You ever wonder why being chased in our dreams is one the most common nightmare to experience?
It doesn’t matter if you are being Chased In Your Dream by the police, madman, monster, killer or even a dog, these dreams contain a very symbolic message that helps the dreamer understand their deep rooted fears in life.
In a nutshell being chased in your dream relates to some sort of inner conflict that we are unable to face that remains unconscious. Your dream will use specific themes or images to guide you towards the root of the problem.
The mere fact that chase dreams are considered the most common recurring dream theme tells you that you are not the only one with this problem.
Article: Tips On How To Stop Recurring Dreams
The good news is once you are able to identify who or what the attacker represents in your dream it will lose all of its powers. Chase dreams contains a very valuable message that is often decoded metaphorically. Find out how to turn the tables on who is chasing you in your dreams.
Understanding Chase Dreams
The difficult part about chase dream is the level of introspection the dreamer must undergo in order to figure out the underlying issue. Like most people who either tend to ignore or repress these unconscious feelings or emotions tend to rare its ugly head in our dreams.
How to understand what might be chasing you will involve looking inward to examine your own motives, thoughts, behaviors and emotions. Since these feelings remain unconscious you will need time to self reflect on what this could be.
Analyzing Chase Dreams
Your dream will give you many clues help put pieces of the puzzle together. The meaning of the dream can alter depending the context, locations, weapons, animal or human etc…
An unrecognizable face connects the dreamer to his or hers shadow, the part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, or shortcomings. This can also imply to monsters, ghosts or entities that have manifested to portray your flaws.
The location helps determine where the problem might be stemming from. Houses are common locations that imply the psyche as each floor contains a different meaning.
Chased By A Killer Dreams
What has the ability to kill you in your dream shows you the power this unconscious force has over you. Essentially you are running away from something that scares or intimates you in your life. Do you know what this is?
Chased By Soldiers or Police
If you are being chased by an authority figure such as the police or soldiers suggests your unconscious actions will eventually catch up with you. Police are authority or enforcers in your life that emerges when you are misbehaving or doing something you shouldn’t. You might be unaware of these actions but whatever you are doing will have a consequence.
They are sent from the unconscious parts of us that is known to police our emotions, movement or beliefs systems that could be in need of fixing.
Chased By Attacker Madman
If you are being killed by the attacker implies the fears have consumed you to a point where you are unable to fend for yourself. If you stand up to the killer suggests you will overcome these issues.
Noticing the attacker is a clue to where the problem might be rooted in. They may possesses the qualities that you ignore within. If you where chased by the police suggest a problem with not admitting your issues. Afraid to be judged for your actions.
Are You Chasing Something?
We are more likely to have a dream of being chased, however we do tend to have dream of chasing things. These dream point to our ambitions and what we want to reach for in our lives that are not obtainable at the moment.
Dream Of Chasing And Hiding
Usually when we are running away and hiding from something in our dreams it often points to avoidance. This is something you are metaphorically avoiding and ignoring. What could this be?
- guilt
- addiction
- negative thought patterns
- anger/rage
- smoking
- over eating
- video games or Daydreaming
- alcohol
- unhappiness/Depression
Fight or Flight?
Being chased in our dreams can have a similar feeling to the physiological feeling of “flight or fight” response. This occurrence has passed down from our ancestors when we are in the presence of something terrifying. The response is triggered by the release of hormones that prepare your body to either stay and deal with a threat or to run away to safety.
The distance running would be equivalent to how close you are to solving this issue. Once you are able to face your fears and stand up to the attacker he will no longer be a threat to you. The feelings that are felt in your dream mimic that of what an anxiety attack feels like. Remembering what you are running away from is a clue to help solve the meaning of the dream.
- rapid heart rate
- pale or flushed skin
- dilated Pupils
- trembling/rapid thoughts
Stop Having Chase Dreams
If you want to stop your chase dreams you will need to confront what you are naturally escaping. Make a list of negative behaviors in your life which you are not willing to confront; anything you are trying to escape from. It is important to understand that escapism is a kind of defense mechanism.
Understanding it might be a form of deflection; pushing something under a rug appears on the next side. They issues will not disappear overnight; they create looping patterns in your life. You will notice that the dream will continue to get worse the more you deflect and find yourself in these similar scenarios.
Chase Dream Recap
Chase dreams can be complicated to decode if you have problems remembering your dream. However, if these chase dreams are recurring you can submit it to our active dream forum and have one of our dream experts take a look at it for you.
If you watched a horror movie just before you went to bed its very possible that you would have a dream of being chased. If this happens disregarded as just a normal dream.
Analyzing your chase dream can be a very helpful tool to manage how you handle stressful situations in your life. You will will open the doors to what is hidden so the next time you do it will be easier.
