Leslie,
Is there an experience that you can associate as a contributing cause for your PTSD? Your inability to allow someone to touch you may have their roots in those experiences {if they exist}. Of course PTSD has many possible causes with trauma experiences being only one of them. Personality aspects {temperament}, neurological aspects can play a big role as well. Trauma experiences involving 'inappropriate' touching would be an underlying reason for your emotional response to being touched. Unconscious stimuli that would cause such reactions.

As for past dreams being at work. As long as the emotional issues are unresolved the energies will still be there. A primary function of dreams is to get the dreamer to realize the energies are there and to discover what the sources are. A dream analyst is able to sense the unconscious energies but seldom the actual experiences from a dream. Only when the analyst has a in-depth knowledge of the dreamer's life can he/she put the underlying images in dreams together with actual waking experiences. There are 'underlying' reasons for your reaction to being touched, either psychological or/and neurological.

Let me state I am not a psychologist nor an expert in neurology. Working with dreams I do know there are the underlying energies that motivate conscious actions. There are always logical causes. Finding them is often the most difficult part.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 65 Cocoa, Fl

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Hi Jerry, I remember one of the last times we talked, you mentioned that I was needing to be rescued a lot because I was always rescuing my dog in my dreams. I'm glad now that I had all those dreams because it seems like the ability to rescue parts of my self that were alive. I grew up in a very violent home and my Dad kept trying to kill himself. He completed that. I was also assaulted by 6 men when I was a teenager. I was blamed for this, as well as my fathers violence towards me. Eventually, I went into treatment and was able to maintain recovery for a good 25 years. Then I was with women for a long time but that ended awhile ago and I've been on my own for a long time. I would like to be able to date men
I also remember some feedback you gave me on 'going to war' because I kept having training dreams about getting ready for that. That feedback has helped me a lot as well as the dream about being with Jesus and being crucified. I don't know if you remember any of that but it sure helped me get through some things.
I am in this community to l earn mmy ptsd. and now, I'm starting to remember my dreams.
Jerry I don't think a person needs degrees etc.. to know what they are talking about. Your feedback has helped me, you are very knowledgeable, and that's all I need to know.
On a lighter note..when I arrived here, there was a feral cat (about a year old) that no one was allowed to take care of. He was really scared and hostile but I went to the director and got permission. It took months, but long story short, he is sleeping next to me as I write.
Leslie

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 61 - female - Ft Lyon colorado

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Leslie,
If my analysis of your dreams is helping then that is the greatest reward I can receive. One reason I enjoy working with dreams is because there are those times {as with you} when interpreting a dream helps the dreamer realize things about them self that are important. I appreciate your telling me it has helped you. I don't always receive any thanks for what I do and knowing it is helping boosts my desire to continue with my dream work.

Dreams are messages from the unconscious and most often the dreamer doesn't realize or understand who they really are and why they are that person. We are geared to the outer world we neglect what is on the inside. It is there where the true self resides. Your abuse early in life is major reason for your emotional issues in the present time. The energies from those experiences are stored within the unconscious and become motivators later in life. Uncovering, understanding and resolving this energies is what your dreams/all dreams attempt to communicate. Simply by giving thought to the inner self is therapy. Instead of ignoring the issues there must be a confronting of them, understand what they are and work to eliminate their ability to control. This is what you are doing, confronting the issues and trying to put an end to their ability to control. It is self therapy and I believe that is required {beyond therapy with an analyst} to reach full recovery. Identifying the source{s} of your PTSD may help in resolving that condition. Hopefully continued therapy, self as well as other, will resolve the issue all together. Medications help but as long as the underlying issues go unresolved there will never be a satisfaction within yourself. The energies are still there.

As for a need for degrees. I am a good example that needing a degree to understand is not always required. A lot of what I do in working with dreams is intuitive. We all have access to the 'natural' aspects of the psyche {intuitiveness is something we all possess but have lost contact with because we think we no longer need it for survival}. Jung's archetypes are an example of the unconscious energies that we all possess and when you think about what dreams are and accessing their meaning, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure it all out. I am what is considered an 'intuitive Jungian' since what Jung provides in his theories and concepts are nothing more than what nature has provided. Before my transformation in 1992 I was a political junkie, sports freak who was, like 99% of the US population, was obsessed with the outer world with no clue to the inner. My abilities are purely natural. Since I have abandoned the strict application of Jungian concepts when working with dreams {having gone to a general application instead} my success in analyzing/interpreting dreams is gone from very good to phenomenal. This is due to the fact that these things are something most everyone has access to and not a statement of how great I am. A degree in life is as important than one in Jungian psyche {although understanding/knowing his concepts is essential in properly analyzing dreams}. We all have a talent. This is what Joseph Campbell is speaking to when he tells us to 'follow our bliss'. Find that thing that satisfies the soul and live opens up. It took one hour 24 years ago for me to go from a lost soul to finding my soul's true intent.

The cats. Your story is so gratifying. I spend a lot of money and effort on my cats. The feral colony {9 cats} and feeding the community cats was something that as cast on me as a responsibility, not something I went looking for. I had four when I bought my home in Cocoa and when I moved in there were these hungry mouths that needed to be fed. My neighbors tolerated them but never really cared for them {I have built/am building an enclosure for the feral cats to keep them safe}. I have two or three stories of feral cats going from wild and afraid to becoming domesticated and loving. Thank you for caring for your new friend. He will be the best bed mate you will have ever had.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 65 Cocoa, Fl

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Hi Jerry
cat colony sounds wonderful. What a cool thing you are doing! would do the same if I could.
Yes, I am very comfortable doing dream work with you. You are genuine and honest. Just looking at the image of my friend in the corner of the dark room, has added to other work I'm doing. My personal opinion is that the one true thing I can tell myself, about myself, is through dream work. It's the bottom line truth in me trying to get out.
Thank you again Jerry
Leslie

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 61 - female - Ft Lyon colorado

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