Nightmares

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. I left my ex after he laid his hands on me during an argument a few months ago. Something I’ve been struggling with is having recurring nightmares since he laid his hands on me. These nightmares are usually about him, sometimes it’s as if I am reliving the incident, sometimes it’s him blaming the breakup and incident on me as he did in real life, sometimes it’s him begging me to take him back. I am wondering if anyone has any tips on dealing with these nightmares? I just find it really frustrating because I have had really good days where I’m not thinking about him and what happened and I feel like I’m moving past things and then I’ll have another nightmare and it feels like I’m back to square one.

[Lisa]

Hi midnightrain,

It’s very common to have nightmares following trauma. Healing is often not linear and can take time. I know that you won’t be alone in struggling with nightmares so hopefully other forum members will be able to share their experiences and what helped them with you soon. If you haven’t already, you might want to speak with your GP about this, it could be that some talking therapy would help you to process what happened. You could also reach out to your local domestic abuse service, most should be able to offer some emotional support and some can provide formal counselling too. On the Bloom website, you’ll find some courses and activities around healing from trauma that you might find useful.

Take care and keep posting,
Lisa

[Happybelle]

I had nightmares too for a number of weeks after it was all over. They have stopped now thankfully now I have thrown myself into work and other things. It’s horrible reliving it all night after night and exhausting. Can’t really explain it.  I have found that with all of my challenges, time has been the greatest healer along with fresh air, walking and trying to keep to a regular routine.

[Author]

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