I had a dream when I was with this female friend finding something I lost near this park as I can’t find it my friend wonders off to this dead end road where this guy with a sawed off shotgun shoots her or strangles her but keep in mind im down the street looking for something I didn’t physically see her but then i go down to the street that she went to cause I got some alert that she requested assistance IMMEDIATELY and that freaked me out so I go over there see this guy with a shotgun and… Read more »
I had a dream the other night where my middle school was sending kids into the ocean. I escaped from the group, but all of the teachers were trying to catch me. It wasn’t only teachers from my middle school, tho, it was also teachers from my elementary school. I went and hid inside of the building and eventually found my good acquaintance, Chloe. We had to evade the teachers and find a way to save the other students. We were walking around the school. It looked like my school, but there were some minor and many not so minor… Read more »
I dream that I’m being chased by the police with my wife at first than she disappears and I’m running but can float high I end up in the middle of the woods in a person house with no roof the cops are all in the woods with dogs everywhere they see me hiding in the top of the house with no roof so I start to come down and wake up!! But I have that dream and another one where I always go to this trailer in yhe middle of the woods and sometimes there are puppies at the… Read more »
I had a really bizarre one last night. I’m at this 2 story house visiting my with my “mom and dad” I put that in quotes because these are 2 people I’ve never seen before but in the dream I call them that. in this dream I’m told about my “mom” having a “checkered past” and that her ex and has come by frequently causing problems. Next thing I know this older man who i recognized as my mom’s ex-father in law, is slowly walking around with a butcher knife, i try to hide in a room but the door… Read more »
I had a lot of dreams with implications of being chased by danger, but one dream sticks out to me. a few months ago I dreamt that I was in a beach resort/some kind of port city. I was being chased around by an overweight prostitute in a pink bunny leotard. she wasn’t ugly, but I was still trying to escape her. if I thought she was following me or if I stopped for a moment, I felt like I had to start running again else she’ll get me. if the answer to this dream is “you’re in denial of… Read more »
Trying to edit my comments below but can’t figure out how… I always “wake” up when they start entering the garage..
I had a recurring chase dream when I was younger, maybe 20-30 years or so… several times a year for several years. Always the same and happened enough it is vividly etched in my memory. Then it happened again recently and it was the same again. I was in my childhood home, alone, as a kid, maybe 8-10 years old. Two quite fit men in their 20’s or 30’s dressed in all black with knives come in to kidnap me. I hide throughout the house, under the bed, in closets, the basement, etc.. and when they get near I find… Read more »
I keep dreaming about situations that will lead to prison. But I’m much younger a school age. There is a tranchuler (spider) there that escapes but we get done for stealing it. Madeline maccan is also there.
It does differ but always ends up in going to jail.
I just woke up from this dream a few minutes earlier so i couldn’t help but wanna know the meaning behind it cuz i never had any dreams of being chased before. I can still remember it clearly that it starts off with me and my family being in an indoor mini zoo in a mall, it’s the type that has animals behind the glass. We see a monkey’s hand sticking out of a hole on the glass and playing with a random with that was dangling off the ceiling from who knows where. And while typing this i just… Read more »
I have had a chasing dream only a few times and every times it’s been the same dream same place same outcome same person same way. I’m younger.. I’m in a Forrest with bright bright stadium lights shining and there’s a man following me behind every tree and i watch him follow me AS HES going from tree to tree and im still walking and watching and he has the same hood less coat on everytime and his regular body but his face is blacked out (kinda like a manikin for visual) and then pretty soon I get freaked out… Read more »
See cloaked in search bar. The forest brings you to the unconscious part of you; the lights become your awareness to this situation. He is your fears you need to identify.
I had a nightmare that a strangers dad was a serial killer on the loose. He told me to run away, I was first in a parking lot frantically running going thru doors, catching glimpses of his father killing people around me, i escaped and ended up at my best friends house at a small gathering, I tried to warn people but it seemed like they were under a spell? it was christmas, now new year’s eve. the killer than turned into different people, now a chinese woman, I tried to quietly warn people, particularly my crush, he was with… Read more »
Question. What is your relationship like with your dad?
it’s good! I love my dad and he loves me but I do wish he would treat my mom a little better.
I keep having chasing dreams but they are different every time. In the one that is stuck in my head I am being chased by a man and a dog, the dog looked like some kind of bulldog. They chased me for what felt like ages, once I decided to hide under a nearby truck, then I climbed a tall Paperbark tree. I ended up nearly being caught multiple times. Whilst still in the dream I woke up at a strange made-up school (I am high school age). I ended up finding my real-life friends at that school and told… Read more »
Dogs in dreams can be tricky symbols depending the gender of the dreamer. They can range anywhere from your best friend or the hidden masculine side of the dreamer that points towards your unconscious behaviors, instincts, urges that are domesticated; unlike the wolf that is wild or the cat that is feminine. Though, Carl Jung connected women who dream of dogs related to their inner masculine energy within the feminine called the animus – composed mainly with the males in their lives that link back to the father. See animus in search bar. In dreams the tree is an iconic… Read more »
I had a dream in which a woman I have worked for was holding me hostage in what looked like the house I live. I decided to escape while she was asleep out of that house but when I was about to get out of the gate, it was locked and the gate was surrounded by a razor wire at the top, I didn’t know what to do but I escaped I don’t know how. Later I’m on the streets at night running away from her as she is looking for me. This street looks like one I lived in… Read more »
The house is your mind and you are trying to escape something that remains unconscious to you. The razor wire is sort of your protection you may have put up to protect yourself. So in what areas do you feel stuck or held against your will?
