tool. They can be used correctly or they can be abused, by the prescriber or the user. They have their place. For many, they are lifesavers.

Quakeulf, you work at or for a university? Check with the university health service. And don't put down the possibility of therapy without trying it. Therapy is more than a chat, and a good therapist is more than a friend. For one thing, he or she will ask you questions and/or tell you things a friend might not for fear of harming the friendship. For another, a good therapist has years of training and experience that can be used to give you insights into what's going on.

Don't you think it's just a little un-skeptical, and possibly even arrogant, to dismiss the possibility that a legitimate process might be able to help you, without even trying it out? Hell, start off by telling your therapist you think he or she is full of it. I guarantee they've all heard it before.

[Miss Whiplash]

I don't bring this up to say that you are wrong, but rather to honestly ask if it is really true that dreams are rife with symbolism. I always thought it was just random firings in the brain without real meaning other than what you read into it. But I haven't done or read any scientific studies on the subject; I'm just trying to remember what limited information I might have picked up in the past.

Hi, SG! That was what I was always taught in psychology. Granted a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. According to what I remember of clinical psychology, the content of dreams is our subconscious working out repressed anxieties we encounter in our waking life.

When I was a child I had a recurring dream of being chased by inanimate objects. One in particular followed me to adulthood - being stuck in a driverless car, careening out of control. At stressful times the dream would happen until I actually started avoiding driving. According to the therapist I discussed this with, and this was in the 1980's, the driverless car represented a repressed fear of not being in control of a situation and inability to accept situations I could not control.

What current body of data exists on dreams and their meanings, I do not know. If I'm behind the times, I'm sure someone will let me know. :D

[Soapy Sam]

Yeah, "Therapy" is an American thing.
So was the Saturn V.
Some American things are OK.
If you prefer to deal with this alone, fine - but stay honest with yourself. If going it alone is not working, seek assistance. Doesn't have to be drugs. A sleep lab might be one possibility. Contribute to research, be a guinea pig and learn about your own shady, somnolent self , simultaneously.

[Quakeulf]

Sleep lab? Sounds awesome! Where do I sign up?

[ExMinister]

I would say beware of medications of like Xanax, although I've read there are some antidepressants that can help in sleep paralysis. Your experiences may be similar. I'd had terrifying sleep paralysis/hallucinations quite often since 2005, some of the most frightening, realistic seeming experiences of my life, and I now believe they were aggravated by a prescription anti-anxiety medication I was taking. I found that once I stopped believing these dreams might actually possibly be actual demon attacks or in some way real they eased off and now happen much more rarely. When they do happen now, since I no longer believe they might be real, I am calmer when they happen. Possibly fear is what causes these dreams to intensify. I don't know what causes them or whether they ever really stop. But I think the suggestion to face your worst fears is a great one. At some point maybe the key is to REFUSE to be frightened anymore. In other words, so what if by some remote (we all know better - that's not the point) chance, aliens DID abduct me? What's the worst that can happen? Is there anything I can do about it, and if not, is it going to do me any good to waste any more time worrying about this? It's like any type of fear, the more power we give to something, the bigger it gets and the worse the nightmare.

One CB technique I know of is at bedtime to begin to regularly imagine yourself back in the recurring dream scenario and change it into a scenario you like better. The idea is that eventually your dream scenario will change to match the imaginary scenario.

These types of experiences absolutely do seem real while they are happening. There was a time I would have chosen to stay up half the night rather than have another experience like that. The good news is you are no more likely to be abducted by aliens than I was of being attacked by evil forces, and maybe if you can refuse to be pushed around by those thoughts anymore, yours will ease off like mine did.

[LotusMegami]

So you are willing to ask complete strangers over the Internet for advice, but you won't accept
help from a trained professional? You obviously have not succeeded in getting over it by yourself - that is why you are asking us.

There is still a major taboo against seeking professional help. Nobody wants to by thought of as "crazy." You want to be totally independent and capable and not need anybody. So go live out in the woods and be a survivalist.

Or admit that life is better when people accept help from one another.

A therapist will have much better advice than random people on a forum. Of course, you'll want to get someone respectable, and not a woo-woo who thinks you actually were abducted by aliens.

[Irish Murdoch]

Thank you all for your support and help, but quite frankly I have ZERO belief in any kind of therapist or therapy out there. It's just a silly waste of time and money to talk to someone like that, and after all, it's all up to you to get over it, no one else.

CBT, as I think most people here would agree, is rather different. It's proper, evidence-based stuff. No long chats about how you felt as a three year old when your dog died, no hypnosis. Just a lot of hard work from you (the CBT therapist knows that "it's all up to you to get over it") using techniques that have been proven to work.

[Normal Dude]

Hi, SG! That was what I was always taught in psychology. Granted a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. According to what I remember of clinical psychology, the content of dreams is our subconscious working out repressed anxieties we encounter in our waking life.


According to my latest psychology class, that is one of the theories. But there are many schools of thought on the subject.

[Soapy Sam]

Sleep lab? Sounds awesome! Where do I sign up?

Sorry. Missed this. I'd suggest contacting the psychology dept. of nearby universities or teaching hospitals. Be a research volunteer rather than a patient.