Dream analysis: I'm at school and about to start an Irish test

Our psychoanalyst examines the deeper meaning of your dreams

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I've been having a version of this dream for years… I'm at school and about to start an Irish test. I look down at the exam paper and realise I don't understand any of the questions. I'm upset and angry with myself for not studying consistently during the year. (Female reader)

The bottom line in this nightmare is that the dreamer is undergoing a test that’s more appropriate for a teenager. She doesn’t understand the questions and hasn’t prepared for it. The dream is drawing to her attention in a forceful manner that she’s relying on skills that no longer apply. The dreamer will have learned a great deal about life since leaving school. She’s meant to draw on that present-day wisdom, not answer questions in Irish that have no relevance.

What has triggered this dream? Is there a job interview in the offing, does the dreamer have to make a presentation to work colleagues, or is the dream pointing to difficulties in her emotional life that have caused her to regress to being a teenager? The woman is having this recurring dream so she can face up to whatever prevents her from putting in preparatory work. It’s recurring because it hasn’t been understood. 

The good news is that her unconscious is already onto the case. It will support the dreamer with its resources as she takes a stand - from Latin consistere - by putting in the work, in order to prepare appropriately for what’s to come. Then if it doesn’t work out, she can be upset, even angry. At least she did her best.

I've had a recurring dream where I’m walking home on my own in the village where I lived as a child. My childhood house is coming up around the corner, but when I reach a specific point on the road, I’m unable to keep walking. I try hard, but I keep walking on the spot and don’t move forward. It always happens in the same place, next to a house I believe I once visited as a child. A boy in my class invited me over and we played video games. (Male reader)

The phrase that jumps out from this dream is 'I keep walking on the spot and don’t move forward'. Where does such a predicament apply in this man’s life today? And what’s the cause of his paralysis?

The geography of the dream is showing a regression to being a child, when the dreamer played video games with a classmate. Does he need to grow up so that he can take charge of his own life, instead of being subjected to the demands and expectations of his parents and teachers? 

Gaming offers a substitute fantasy life, where fleeting achievements are illusory. It prevents some overgrown adolescents from properly growing up and taking their rightful place in the world, with a partner, a family, and a career. Is such an adult outcome preferable to walking home on his own to his childhood house?

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