Bed Wetting

If one dreams of it but does not wet the bed: This is possibly to do with allowing yourself freedom of expression, but with worry about social condemnation or propriety. If not that, there may be anxiety that reduces you to childhood feelings with lack of self control over emotions. This dream almost certainly links with childhood feelings to do with control or lack of control of ones body and drives. This is a very powerful area of feelings, and can leave strong influences in the adult personality. To deal with it don’t worry too much about the symptom – the bed wetting – but deal with the feelings around control and losing control or maintaining control.

Bed-wetting, is technically known as enuresis. It is not unusual in children up to about three. After the age of three it is diagnosed as a disorder, but is not to be thought of as a serious condition. The NHS suggest it is not to be taken seriously until the child is 5. Up to fifteen percent of children continue bed-wetting to about five.

Adults often report dreams experienced in childhood that they dreamt of going to the toilet, and wake to find they had wet the bed. These dreams appear to serve the function of allowing the bed-wetting to take place. However, research opinion suggests that most bed-wetting is not accompanied by dreams.

Adult bed-wetting is usually caused by some form of physical disorder.

Freud felt that people who often dream of swimming “have as a rule been bed-wetters.” He also felt that dreaming of fire has “an underlying recollection of the enuresis of childhood.”

Dr. William C. Dement, founder of the sleep clinic at Stanford University, believes “Most treatments are ineffective, and generally only make the child anxious.” However, groups such as nobedwetting.com have worked out programs to help parents and children grow beyond this problem. But also see the NHS page on bed wetting see http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Bedwetting/Pages/Introduction.aspx.