Intruder dreams. They are absolutely what we would classify as nightmares: a person breaking into your home, your safe space, thereby taking away your sense of security, safety, and privacy in the one place in the world those things are supposed to be guaranteed. *Shivers* If you’ve had dreams like this, you are very far from alone; according to a survey conducted by Amerisleep, nearly 16 percent of Americans have had recurring dreams of someone breaking into their homes. And while this may be a common theme, the meaning behind these dreams is often less literal than a fear of someone actually breaking in.
While some experts feel the dream may represent feelings of the dreamer’s sense of security being jeopardized by something or someone in his or her waking life (via Dream Astro Meanings). Others feel the symbolism in these dreams may actually be more complex and have more to do with our inner worlds than our outer worlds.
The intruder may represent hidden parts of ourselves
Psychiatrist Richard J. Corelli wrote for Stanford University that the intruder figure in a dream “is often an inner psychological figure who may represent some shameful or unwanted part of ourself who is breaking into our consciousness … It is about to break into our awareness, and then we will have to confront this unwanted aspect of ourself.” Corelli elaborated that “the purpose of this figure seems to be to reflect all the worst aspects of our character so that we may become more fully conscious of those traits and accept these unwanted but vitally necessary parts of ourself.” And while these traits may be unknown or denied by us in our waking states, they are often aspects of our personalities that are “quite evident” to those who live with us or know us deeply, he says. But because we have not yet come to acknowledge and integrate them, these aspects of ourselves “appear alien and scary to us in our dreams.”
And while you may want to forget about these dreams the moment you wake from them. Corelli feels it may be beneficial to remember them. “The intruder in the dream represents some part of ourself that we have kept outside our awareness for too long and now needs to be let in,” he explained.
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