Dreams, Nightmares & Dissociative Identity Disorder

By “Christine”

Multiple Personalities

I have vivid and graphic dreams almost every night. They used to be hellish.

I have learned that alters express themselves with nightmares, dreams and “daymares” (another subject altogether). While you sleep, alters feel safe to move around and feel. One of the ways they feel is by dreams. I have done my share of sleep walking and re-arranging things in my sleep, but if you are not sleeping alone, your alters might not feel safe enough to physically move, but they will still express their feelings in dreams.

Sometimes the dreams are graphic images of exactly what happened in the alter’s past – quite possibly events that you knew nothing about because they shielded you from them and now you have both reached the stage where this secret should be kept from you no longer. In other dreams, the actual events featured have never occurred in the alter’s life but the dreams express dilemmas and emotions that are of great significance to the alters. The biggest point about either sort of dream is that they communicate things that are deeply distressing the alter, and trying to bear them alone has become too great for the alter and is no longer necessary. The alter needs your support, and probably the support of other parts of you as well, and you have much to offer in terms of a listening ear, empathy and wisdom.

Often in my dreams, I am in a no-win situation. If I do one thing, I will suffer; if I do another I will suffer. That is exactly how I feel with a certain relative. I have noticed a real spike in these dreams right after I talk with that person.

Of the few books I have read on dreams, I have seen that dreams very often reflect emotions that we cannot seem to express or that need continued expression.

Dreams play a huge role in the Bible and in many other cultures. Genghis Khan started his whole world conquest based on a dream!

I have found that sometimes my dreams are not my alters dreaming but them deliberately expressing themselves through telling stories. On some other occasions, they will intervene in real dreams and change the ending so that it ends up victorious rather than disastrous.

When it comes to discerning between demons and alters, I find it pretty simple. Demons are outside voices. They have stood at the end of my bed and ran my blood cold. When I see them they look like a ghostly image, rather like the shades in the story/movie Lord of the Rings. There is a strong presence of death and terror. The cold icy presence from demons is not usually related to a dream. A cold icy presence immediately after a dream is often simply an emotional response to the dream. I think discerning between inside and outside voices/presences is important.

Praying in the Spirit or asserting one’s authority in Christ will drive demons away, but God will not drive your feelings away. Feelings are yours to come to term with. God will never force himself on you but he longs to help and will do so, if you let him.

D.I.D. Emergency Help contains a very valuable section on this subject. This link with take you straight to it: Dreams & Nightmares