Sunday, August 18, 2002		Dream Theme

Dreaming of illness
Vinaya Katoch Manhas

TO dream of oneself or someone else looking sickly and emaciated is not a very pleasant dream. It generally leaves one fearful of his or someone else's welfare.

As per Indian thought, such a dream is no cause for fear for it spells good health. Should you, on the contrary, see someone else or yourself enjoying good health then it is a matter of concern. To see your sex organs afflicted with any disease warns you to be careful to not do anything that might besmirch your reputation.

As per western thought, to see yourself ill foretells that some unforeseen events shall throw you into a frenzy of despair by causing you to miss out on entertaining activities. Should you dream of a severe illness then it warns you of some sickness or illness in your family. Such a dream is also a warning of discord within the family. To see yourself sick is a warning for you to be careful about your health. To see any of your family members looking pale and sickly foretells that harmonious relations in your family shall be disrupted. The peace and happiness that your family enjoys shall be disturbed. Chances are that sickness will cause this disturbance. Generally dreams of illness have to do with our inability to accept a particular aspect of our personalities.

For this reason we generally see only one part of our body afflicted with disease. Quite often if one tries to recall one's dream one can even find answers to nagging questions in the form of the treatment of the disease. Many times certain painful memories and feelings of anger can lead to dreams of illness. Such dreams can also represent our fear of not being looked after properly. To feel sick is also the recognition and acceptance of negative feelings, which need to be got rid of. To fall sick is to get rid of those feelings. We could be fed up with a particular situation or a particular relationship. Our dreams are chiefly guided by our emotions. Thus negative emotions often result in the experience of being sick in real life too. Our dreams are also the result of biological stimuli. Many a times, illness in real life follows a dream of being ill. The reason is that physical discomfort which we might have been ignoring or taking lightly is portrayed in dreams of being ill.

Often a 38-year-old woman would see her parents sick and emaciated in her dreams. As a result she would become fearful of their welfare and this fear would abate only when she would call them up. This was proving to be very expensive, yet she could not control herself. The reason for the recurrence of the dream, it was found, was her subconscious desire that they would pass away, for every second month she had to rush to them because of their illness. Her family's situation was such that they could not live with her. The constant tension and worry made her wish that it would all end soon. Her not being able to stop herself from ringing them up had as much to do with fear for their health as with guilt for having wished her own parents dead.