It can be very upsetting to dream about being violent. You may be concerned that you may repeat your violent actions in your waking life. Don’t worry. Dreams of this nature seldom come true.
If you are violent in a dream, you may be displaying negative feelings that you have about yourself or anger that you hold toward a person or a situation in your waking life. In waking life, you may repress these emotions, but in your dreams you can express them in ways that would be unthinkable when you were awake. If you allow yourself to release these feelings in your dreams, they will have less hold over you in your waking life.
Jung believed that negative actions in dreams symbolize the Shadow, the dark, primitive side of ourselves that is governed by instinct and which must be repressed when we are awake.
A dream in which you are physically violent can be a sign that you need more power and control when you are awake. If you find yourself physically attacking someone in your dream, think about what caused you to become violent. Are you frustrated about something? Are you feeling helpless or resentful?
If the person you are attacking represents an authority figure, your dream may be providing you with the opportunity to express your anger toward someone that you don’t have the power to confront in waking life. Alternatively, your unconscious mind may be providing you with the courage to stand up for yourself.
If you dream that you are raping someone, you may have a desire to put someone in their place in waking life.
If the victim of your violence is a stranger, that person may represent an aspect of yourself that you wish to keep under control.
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
Although dreams about being violent are normally harmless, there is a sleep disorder that causes violent dreams to become dangerous in waking life.
While most people become paralyzed when they dream, people who suffer from this disorder, known as REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD), do not.
People who suffer from RBD have violent dreams and act them out in real life, screaming, punching, kicking and even jumping out of bed to chase someone.
In waking life, they are no more aggressive or violent than other people.
This condition can be dangerous to the dreamer and to their bed partner and requires medical attention.
RBD most often occurs in middle-aged to elderly men, and can develop during withdrawal from alcohol or sedative drugs. People with RBD may be more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease in the future.