Funny dream right? - SUPERSTOCK / SUPERSTOCK / SIPA

  • 20 Minutes has launched a call to find out if the coronavirus pandemic and containment are affecting your dreams.
  • Tristan-Frédéric Moir, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, specialist in the language of dreams, provides some answers.

We've been confined for more than two weeks. The movement restriction measures decided by Emmanuel Macron in mid-March weigh on our daily life. But what impact does confinement have on our nights? 20 Minutes has called you to find out if the coronavirus pandemic and the quarantine requirement have consequences for your night dreams.

"My nightmares are funny because the creatures that prowl there wear masks"

“Since the virus first appeared, my nights have been haunted. I see people I have lost, family or friends, and suddenly the word coronavirus appears. I wake up, oppressed, lost, disoriented, ”says a reader under the pseudonym Fanfare *. Some people find in their nights the restrictions linked to the epidemic or new health practices. "I dreamed that I would slap a friend who was kissing me, then I would take a shot from a pellet from my neighbor because I was too close to him", laughs Girlofnextdoor *, 40 years.

“I was outside in an unknown place, I had forgotten my certificate. I was scared, I wanted to go home but I couldn't find my way. I ran into too many people outside, I ran past children, I was terrified and lost, ”adds Patricia, 55. Foxtrot * has fun with it: "My nightmares have become comical since the creatures who prowl around them wear masks".

One of the functions of the dream is to integrate reality, recalls Tristan-Frédéric Moir, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, specialist in the language of dreams. “Sleep is a time for managing emotion. Today we are faced with a crisis that is overwhelming us. The dream will make it possible to trivialize this dramatic, unprecedented news, and to better manage our anxieties ”.

"My subconscious took me to an unknown place, very dark, I was going around in circles"

The anxieties linked to confinement are present in the testimonies received. “I was with roommate friends, it was war. We had to separate and a bomb exploded next to me, I rushed inside my house, telling myself that I was ultimately safer inside, ”says Pauline.

Several internet users report dark places, cramped spaces, without light. Carole, 35, remembers sitting with an airplane pilot. “Suddenly, in front of us, an impassable mountain. I panic to be crushed. But the plane enters a huge cave, I am petrified at the idea that the wings touch the walls. Then I see a small opening in the distance, the exit, and we finally come out alive. It's a strange dream but very telling about what we are experiencing today, ”she adds.

Similar atmosphere for Françoise, 63: “My subconscious took me to an unknown place, very dark, I couldn't find the entrance, then I couldn't find the limits, I walked in circles, nobody to inform me and m 'helping was very anxiety-provoking'. Gaby, 67, sees himself behind the wheel of a car. “I couldn't see anything because a completely opaque cardboard covered the entire windshield. At a red light, a passer-by lifted it slightly for me, letting in some light. "Garbaa Kalthoum * also evokes" a place where everything was black, with black powder on the ground. What is going on is working for me a lot, I am afraid of death ”.

"This darkness is linked to the threat of death that hangs over, of course, but also to the lack of visibility of what is happening to us. The virus is invisible, we don't see it, we don't know how to behave, nor what will happen in the weeks to come, ”adds Tristan-Frédéric Moir.

"When we dream that we are flying, it is because we are trying to escape everyday fear"

Other people reveal happier dreams to us. “I have no nightmare related to the feeling of confinement. On the contrary, I never stop dreaming of large green expanses, without delimiting spaces, with wild animals, and even unicorns ... I dream that I run naked, completely free to move, "says Marie, 28 . A similar setting for Ewenn, 25. "I dreamed that I was flying on a kind of scooter with my brother (with whom I am confused) over green hills and a kind of water park".

The aperitif, outings with friends, are recurring themes. “My dreams seem more alive to me. I miss outings and parties, so much so that I dreamed of an evening where we organized a blind test with friends, and I felt like I was really looking for the names of the artists and the titles of the songs, ”says Philippe, 35 years old.

Tristan-Frédéric Moir sees in it “dreams of compensation”: “They bring the freedom that we lack in reality. When we dream that we are flying, it is because we are trying to escape from everyday fear. "

The specialist then gives us advice for this extended confinement period. “Those who have extra time can take advantage of it by writing down their dreams. In the vast majority, dreams reveal old anxieties. The virus can be a toxic person around us because the brain works by analogy, he says. It is interesting to look at the content of our dreams because they always say something about ourselves ”.

* Some internet users have testified under pseudo.

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