Dreams About Being Killed: What They Mean & How to Deal With Them

What Are Dreams?

Dreams are ideas, images, and sensations that are experienced during our deeper stages of sleep.¹ They are often filled with emotions, symbols, and events that range from simple everyday activities to bizarre or illogical events.

There are many reasons behind why people dream. Strong feelings such as apprehension, anxiety and stress can stem over in dreams in the form of stress dreams or anxiety dreams.

Types of Dreams About Being Killed

There are a few ways in which a person may dream about being killed or witnessing someone being killed. Some of these are more common than others, such as dreams where you are being chased or attacked, or dreams about car crashes or other accidents that result in injury or death.

Common dreams about killing include:

• Dreams about being killed: Dreams about being killed usually consist of dreams where one is murdered, dies in an accident such as drowning or a car accident, or dying of unknown causes.
• Dreams about witnessing a murder: Dreaming about witnessing the killing of another person is also common. This could be someone who you know, or a stranger.
• Dreams about someone else being killed: Not all dreams about someone dying involve you witnessing the killing. Sometimes these themes involve you being informed that someone you know was killed, or that you heard about strangers being killed.
• Dreams about killing another person: These types of dreams involve the dreamer dreaming about killing someone else, such as being the driver of a car that crashed, resulting in the death of the passengers who were riding with you.

What Do Dreams About Being Killed Mean?

Dreams about killing may occur for a variety of reasons, and there is no one cause. These dreams are rarely a cause for concern, especially if they are not distressing, and are thought by many mental health clinicians to be about transformation or forward development.

Some people have dreams about death and dying, and about being killed frequently, especially when they are stressed or worried about something in their personal life. It is also common to have dreams about killing after reading a murder mystery book or watching a horror movie.

Below are some other possible causes behind dreams about being killed:

1. You Are Dealing With Stress

Dreaming about being killed may be linked with stress. As many types of stress are a normal part of life, occasional bad dreams or nightmares are usually not a cause for concern. “It’s normal for both children and adults to have bad dreams and nightmares every now and again.”¹

 2. You Are Projecting Emotions

Being killed in a dream may relate to projection of negative emotions that are experienced during the dreamer’s everyday life events.“Regardless of a person’s everyday experiences, 80% of dreams involve some forms of negative emotions.”²

3. You Fear Change

A fear of change may contribute to dreams about being killed. Life changes such as getting married or divorced, changing jobs, or a big move might trigger the types of stress and emotions that bring out these symbols in our dreams.

4. You Fear Failure

When we are worried about changes or failures, it could be common to dream about stressful or scary things such as death, because this is our mind’s way of processing our fear of failure.

5. You are Healing From Trauma

Nightmares and sleep terrors are a common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (CPTSD). Many people who have experienced traumatic events report nightmares for weeks, months, and even years after the events have ended. This is our mind’s way of processing the trauma that is still living inside us.

6. You Fear the Future

Just as a fear of failure and a fear of change can bring about dreams about being killed, worrying about the future can bring similar feelings. Existential anxiety can produce dreams about being killed, or even about killing others.

7. You Tried New or Different Medicines or Drugs

“Using some types of illicit substances or prescription medications that affect the nervous system is associated with a higher risk of nightmares.”¹

How to Address Dreams About Being Killed

When trying to understand our dreams, is it important to focus on the underlying causes, as these will often be what shows up in our subconscious.

It is normal to have these types of dreams once in a while. However, if you are noticing that you are having them more frequently, or that they are becoming more intense or stressful, here are some tips for managing them.

Below are tips for managing dreams about being killed:

• Remind yourself that you are safe: Immediately upon waking up from this type of dream, it is normal to be scared or uncomfortable. Take some time to do some deep breathing and remind yourself that you are safe, and that it was just a dream. 
• Journaling: Taking time to write out your feelings will help decrease their intensity, and give you an outlet.
• Practice stress management: Working on stress management will be helpful to decreasing stress and anxiety, some of the contributors to bad dreams.
• Heal your inner child: Working to heal any residual or lingering traumas we have, such as healing one’s inner child, can be helpful to work through any recurring nightmares or negative themes in our dreams.
• Talk with a friend: It is common to think that our dreams are bizarre and abnormal. However, when we talk with our peers, we will realize that a lot of people have these types of dreams- they just aren’t talked about as much due to shame and embarrassment.
• Sleep with a nightlight: A soft light will help to create a calming environment, so that you do not wake up in the dark if you are awakened from a dream.
• Be mindful of what you read or watch before you go to bed: Watching a scary movie, especially a horror movie, might increase your chances of dreaming about the events that you saw.
• Try calming activities such as yoga or meditation before bed: Calming activities will help calm your mind down before rest.

When to Seek Professional Help

Someone may consider seeking therapy for the underlying causes of their dreams if they are having nightmares, or if there is a recurrent distressing theme– such as reliving a traumatic event. “For those suffering from nightmares, interpreting dreams and ultimately influencing them are ways of partly treating their condition.”²

Most dreams are able to be dismissed as passing memories. But the issue comes when you are having nightmares, or recurring dreams that are problematic or stressful. If this happens, it is important to seek support. A therapist who specializes in dream interpretation or nighttime/sleep issues such as nightmares can help you with receiving individual support. If you are looking for an alternative to a traditional therapy setting, there are many online therapy options to choose from, too. You can start finding the right therapist for yourself by searching an online therapist directory.

In My Experience

In my experience, dreams tell the stories that we are unable to face during our waking hours. However, they are not like watching a movie of the truth- more like experiencing a movie in symbols. For example, many of us have had that dream where we are naked in class. This does not mean that we are planning to be naked in class, nor does it necessarily have anything to do with class! Rather, dreams are symbolic, and usually describe the way we feel about ourselves.