A
female
age
30-35,
*inkerbell-x
writes:Hi, I'm a 22 year old woman, and I cannot sleep alone.At night I get horrible images in my head and get scared, and so cannot sleep. Sometimes I am awake until 3am because I am so scared. Or I need to go to talk to a family member or even sleep in beside my mom. I hate it, it is ruining my life. Any ideas on how I can get to sleep on my own and not be so scared at night? Thank you xx Reply to this Question
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female
reader, Tinkerbell-x +, writes (22 May 2011):
Tinkerbell-x is verified as being by the original poster of the questionThank you for your advise. I have tried a lot of the things you are advising. I always have my night light on. I have a boyfriend, but he is not able to stay over all the time as he lives far away. I dont want to consult a doctor about it, I guess I will just have to face it head on. Thank you for your help xxx
A
female
reader, MonksDaBomb  +, writes (20 May 2011):
 I agree with Hugh about the light. I remember watching "The Exorcist" on TV for the first time in my life and naturally it ended late at night. I had to put a light on in my room. I highly recommend not seeing "The Exorcist" at night!
What sort of horrible images? Do you watch scary movies then go right to bed?
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A
female
reader, Dear Mandy +, writes (20 May 2011):
 Hi
many people have a phobia, and this sounds like more of a phobia rather than life situations.Fear of being alone is actually very common, some people fear if they are alone , that if something was to happen no-one would be there to help. Try seeing a hypnotheripist, in the meantime why not put on some relaxing classical music as you sleep.. It's nothing to be ashamed of either, I used to be petrified of sleeping in the dark, and my sister new this and would scare the heck out of me (so much for sisterly love lol ) but one day I thought you know what? I need to do this, so I turned off the light, closed the blinds,shut my door so the room was pitch black. and I haven't looked back since. in fact now I have to sleep in a pitch black room to get asleep .
hope this helps
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A
female
reader, chigirl  +, writes (20 May 2011):
 Go see your doctor and see if you can get a prescription on something. Or try sleeping aids at the pharmacy that you do not need a prescription for.
Or, tackle your inner demons. Constant nightmares is a clear sign that you are troubled in life, and have some serious issues that bother you. Sometimes these can be tackled and sorted out. But if it is an ongoing thing that you can not put behind you because it happens every day (like a family member with a medical issue that affects your life), sleeping aid is my best advice to you.
If the terror strikes you while you are awake, and once you fall asleep you are not troubled by nightmares, the story is a different one. This is, simply enough, fear of the dark. Two options then are to: leave the lights on and put on music, or sleep next to another person (once you get a boyfriend and move in with him this won't be a problem). The other option is to face your fears by continuing to sleep in the dark, alone, and NOT walking to sleep with someone else. The more nights you sleep alone, the more scared you are, the more times you see that NOTHING happens to you... it will pass.
Don't watch scary movies. Don't allow yourself to think of scary things. If your mind starts to pull out monsters in your thoughts, say "no, I wont think of that!" and think of something else instead, something nice that happened to you that day, or a loving memory.
I am scared of the dark, don't like to sleep alone, and to top it off Im often troubled by nightmares so scary I freak out, and Im a grown adult. My solution is to actually sleep with the light on on the nights it's especially bad, or talk on the phone to someone before falling asleep. Listen to music, or actually ask someone to spend the night. This is best worked out when I have a boyfriend. It also comforts me to know I am not alone in the house, or to think of my neighbors if I am alone in the house. Listening to the radio helps too, then you get to hear the voices of real people, often live.
And I never watch scary movies. Those just feed my mind with images it can use to scare the crap out of me, and even without all these images my mind still twists itself and creates it's own creatures and imaginations. So stay clear of scary movies, and it will cut back on the images you can re-play. In fact, stay away from anything that might trigger your fright of the dark and sleeping alone.
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A
male
reader, Partyboy123  +, writes (19 May 2011):
 Hey,i actually have had this a few times.what causes it for me:jealousy of my ex-girlfriend and what she might be doingscary movies i had watchedfearful events in my life that are playing back in my mindthinking about things that make me angry and put fear into mefearful thingsat night, everyone gets really sentimental, we try and process stuff really, REALLY hard... and we just like to think, its kinda normal to do this.. but not to the point that you are not sleeping at night, and cannot sleep alone.Solutions:get a boyfriend who will move in with you (marriage possibly)get a large dog to sleep withline 3 pillows up in your bed and put your arm and leg around them (kinda like having someone beside you, i do it when i get lonely)have something to distract you (fan going, water running, rain, thunder, lightning, music, sound effects of any of the above)consult a therapist.hope i helped :)really, it might be just that you are thinking too much about things.
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A
male
reader, Hugh.J +, writes (19 May 2011):
 Not a complete solution, but have you tried sleeping with a low light in the bedroom? If not, do as CG suggests.
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A
female
reader, eyeswideopen +, writes (19 May 2011):
 Get a therapist with whom you can work this out and get a dog.
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A
male
reader, CaringGuy +, writes (19 May 2011):
I would say that something quite serious must be causing these problems, and that you need to see a professional about it. Can you remember the images at all?
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