Dreams About Darkness: Meaning, Psychology and Why It Happens
Darkness - total, disorienting, with nothing visible - is one of the most universal dream sensations, and functions almost as a literal version of “fear of the unknown” rather than a coded symbol requiring much interpretation.
Common Forms of This Dream
- total darkness with no visibility at all;
- darkness that gradually lifts or resolves into a visible scene;
- a specific fear of something unseen within the dark, rather than the darkness itself;
- searching for or finding a light source.
Possible Psychological Interpretations
Because visual information is so central to how most people process a dream, and to waking life generally, darkness in a dream is often read fairly directly as uncertainty, being unable to “see” a situation clearly, or apprehension about something unknown. This is a more literal, less culturally elaborate symbol than most other natural dream themes - closer to a direct sensory analogue for anxiety than a layered cultural metaphor.
Loss of visual information is also consistent with dream research on why certain sensory absences - darkness, silence, an inability to move - tend to heighten a dream’s sense of threat generally, similar to the pattern discussed in Dreams About Being Unable to Run.
Questions to Ask Yourself
- Is there a situation in your life that currently feels unclear or hard to “see” the way forward?
- Did the darkness resolve during the dream, or remain unresolved?
- Was your fear about the darkness itself, or about something you suspected was in it?
When the Dream Is Distressing
An occasional dream involving frightening darkness is common and not a cause for concern.