I didn't know it for a long time either!

Doesn't seem to make any difference, unfortunately.   However I *do* have to
be careful about reading or seeing anything about animal abuse, or seeing
psychological scary things on the TV, which makes it worse, and much more
likely that I'll have nightmares.
I must be susceptible in some way.  I have asked some of my friends "Did you
ever dream that you saw an aeroplane falling in flames towards where you
knew your dogs were and saw it explode on the ground even though you were
running as fast as you could towards there to save them?"
They said no, they never did.
Lucky them.
I wish so much I could know how to stop these sort of nightmares.  I don't
suppose I will now, I've had them since I was a child.
Example.
I was walking to school along a lonely path with a brook at the side.  Yes,
I really did, every day, usually on my own for more than a mile and a half.
You wouldn't dare let your children do this now.
On the other side, was a playing field for sports, but Once!  it had a very
deep lake there called "Savage's Hole"   Don't ask me why, I don't know.
My grandmother told me that a little boy had fallen in to Savage's Hole and
his mother went in after him and they were both drowned.  After that it was
filled in and became a football field.

Which is a nice thing to tell a small child who has to walk a mile or so
alone to school past Savage's Hole.
I had horrible nightmares about some sort of blanket (blue and white, I
remember it clearly) rising up out of the brook and drowning my mother - who
for some reason was swimming in there, and the blanket covered her face and
dragged her under.
Isn't that horrible?
Am I damaged in some way?  What causes it?  Any ideas anyone?

I would so like to go to sleep and not have nightmares of some sort.

Tweed