RESEARCH INTO DREAMS OF TORTURE :Understanding dreams is not so difficult. In practice dream symbols translate into certain words within the English language. For instance a "torture" dream may simply this type of emotion - "Yesterday was difficult to endure - I felt such pressure all day". The dream simply uses the torture instead of these words "difficult to endure" and "pressure".

WHY ARE THESE KEY WORDS LINKED TO THIS SYMBOL?
This section will give you an insight into virtually any torture dream.
- "endure terrible experience" (what traumatic experience has just happened? What terrible experience is still haunting you?)
- "bleak view of the world" (Do you expect the worst? Are you in a very pessimistic mood?)
- "ridiculed" (if someone makes fun of you it can under extreme circumstances feel tortuous)
- "ruthless methods" (have you been thinking of someone who would go to any lengths to get what they want?)
- "embarrassing and awkward" (are you worried about something that will be excruciatingly embarrassing? Did you give an awkward smile yesterday?)
- "gang" (Gangs really will do whatever is needed to get their own way. They by definition use tortuous methods so think of any link with gangs in your feelings and thoughts. The same could be said of the army - they constantly pressurize you! Or any tightly knit group of people!)
- "keeping a secret" (Were you thinking of a secret you need to keep under torture of death!)
- "humiliate" (did you feel utterly humiliated yesterday?)
- "pressure" (constant pressure might be described as torture)
- "being watched" (is someone constantly monitoring you waiting for the smallest mistake? That can feel tortuous)
- "tortuous" (How do you feel tortured? If you can think of anything then it maybe related to this dream.)

Now try to see how words in this list feature in your thoughts. Think of the things that you write down in a diary or tell a friend. Its likely that dreams translate into conscious thoughts that you are all too aware of - nowadays not many people believe in the unconscious mind. If any of the thoughts that you have seem to feature words on the list then its likely that the dream could link to that thought - it may even portray that exact thought process. So if you have been feeling that "She really humiliated me yesterday - I was totally ridiculed" then the "torture" is symbolic of the feeling of embarrassment at being humiliated. Its the equivalent of you saying "she tried to torture me with subtle comments".

The more you understand dreams the more you will see how they represent very sophisticated thought processes. One dreamer had a dream of Second World War Germans who were torturing their prisoners. The day before one thing had stuck in the dreamers mind. The dreamer's mother had found out that the dreamer had become very friendly with a college professor and was very pleased that he was mixing with such educated and influential people. However, she did not know that the dreamer knew this college professor from their poker nights. She would not be so pleased if she knew they knew each other from gambling and drinking nights. The dream seems so ridiculous and unrelated to real life yet it perfectly captures the dreamers key feeling - that he should not let the secret of these gambling nights out under any circumstances. If we read the dream we find it captures this exact feeling - "I should not let this secret out under pain of death". So the Germans torturing their victims did have relevance as they were trying to get the truth out of their prisoners.