there is a myth that suicide or death in dreams will actually kill the victim in real life. i have found through experience with lucid dreaming, and keeping dream logs that suicide in dreams does not cause physical death.

The following is a quotation from Richard D. James of aphex twin on lucid dreaming:

"The only thing I haven't done is tried to kill myself. That's a bit shady. You probably wouldn't wake up, and you wouldn't know if it had worked, anyway. Or maybe you would."

fear of dying in dreams is common. my experience with suicide in lucid dreams however, has been very positive. in a lucid dream, i once leapt from a tall cliff. upon impact with the ground after traveling at terminal velocity, i was immersed in euphoric sensations (and blood). i later awoke unharmed.

While no in depth studies have been undertaken into the phenomenon of suicide in dreams there are certain theories, that derive from different schools of dream interpretation. It seems that dreams involving suicide are more likely to take place when a person is going through a period of great change.

Suicide in dreams is not necessarily a negative sign, although it may reflect the daytime thoughts of the dreamer. It can imply that the dreamer is casting away their old life, and with it bad habits or addictions. Killing the old personality could be a sign that those bad elements really have "died" and will not return.

Experiences of suicide in lucid dreams vary considerably. Some people claim that they cannot do it, and their subconscious intervenes to prevent their death. Other lucid dreamers feel themselves being hurt then wake up, and others still just blank out and wake up.

Suicide in dreams seems to be about the limit of my lucid dreaming ability. Sometimes, when I'm in a bad sensation in a dream I just get the feeling that I can get out of the situation by doing something obviously self-destructive. If I do this everything blacks out at the moment of death I just black out, and then twitch awake. The strange thing is that I don't know I'm in a dream when I do this, but I'm certain that my actions arn't going to cause my permanent death.

The only problem that I can see with this is that if I feel that I'm in a dreamlike state during my real life I might end up doing something that I would regret doing later.

Sources
http://alcoholism.about.com/library/blstory19.htm
http://1001reves.free.fr/tplbook.php3?dream=forscienceus.html
http://www.jeremytaylor.com/death.htm
http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/ajournal.htm
http://www.dreamdoctor.com/dreamboard/messages/25163.html
http://pub76.ezboard.com/fdeshainfiresidedreams.showMessage?topicID=219.topic

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