Thoughts, memories, emotions, feelings and reflections that come during the day are somehow “revealed” at night, e.g. in the form of dreams in which the deceased appears. Lisa M. Shulman says that during mourning, sound sleep is essential to the healing process. Both mental and physical.
The doctor conducted an analysis on herself in this regard. Writes , after the loss of her beloved husband – an outstanding neurobiologist who specialized in Parkinson’s disease – she meticulously wrote down what she thought, felt, and what emotions she felt at a given moment. She also wrote down her dreams. She started doing it already at the stage of diagnosis by her husband, who was struggling with cancer.
Lisa M. Shulman was devastated after losing her partner. She was dreaming, and her dead husband often appeared in her dreams. The specialist – by writing down her dreams and analyzing them – wanted, among other things, to: discover what symbolic meaning these types of dreams have during mourning and how our brain reacts to the loss of a beloved family member and how it tries to cope with this loss.
They died in our dreams. Is there anything to worry about?
“Sleep not only organizes and indexes memory, but also helps develop fresh memory to support emotional healing,” the doctor explained in her publication. “Our emotional lives and connections, as intimate and essential as we think they are, result from physical processes in the brain; they are generated by a vast network of neurotransmission and cell signaling. And the pain and disorientation of traumatic loss are a reflection of powerful neural traces of memory and needs,” we read.
More precisely, it looks like this: at night our thoughts and experiences “go” from short-term memory to long-term memory:
This consolidation and reorganization of the new with the old is what dreams are made of – the mind tries to integrate new experiences with a pre-existing understanding of our self and the world around us
– explains the neurobiologist. The above process is natural and completely correct. However, in the case of a sudden, traumatic event – which is undoubtedly the death of a loved one – this process is disrupted. More precisely, there is no integration of new and old experiences. The multitude of emotions leads to more and more frequent dreams about the deceased, often unpleasant ones.
It is worth emphasizing that mourning dreams do not have to occur constantly. Sometimes they recur, for example, for several weeks or months, and then disappear for some time. Usually, however, when they appear, they seem particularly significant and expressive. The doctor noted that if dream analysis is carried out systematically, then after some time, from dreams about the lost person we can learn about progress in organizing emotions, recovery and emotional regeneration after a traumatic experience.
“After a loss, healthy sleep is very important”
According to the doctor, dreams play a significant role in the so-called consolidation process – writes Medonet. The idea is to “consistent memories” with the treatment. “After a loss, healthy sleep is very important because dreams in the REM phase promote emotional reconstruction. Conversely, sleep disorders, including insomnia, partial arousal and nightmares, may block the healing process” – explains the expert.
It should, of course, be emphasized that if we cannot cope with any traumatic experience, caused not only by mourning, we should immediately see a specialist. In such situations, conversations with a psychotherapist or appropriately selected pharmacotherapy can help.
Sources: Medonet/www.indigo.ca
Source: Gazeta

Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.