Cath Hampson teaches GNVQ health and social care, child development and history at the Peel School, Long Sutton, Lincolnshire I have a recurring dream that frightens my family as much as me. In it I am being chased confrontedattacked by a variety of weird creatures. I have had a Lincoln Imp (the gargoyle on Lincoln Cathedral) trying to gouge out my eyes, a Chinese dragon trying to burn me alive and an assortment of creatures that seem to have escaped from Alton Towers’ ghost train trying to catch me.

I wake up just at the moment of contact. I turn over, open my eyes, and the creature is there ready to pounce. I scream - and wake everyone in the house. My family can now almost predict when I will have a “screamer” as they can see my stress levels rising.

I have had this dream since I took on extra responsibilities at work a couple of years ago. I have not had one this term, but I know it will be weekly by Christmas. I know it is stress-related, but I thoroughly enjoy my job, which may be why I put more into it than I should. But I don’t want to give up any part of it.

Petruska Clarkson says: Cath’s dream is very disturbing. She says it is related to her stress levels. You could understand it as her alienation from her natural, animal self; these weird creatures are trying to get through from her under-consciousness to tell her that something is wrong in her world. The fact that she wakes up screaming makes this sound like what I would call a “night terror”.

She should consult a counsellor about her stress. But this dream is not about stress - stress is a signal of being alive. These dreams tell about a human organism that is in distress.

The Senoi people of Malaysia would recommend that anyone who encounters such monsters in their dreams try to “go back into the dream and attempt to speak to the monster. Ask its name, what vitally important message it is bringing and request a gift.” Very often these weird creatures are apparitions of our unconscious fears and intuitions and, if we can get over being afraid of them, they are our greatest teachers in life.

If it is too difficult to go back into a semi-conscious dream state, the dreamer may attempt to draw a picture of the monster and engage with it in a kind of imaginary dialogue - as if they were to continue the dream in a waking state. Jung called this “active imagination” and it can be equally or more fruitful in terms of exploring and explaining aspects of the person’s psyche.

Cath Hampson and Petruska Clarkson were talking to Harvey McGavin. Petruska Clarkson is conducting a dream analysis workshop on November 24-25. Price: pound;150. For more details, tel: 020 7436 6976 or email petruska.c@dial.pipex.comPetruska Clarkson says anyone wanting to understand their dreams more fully should contact a recognised psychologist. Her booklet on dream analysis is available from www.nospine.com at pound;4.95