When do the nightmares end?

by EyeDrEvil 32 Replies latest jw friends

  • notperfectyet
    notperfectyet

    EDE,

    I am very impressed with your love and concern for your wife. Kudos for you.

    I was also raised by a prominent elder..I thought they had no status? LOL

    Anyways, I never had nightmares of Armageddon, even with the orange paradise book. But my friends did, but even as a young child I never bought into the fact that God was so horrendous as to kill 99% of the world. But I still had a " I can do anything better than you attitude" with my ' worldly friends '.

    I got married in 1974 at 16. Got pregnant two weeks after the wedding ( yes everyone was counting on their fingers, good thing she was two days overdue )

    The only nighmares I have had since becoming inactive are of dying. I believed I would never die. Nor my parents or my siblings.

    Well my parents are in their 70's. I am in my 40's.

    Maybe the same thing your wife is having nightmares about.

    I almost died two some years ago. And the nightmares or dreams stopped. When I almost died, I was ready to die, to let the pain stop. There was no joy in my life, no living. I got all my affairs in order, and I continued to live. But now I know why old people don't go out kicking and screaming..and the animal world, they just go find a quiet place to lay down.

    Now I know life is meant for the living, we have one life to live, LOL, < soap opera, sometimes I crack myself up > and that I am doing it. Maybe her nighmares are about she knows there is no eternal life, if there is, we won the lottery! If not, we are like everyone else on this planet who has ever taken a breath, and she should enjoy if for all it's worth.

    We aren't that special anymore when we leave the borg.

    I hope she finds sweet dreams.....

    .

  • Undaunted Danny
  • logansrun
    logansrun

    Excellant post, Terry. May I copy that and put my name on it?

    B.

  • CountryGuy
    CountryGuy

    In my case, counselling helped me so much. And, because I was a bad JW and was going to college, it was free. I even continued seeing a counselor for a year after graduation.

    In the beginning, I had nightmares two or three times a week. It was always the same, destruction at Armageddon. But, fortunately, the more I worked out my issues, the fewer and further between they were. I still have dreams about the WT to this day, but now they are very benign. In my last dream, my "best friend" growing up came to "check" on me and see if I was okay. Afterwards we went fishing. That's a big difference!

    Country

  • Carmel
    Carmel

    I found in my discussions with people with similar problems that the more you are invovled with helping others, whatever they may need, quickly replaces emotional scar tissue with healthy new stuff.. keeping the mind involved with good stuff, leaves little room for the krud..

    Easier said than done...though!!

    I wish your wife the best.

    carmel

  • EyeDrEvil
    EyeDrEvil

    Wow, I am blown away by everyone's input!

    Thank you all for your individual and personal insights!

    Terry, you post like an old pro. Welcome to the board!!!

  • outoftheorg
    outoftheorg

    HI DR EVIL.

    WHAT 1M2 DID, WORKED FOR ME.

    HOWEVER I TOOK WHAT I CONSIDER MAYBE A SHORT CUT. I DIDN'T TAKE A LOT OF TIME CHECKING OUT DOCTRINE. SINCE THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBLE INTERPRETATIONS AND VIEW POINTS.

    INSTEAD I READ COC AND LOTS OF OTHER SOURCES. ESPECIALLY THIS AND OTHER FORUMS ON THE INTERNET.

    I FOUND LOTS OF HYPOCRITICAL CONDUCT AND OUTRIGHT LIES ON THE PART OF THE WBTS.

    MANY MANY STORIES OF SEVERE MISTREATMENT OF MEMBERS. NOT FOR ANY SIN BUT ONLY FOR ASKING QUESTIONS AND OTHER ACTS THAT NEEDED NO PUNISHMENT.

    THESE INCIDENTS NEEDED NO INTERPRETATION AND THE RIGHT OR WRONG WAS VERY CLEARLY STATED. SO THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE VIEWPOINT.

    I USED THIS INFO TO DESTROY ANY BELIEF IN THE TRUTH OF THE WBTS. I WOULD CONCENTRATE ON DOING THIS. SOMETIMES I READ THE SAME THING OVER AGAIN AND USED THIS INFO. TO MENTALLY DESTROY THE WBTS IN MY MIND AND MEMORIES.

    ANY "CULT IN THIS CASE" THAT BEHAVES AS THEY DO, ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT INSPIRED BY JEHOVAH OR ANY OTHER NAME, ONE HAS FOR GOD.

    THERE ARE NO LONGER ANY DREAMS OR ANXIETY ATTACKS. EVEN THE KNEE JERK RESPONSE WE ALL HAD FOR "FLAG SALUTE-BIRTHDAYS- ETC. ARE EITHER GONE OR FADING DAY BY DAY.

    BEST WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ON YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS MESS.

    Outoftheorg

  • Ciara
    Ciara

    This is still a problem for me too, but it is getting better. I have such violent nightmares that occasionally I have injured myself quite badly (concussions, sprained joints, etc.). My husband has had to physically restrain me in the past. It has been about 6 months this time since I had one, but they used to happen on a weekly basis.

    Ciara

  • outoftheorg
    outoftheorg

    Hello Ciara. Sorry to hear about your sleep problems.

    There are of course more than one cause for what you are describing. It could be due to the cultish behavour of the wbts or there could be some other physical causes that trigger such events or both could be interacting and you have to live through this anguish.

    I would recommend that you see a psychiatrist about this as they are not only up on psychology but can prescribe meds that may be needed for a while.

    You may already doing these things.

    In any event I think that attacking "so to speak" the teachings and especially the ones that creat fear and self condemnation in ones mind are very helpful and healing.

    For me the first step was to attack the wbts credability, "could I trust them, are they truthful" this was quickly determined that I could not.

    I described what I did to determine this in the post above here.

    Best wishes to you and yours. I am sure this will fade away in time. But we all want it sooner than later, don't we?

    Sleep well Outoftheorg

  • Ciara
    Ciara

    Hello, outoftheorg.

    A lot of the nightmare content itself is centered around my home life as a child, but I feel like this is linked to my folks being flaming JW's. Rolling Eyes I'd love to speak with a therapist about it but that takes a lot of $$$ that I don't have. My heart goes out to anyone else in this situation, but take it from me, having a loving husband there to help me has been wonderful. There is a lot of comort just in knowing that someone is there to help and listen. That and lots of good pills!!!! Chill Pill Smiley Shell

    Ciara


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