Oneirophobia

A loosely coined term for the 'fear of dreams or dreaming', first originated in The Dream Frontier, written by Mark Blechner, a neuro-psychoanalyst at the William Alanson White Institute. This neologistic term is not officially accepted in the scientific community but has been loosely used to describe a persistent fear of dreams. To a certain extent, persons with oneirophobia may be afraid to sleep or to remember their dreams because they do not want to be reminded of or be exposed to the most intimate parts of their life that dreams usually represent. Oneirophobia can be overcome through repeated analysis of one's own dreams, using different procedures. A useful approach suggested by Blechner is to give the text of your dream to a friend, ask him to write down all of his thoughts about your dream, and then give them to you. Many of these may initially shock the dreamer, but gradually, over time, the dreamer can integrate those aspects of the dream that are hard to integrate.