Is this not a common dream?

[Tyne]

I was having a discussion with my friends not long ago about common themes in dreams that many people have; like flying, losing teeth, zombies, water, etc. I mentioned being chased by a killer seemed like a common dream. They were puzzled and alarmed, but confessed none of them (there were three of them) had ever had a dream like that. In particular, they were alarmed by the idea of turning on the dream attacker and attacking back, which I described.

 

Which got me wondering if anyone else has had dreams like this, if any of you think it is common or uncommon, and what meaning it might have.

 

For me, the nature or the "being chased" dream has changed quite a bit since I was a child. It used to be that I would get chased down and attacked then immediately wake up. Now, if I am being chased in a dream, I will try to get away, then when the killer is close enough, I will turn around and kill him first, often with his own weapon after a slight struggle which I easily overcome. The weapon is often a knife, and the dream continues with out waking. I don't have these dreams often, but I did have one just a couple nights ago that was so visceral its still got me thinking about this dream and wondering why I would be having it and what it might mean.

[rosencrantz]

I also dream about getting chased, but I rarely see the person who is following me. 

[Will Torbald]

If you're being chased and attacked that makes you a victim, even if you fight back or not. To me, it seems like your mind likes to reinforce a kind of victim mindset in you by regularly giving you visions of persecution. I would ask myself in what way do I benefit in my real life from victimhood and how can I reclaim responsibility of my situations instead of relying of the reinforcement of it. Since they seem to go as far back as childhood I would start there with the events before the dreams and how I felt victimized back then, but also how I never let go of that idealization.

 

That's just a theory, but you can never be sure with analysis either way.

[A4E]

When I was a child up to about 12, I had dreams of a kind of meat ball chasing me, and that is supposed to be a standard dream for many people. When my health decreased slowly but surely, because of malnutrition, I stopped caring so much about school as a result. When I was 17 I was not even able to read more than 1 sentence in 30 seconds. (had to reread it many times because I forgot about it right after reading it too many times). The being chased dreams vanished during this.

 

So my theory is that dreams of being chased mirrors the social pressures, such as pressure to conform and always do as you are told. Get up early to go to school. Sit down and be quiet. Go back to your home. Do homework. Repeat... You are not allowed to ever relax and reflect on your own accord. So you have to continue running from the threats of consequences of nonconformity.

[Eh Steve]

It's a common dream.  Being chased dreams were very common for me for a long time.  So I'm very familiar with this one, I'm actually a bit surprised your friends seemed to relate to the other ones but not this one.  Also it is interesting that they seem more alarmed with the fact you fight back and less so with the part where someone is trying to kill you.

 

Usually with dreams there are I think with two approaches, depth and practical.  If you want to figure out what the dream meant you can look for a depth interpretation with something like "what are you running from / do you feel like you are being chased/attacked" ?  And then also just looking back to the previous day and seeing if anything was bothering you or if anyone was bothering you.

 

So for the specifics of why you had this dream.. Is there anything chasing you right now?  And what happened the day before?  I'd examine your feelings, see if anything is nagging you internally, and then examine your social life as well.

[luxfelix]

Another theory regards the subconscious communicating with the conscious and vice versa; in your case, if the dream is an observation than it would likely be the former, whereas, if it is a lucid dream than it would be the latter.

[Kevin Beal]

My two closest friends have had this dream, but not me... that I can remember.

[shirgall]

I have a different issue which is ever since my 30s I dream maybe one or twice in a year, and not every night like when I was younger. Yes, I once had sleep apnea, but I fixed that problem when I lost weight.

[Danske]

That's odd, my dreams tend to centre around chasing others but always being on the periphery. Always just unable to form connection, gain eye-contact, and I am always referred to in an offhand kind of way, as if I am a ghost. Never been chased in a dream.

[Jessica Rose]

From what I've read, it's a fairly common dream, but I've never had it. My most common dreams is that I am lost (which makes sense to me, because I feel lost in life right now) and the second-most common is that I'm surrounded by scorpions. One dream-interpretation website stated that dreaming of scorpions means that you likely have untrustworthy friends, but in this case I tend to lean toward the simpler interpretation: I live in the desert, there are scorpions all over the place here, and I'm pretty creeped-out by them.

As for your dream, I support what others have mentioned -- that there's something in your life you're trying to run away from, some issue that is making you feel victimized or vulnerable. That you're able to kill your attacker suggests to me that this issue is something you've already resolved, or will be able to resolve.