Dream journalling reduced our nightmares

Before I started dream journalling I had nightmares and night terrors almost every night. I didn't really remember anything beyond "I was attacked" or "a beast was killing me and I couldn't stop it" and it was a miserable time. I'd be waking up my partner by flinging myself out of bed and ruined two bedsheets with all the sweating.

My counsellor suggested dream analysis when trauma came up in session that I couldn't process as a true event, only as a dream. She sees dreams and nightmares as a way for the subconscious to express trauma too painful to explore in daily life. My dreams have the same themes as trauma we've experienced, just using different words, so it makes sense.

My favourite thing about dream journalling is you only have to give as much detail as you can bear. If you only remember a scrap of a night terror, you can just write "I was attacked/killed/being stalked" and be done with it. If you can remember where you were or anything else that happened it's good to write it down, but I just write a scribble when it's too painful.

I started doing dream analysis and dream journalling about nine months ago. I still have nightmares, but they bother me less during the day and my sleep is more restful. I find dream analysis books and websites useless since they assume the most traumatic thing a person can experience is public humiliation, so I don't recommend using them. Learn your own recurring themes.