Diagnostic Dream: A Racing Car

Dream of a 39 year old female professor:

It was late at night, and I had just finished teaching a seminar.

I walked out of the building to the parking lot and searched for my red car. I couldn’t find it.

Then I realized that I wasn’t driving my red car to work. I was driving a yellow open sports car, which I just received as a gift.

I found the car and started driving. As I went down the highway I noticed I was driving very fast, way over the limit.

I tried to lift my foot but it felt very heavy. I was unable to lift it. My foot got heavier and heavier, and I was driving faster and faster, unable to do anything about it.

My heart was beating wildly at this point. Because of the speed of the car I had trouble maneuvering, especially in the turns. Then a friend showed up in a black car, and I realized that we were racing against each other.

I thought to myself that winning the race wasn’t worth it. Somehow I managed to move my foot and step on the brake. The car stopped. I was completely out of breath, and my heart was still beating wildly.

This dream occurred several days before the dreamer went to the emergency room and was diagnosed with stress cardiomyopathy, a condition that includes a temporary weakening of the heart muscle and problems in pumping blood. (She recovered after several months. She has also been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve.)

I would note the mention of the red car as a a possible metaphor for the heart — in this case, she finds a yellow car instead. I would suggest that yellow is a “ weaker ” color than red , although there obviously would be other personal meanings for the dreamer.

The appearance of the black car is interesting — black has occurred in a number of these diagnostic dreams in association with mortality:overstating it, it is if the dreamer is in a race against something dark, a race against death.

The dreamer also had similar “racing” dreams, including the following content:

I ran through the house, which was much larger than I thought… I ran and ran for a long time. I was completely out of breath, and my heart was beating fast. Then I heart a man’s voice the other side of the house. He was in some kind of danger. I ran again — very fast. Once again I was surprised by the size of the house. I got more and more exhausted and couldn’t breathe…

Another dream by the same dreamer:

I started running through the streets of the city, which now had turned into New York. I was exhausted, extremely frustrated, and my heart was beating wildly. At some point I realize I couldn’t continue but I also knew I was unable to stop. The thought frightened me.

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