Dreaming about death: why it happens and what it does not mean

What this dream usually points to (and what it doesn't)

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme.

Dreaming about death is not a warning and does not anticipate anything. Dreams about people who have died, and threat dreams in general, are among the most reported themes in surveys with hundreds of people.

Source: Nielsen et al., The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students, Dreaming, 2003.

Read also: Dreams about flying: what happens in the brain and Dreaming about dogs: what that dream usually reflects.

Why the mind produces these scenes

Two explanations add up. The first is continuity: worry about someone's health, recent grief, heavy news or a film before bed show up in the dream.

Source: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003.

The second is threat simulation: the brain rehearses danger in a safe setting, which helps explain why death, chases and accidents appear so often.

Source: Revonsuo, The reinterpretation of dreams, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000.

The most common versions of this dream

• Dreaming of someone who has died: very common in grief, often with longing, relief or conversation.
• The death of someone alive: frightening, but not a prediction; it usually tracks fear of losing that person.
• Your own death: frequent in phases of big change and loss of control.
• Funerals: scenes memory holds strongly, which come back easily.

See also: Dreaming about your husband and Dreaming about someone.

What dream dictionaries record

In dream books, death is rarely read literally. Livro do Sonho, a popular Brazilian dream dictionary, links dreaming about death to renewal and the start of a new period, and offers specific readings for each scene, such as the death of an acquaintance tied to the end of a relationship. Freud also split these dreams into two groups: those without sadness, which in his view hid another wish, and those with deep grief, tied to the bond with the person. The Brazilian dream book O Livro dos Sonhos, by L. P. Baçan, follows the same line and steers clear of the worst: in life, a dreamed death would mean change; in love, news.

Freud described dream books as a kind of dictionary that translates each image into another with a fixed meaning. Artemidorus of Daldis, author of the oldest complete Greek dream book that has survived, advised looking at the dreamer's life before interpreting. If you see the dream as a message, both paths suggest the same thing: ask what this image brings to mind in your life right now. See dream meanings according to science and culture.

Source: Livro do Sonho, Brazilian dream dictionary; Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Psychoanalysis, symbols and faith: another look at dreaming about death

In Freud's psychoanalysis. A rarely quoted point from the chapter on typical dreams helps ease the weight of the scene: Freud observed that, for a child, being dead means roughly having gone away, as on a trip or a move. He also made a point of saying he would never use a painful dream about a loved one's death as proof that the dreamer wants that death now. His reading, tied to childhood rivalries, remains controversial and has never been proven.

In Jung's psychology. In Man and His Symbols, death is linked to initiation rites, in which a young person symbolically dies to the old life and is reborn into a new one. The book notes that even the altar of Christian churches stands for the tomb on one side and the resurrection on the other. From a Jungian angle, dying in a dream can mark a passage: one attitude running its course to make room for another.

In symbols and faith. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant note that every initiation passes through a phase of death before opening the way to a new life, and that the Greeks personified death as Thanatos, son of Night and brother of Sleep. In French Brittany, the figure of the Ankou guided the dead. In the Bible, John 11 tells of the raising of Lazarus, and John 12:24 speaks of the grain of wheat that must die to bear fruit.

Bringing both views together. Endings and new beginnings show up in nearly every tradition, and science shows that the theme grows out of real worries and losses. If the person in the dream has already passed away, it is worth reading what is known about dreaming of someone who died.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Popular readings of dreaming about death

In folk reading, death in a dream is often read backwards, as a sign of long life, or as the end of one cycle and the start of another. It is cultural symbolism, not prediction. The "end of a cycle" reading is harmless and sometimes helps people reflect, as long as nobody makes a decision based on it.

When to look for support

If the dreams come from recent grief or a traumatic event, or if they disrupt your sleep and leave you afraid to fall asleep, talk to a health professional. There are treatments with good evidence for recurring nightmares, and talking about what comes at night usually helps more than hunting for a meaning.

See also dream meanings.

Read also: dreaming about a loved one who passed away; dreaming about blood; when the dream setting is a hospital; dreams about cemeteries and graves; dreams about funerals and coffins.