When Grief Has Nowhere to Go
Nightmares, memory, and the work of making loss speakable
Write to me with any problem or dilemma at AskPhilippa@yahoo.com Subject to Terms and Conditions
Dear Philippa,
Since my late partner died 7 years ago, & I went straight into the menopause, I’ve suffered with either insomnia or nightmares.
This is a sort of torture, to either not be able to sleep, or, when I do, to have blood curdling nightmares, & then wake up traumatised. (One nightmare was about digging up the putrified corpse of my partner’s daughter & eating her head, another where my mother was drowning me in a subterranean cave, oh Freud, where art thou? Another where people were describing necrophilia to me in great detail).
At one point the nightmares were so lucid I didn’t know of I had dreamt something, or it really had happened, & I found it hard to function at work. The GP prescribed anti depressants, which made it worse. The nightmares have eased a little over time, but I’m still tortured every night.
What can I do??
Any suggestions gratefully received.
My Reply
