attack during sleep, or psychological?

Just not too long ago I woke up and feel the need to write this down, lest I forget the details.

I was asleep and dreaming... The last dream I had before waking was terrifying, but the effects continued after waking. I remember going into a building, it was a college and I was going to class, but was a few minutes late so the halls were fairly empty. I had to go to the bathroom, and as I made my way towards it, an elderly man came out, walking past me chanting "pain, pain, pain" and staring at me. I think he might have been clutching his chest, I don't remember correctly. Anyway this kindof turned me off the idea of going to the bathroom, so I stopped, but I turned around again and thought * it, I'll just go. So I go into the bathroom to one of the urinals and this feeling of a presence creeps up on me, really creepy-feeling. That's when I look to the side at a mirror and notice a man standing behind and to the side of me, but he had a hood and his head was turned, so I couldn't see his face. I turned around to look, and nobody was there, but he was still there in the mirror. My immediate thought was "oh *, a ghost, I need to get out of here", at which point I was physically lifted up off the ground and kindof slammed down. I was trying to yell for help but I wasn't able to speak. At this point I shoot awake and immediately sit up in bed, and I'm breathing very fast. I have an odd feeling in my chest, kindof like a sinking/pulling and a feeling of panic and an overwhelming presence of evil in the room, like something is "trying to get me". Eventually this passes, and I get up and go downstairs to go out and smoke a cigarette. As I'm going outside, it returns to a lesser extent; this pulling/pressure in my chest, and it seemed like everything kindof fazed out for a few seconds, like I was dazed or dreaming, or not fully in control of my body. I fought off a panic attack and proceeded outside.

So here I am, I felt the need to vent that because I have a feeling I'll forget as the day goes by. I don't know whether it was psychological or spiritual. From time to time I do have night terrors that wake me up, although rare, and I am a little nervous about an appointment at the hospital this morning (for a physical issue, not mental). This felt different though, it didn't feel psychological. I'm pretty in control of my mind, which is why this is bothering me, since it almost caused a panic attack. That just doesn't happen to me.

Interesting this has happened to me also a simaler experiance and i suffer from panic attacks as well i wonder if theres a link there.

reply to post by trollz


Sounds to me that your stressed (even if unconsciously) over your hospital visit.

The man in your dream clutching his chest is most likely your fear of the doctors finding something wrong/procedure going wrong. Totally normal.

Try to relax until after your appointment and I'm sure your dreams will change for the better.
Good luck!

Hey trollz, what you experienced can be interpreted in manifold ways, from psychic nervousness (owing to your hospital appointment) to different spiritual explanations, but I don't want to scare you, so I leave the interpretation up to you! Nonetheless, I assume it might be related with something spiritual, especially as you've mentioned that your experience felt different and wasn't necessarily psychological.

Originally posted by trollz
(...) and an overwhelming presence of evil in the room, like something is "trying to get me" (...)

Every once in a while, I've felt something similar, just like you. Since I've started practicing a "white light meditation" some minutes before going to bed, it surprisingly vanished. I'm sure there are many techniques for this to be found on the internet, but the one I'm using can be found on the website of a member here on ATS (tayesin):

simply-spirit.com/white_light.php

At least it worked really well for me, so hopefully it will help you, tool! And trust me, some months ago, I wouldn't have believed such an easy thing would help, but you know, learning never stops.

reply to post by SunLightyear


Thanks for the link about this white light meditation, I haven't heard of it before.