What does it mean to dream that you are being chased?
These are the possible meanings of dreaming that you are being chased, from a psychodynamic perspective.
One of the most recurrent dreams is to dream that you are being chased, that someone has initiated a chase in the dark or in an unsafe place in order to capture you and harm you.
There are many meanings of this particular dream, being in most of the times synonymous of some kind of problem that, although solvable, can cause us a lot of discomfort.
In the following we will see what we can interpret of dreaming that you are being chased.The most common meanings and, also, the specific meanings of some things happening during the persecution.
What does it mean to dream that I am being chased?
There are all kinds of dreams. Although in many occasions we do not remember what we have dreamed, most of the time we do remember some detail of what we have experienced during the night. Some dreams are more pleasant than others, but there are those that greatly disturb our nighttime calm, nightmares that make us wake up very upset the next day.
Dreaming that you are being chased is one of the most common nightmares.. It is one of those dreams that, as a general rule, cause us great discomfort, a lot of psychological tension and may even make us wake up sweating as a result of the suffering and, also, of the physical effort of fleeing from our persecutor. The entity, the anonymous figure or perhaps a known person that has taken protagonism that night in our dream world has made us tremble with fear.
There are many interpretations that can be made when dreaming that you are being chased. This depends not only on the emotions we felt while we were resting, but also on the characteristics of the chase itself. Sometimes, perhaps few but there are some, this dream can be something positive, even pleasant, while in most cases it is synonymous with worries, fears and insecurities.
When we talk about the meanings of dreaming that we are being chased, we must understand that not everyone dreams in the same way and, therefore, they do not interpret their dreams in the same way. The interpretations and meanings that we can extract from our dreams is very varied, depending a lot on the specific content that we have experienced in our rest.
However, we can mention which are the main meanings of dreaming that haunt us, especially taking into account the perspectives of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic approaches. Likewise, it is important to emphasize that the interpretation of our dreams is something very subjective, free and personal, and that the meanings that can be extracted from them are not certain.
1. Excessive worry
The main meaning of the dream in which we are chased is to be excessively worried about someone or something. There is the symbolism that something that is affecting our lives is the cause of much uncertainty, so much so that it has crept into our lives.so much so that it has crept into our dreams and does not allow us to relax or calm down.
2. Need for a personal change
This dream can also mean the need for an important change in our lives. Our persecutor is actually the routine, the boring and tedious monotony that has conquered our daily life and that does not let us move forward. and that does not let us move forward. Life is progress as long as there are changes, changes that materialize in leaving our comfort zone.
3. Stress and anxiety
Stress and anxiety alter our sleep causing nightmares. These nightmares can take any form, but there is no doubt that the one of persecution has a lot to do with these two emotions. Chronic stress affects the quality of sleep, not letting us sleep deeply and making us rest worse. and making us rest worse.
The meaning that can be extracted from this dream is that we need to eliminate the source of anxiety from our lives, because otherwise we will not be able to rest satisfactorily and we will continue to have this nightmare. In addition, because of not getting a restful sleep, the next day we will wake up in a bad mood and this will affect all the important areas of our life.
Meanings according to the type of persecution
Now that we have seen the main meanings of this dream, it's time to take a closer look and see what it can mean depending on how the persecution takes place. To dream that you are being chased does not have the same meaning if the person chasing us is a complete stranger or, for example, our partner. Nor does it have the same meaning if while running away we end up hurting ourselves or if it happens in the middle of the night. Let's see the main ones:
1. To dream that we are being chased at night.
It is quite common that the scene where the persecution occurs is dark or at night. This dream can be interpreted as a preoccupation towards the unknown or towards being hurt, insecurity and fear that people we have just met may harm us.. This is directly related to fear, to suspicion.
2. To dream that we are being chased by a relative
The thing is quite different when the one who is chasing us is a relative. It may be a parent, a sibling, a grandparent, an aunt ... Whoever it is, dreaming that is carrying out a persecution towards our person can be interpreted as a sign of guilt.
It is important to mention that this feeling of guilt, even if we feel it, does not have to be justified.. It is common that in the family environment there are reproaches and guilt appears for things that in themselves are not so serious.
Sometimes we take too seriously a bad comment or an inappropriate gesture of a family member, feeling it as a source of real discomfort. That is why it is so important to have an open communication with our relatives to avoid misinterpretations that can make us feel bad.
3. Dreaming that your boss is chasing us
To dream that our boss is chasing us is a clear indication that we are concerned about our work environment. Although it is not a premonitory dream nor does it necessarily indicate that we are going to lose our job or that our superior is going to scold us, it is a reason to consider whether we are comfortable in our job.
Also It may also happen that we feel that the responsibilities we have been given are too great for us, so much so that they have been transferred to our job.So much so that they have been transferred to the dream world materializing in the form of a boss who chases us and chases us to give us a report that we do not want or wants to give us more work.
That's what we were missing. Even when we try to sleep, we can't stop thinking about work. Fortunately, before quitting our job or dreaming about work every day, the solution may be to ask for a few days of vacation, to disconnect from so many reports and so much history.
4. Dreaming that your partner is chasing you
If our partner pursues us, we may have several meanings. Among them we have the one that simply wants to reach us, a sign that we need to spend a little more time with him or her, to have more moments of intimacy and enjoy each other's company.
Another meaning, in this case negative, is that we want to get away from him or her. that we want to get away from him or her.. We feel that we spend too much time with him or her, that he or she overwhelms us and when he or she wants to approach us, we move away as quickly as possible. What we can extract from this is that it is necessary to talk with the partner, to consider the possibility of resorting to couple therapy and to establish our space.
5. Dreaming that we fall
We may dream that, while we are running, we fall into a sinkhole or off a cliff. Because of this, we believe that now the person who was chasing us is sure to catch up with us and that we have failed in our attempt to avoid falling victim to his cruel and unpredictable clutches.
We can interpret this scenario as a reflection of our low self-esteem, of believing that we are capable of achieving what we set out to do because we are not skilled enough. because we are not skilled enough. Here, what haunts us may be failure, the fear of not achieving what we have set out to do, while the pothole or precipice is all the obstacles we believe we will not be able to avoid.
What we can extract from this is the need to work on self-esteem and pessimism. It is necessary to understand that yes, there will be times in our lives when we will fail, but there will be many other times when we will succeed. If we make an effort and maintain a positive outlook on things we will achieve great feats.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)