So last night, I had a dream that I took my dad’s truck out and stopped at a public restroom in the middle of nowhere. When I left the shared bathroom, I heard incredibly heavy footsteps behind me, and of course, I jumped in the truck and sped off. What was following me reminded me of a werewolf, but it had glowing white eyes. Eventually, my dad comes to rescue me, but he looks way different from usual, and he explains that whatever was chasing is gone and that I’ll be safe inside the house. Probably one of the scariest… Read more »
Nice dream. Houses in dreams often connect the person to the psyche/mind or inner architecture. So there seems to be a lot of unconscious elements at play here. We recently did an article on werewolves that has more to do with you; untamed, aggression but also has elements driven by the moon/night that pulls the feminine. Read article in search bar: werewolf. Now the restroom tells you something that you have been holding on to; the connection with your drive that links to your father needs to be let go. This may have recently happened since you are safe at… Read more »
I have this dream that I am in the woods running. I am running from one man. Then suddenly I am surrounded by at least 4 men. I can’t get away. I don’t know what to do …then I have fhe worste feeling ever in my whole body and ❤. I know what they are going to rape me. One starts and then the rest come towards me. It starts to go black and then I wake up crying and or shaking. A friend told me it’s from another life. She said they were teaching me a lesson about standing… Read more »
Anytime we enter the woods or forest in our dreams we are actually entering the unknown or unconscious part of ourselves. So you might need to break down the meaning metaphorically before you jump to conclusions. It might have some element of being taken advantage of; one starts than others join. Now this could be a repressed memory related to being taken advantage of. When you run away it tells you that you are avoiding something, but what? They are of masculine energy and the woods belongs to the unconscious feminine within you.
I dreamed of playing hide and seek with friends/classmates in a community college.
Hiding becomes not facing and seeking is to find something within. The school is metaphoric to self knowledge.
I had a dream that I was being chased by a serial killer with a knife. And I remember trying to save three little girls, I was saving them by taking them out the window. I remember seeing old houses like in the middle of no where. Where there is dirt. And screaming for help.
Houses in dreams often connect the person to the psyche/mind or inner architecture. So this might be related to your past or something from your childhood. Usually what chases us is our unconscious fears that stem from the past. This might be why you are in the middle of nowhere (metaphoric clue) that suggests being lost to this issue. The girls could be related to your inner child that you are trying to save (see inner child in search bar). Whenever knives appears in our dreams it contains elements of removing or cutting away from someone or something. The area… Read more »
I had a dream that I was running from several black shadow figures through a forest and it was pouring down rain. I remember I tried to conjour an umbrella (i do not practice any kind of magic) but could not, so I kept running. I then tried to separate the trees and create a path but could not do that either. I finally found a house but it was in miniature. Again, I tried to use magic and make the house larger but it wouldn’t work. I tried putting my leg inside the door but it wouldn’t fit. I… Read more »
The dream seems to be hinting at your unconscious fears. Anytime we enter the woods or forest in our dreams we are actually entering the unknown or unconscious part of ourselves. These shadows are known to be metaphors for something that we cant see but feel its presence. The house belongs to a part of your mind as the light is your awareness – the light goes out!
So you need to figure out what is no good? I think this is a message from your unconscious or higher self (old man’s voice).
I had a dream that a guy with yellow eyes was chasing me, and he was a shadow figure too
Dreampt every adult was expected to hand themself over to die at Halloween or Xmas. I was staying in these tight knit little apartments of everyone that was expected to. I was about to die and said NO to the person who was making it seem required(my first time being required). I climbed up a building wall to follow the dude who was pushing me to(he wanted my death to be pushing me over the building). I fell down trying to climb up, so i began to climb again. Half way up to him I decieded not to so I… Read more »
The dream is about change and endings from something in your life. Buildings in our dream are symbolic in the sense they appear to be related to things we metaphorically build in our lives; a sub construct (mind/psyche) relating to principles, relationships, beliefs (see building dreams in the search bar). Death is in fact a good symbol, but often bad when met with resistance. Read article in search bar: Benefits of dying
I had a dream that I was running away and hiding from a man trying to attack me. I hid and ran through a hotel and parking garage, seemed like a maze of running trying to escape and hide until it was safe to find a new location to run and hide to. My boyfriend was with me some of the time and tried to help me escape. I never could see the attacker’s face, but he was very hostile and smart. He also hurt/killed other people that were in the way. I ended up at a grocery store where… Read more »
The maze has been created by you to avoid something in your life and your dream is essentially mapping this out. If you run to a new location it tells you that you may try to do something different but end up in the same area. You are unable to see his face because this threat remains hidden from you. What could this be? Your fears or perhaps what Jung called your very own shadow. See shadow in search bar. Remember your b/f is helping you escape, what does this tell you? The grocery store is sort of like an… Read more »