The Science Behind Recovery Dreams

Maybe this sounds familiar: you’ve been practicing alcohol abstinence for 30 days, except you find yourself at a familiar local bar. You march up to the bartender, who pours your go-to beverage and you bring the glass to your lips, about to take a sip. Only, you realize that you’re sober. You wake up covered in sweat and catch your breath, grateful it was just a dream. If you’ve experienced these dreams, you’re not alone. Recovery dreams are prevalent for individuals reducing or stopping drinking. 

One study found that almost one-third of adults in recovery reported drinking or substance-use dreams after stopping (1). It’s not just people practicing alcohol abstinence either; those using alcohol reduction methods like The Sinclair Method (TSM) can experience drinking dreams where they are about to imbibe and realize they have not taken naltrexone, TSM’s medication protocol, before drinking. 

Recovery dreams can be extraordinarily vivid, terrifying, and frequent. Usually, they involve a relapse scenario or a near-relapse. Some people feel intoxicated in their dreams. These dreams can induce feelings of shame, guilt, or panic about relapsing upon waking. There is science behind why a recovering brain induces these mental movies. 

What Do Recovery Dreams Mean?

Though they may be frightening, many addiction experts regard recovery dreams as a part of the healing process for a few reasons. 

Your Brain Is Processing

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a brain condition. The neurological component of a recovery dream could indicate that the brain is processing your recovery. The brain can use dreams as a stage to play out former experiences and associations with addiction. It does this to resolve scenarios and integrate new experiences as sober or moderate with alcohol. Dreams can also simulate threats to prepare for real life. In a dream, someone might rehearse what to do in a near-drinking scenario. When you consider that your brain is now coding alcohol as a threat, practicing avoiding these dreams could be a positive indication that you are healing. 

During your dreams, the brain also processes memories, which explains why the association with drinking in the dream might feel so realistic. The brain can play out past damaging experiences in a safe way. 

Your Sleep Is Affected

In recovery, many people may find that their relationship to sleep changes, and they sleep much more. It’s also common for those with AUD to report sleeping challenges, such as insomnia. This is, in part, because alcohol use decreases REM sleep, and recovery increases it. During REM, the brain is active, and dreaming usually happens. 

The increase in REM sleep can lead to new processing, signifying the brain’s effort to contextualize past alcohol experiences with a new image of recovery. Another activity during REM sleep is the increase of the feel-good chemical dopamine, which could lead to a dream that feels surreal or like you are intoxicated. 

It’s no surprise that those with AUD associate alcohol with pleasure. Alcohol causes dopamine to flood the brain’s reward system and alter dopamine pathways. It makes sense that through dreaming, these pathways can become reactivated. For someone with AUD, dopamine levels can increase when someone thinks about alcohol, potentially playing out as the intoxicated feeling in a dream. 

You Are Early In Recovery

For people reducing or stopping drinking, thoughts about alcohol can be pretty incessant, especially at first. While people may experience recovery dreams at any point in sobriety, they are common in early recovery due to the brain processing new information and past cues and triggers. They seem to decrease in intensity and frequency over time. Recovery dreams can indicate severe alcohol or substance use in the past. 

You Are Going Through Mental Withdrawal

Especially in early recovery, drinking dreams are common during withdrawal and often signal the brain’s adjustment to life without alcohol. These vivid dreams can reflect the subconscious processing of unresolved emotions tied to alcohol use. After all, when someone is experiencing emotional or physical withdrawal, it’s because they have a substantive history with alcohol.  

During recovery, the brain is relearning to cope with stress and pleasure without the influence of alcohol. As a result, these dreams may be a sign of psychological withdrawal, as the mind works through cravings, habits, and underlying triggers. 

Do Recovery Dreams Indicate Relapse Risk?

Some people awaken from recovery dreams with the fear that the dream foreshadows a relapse. Although they may be unsettling, recovery dreams can ultimately help people build resilience, deepen self-awareness, and reinforce their commitment to sobriety or alcohol reduction. 

The fear of relapse is common in recovery; sometimes, dreams process this anxiety. They might also serve as exposure therapy to a simulation of what a relapse might be like, helping enforce someone’s commitment to avoid it. While recovery dreams play out relapses, they are not necessarily indicative that someone will drink or break their sobriety. 

How to Cope With Recovery Dreams

Some people might feel their recovery dreams are too real for comfort. While recovery dreams can be a normal part of the process, they might leave someone feeling on edge, anxious, or worried they will relapse. If you notice an increased fear of relapse, it can be helpful to get support from an addiction specialist, counselor, or mutual support group and explore your recovery options. Self-care practices might also be useful, like exercise and journaling about your commitment to recovery. Reaching out to others in recovery can help reinforce that you are not alone and validate that though recovery dreams can feel real and terrifying, they are a part of the recovery process. 

Recovery dreams are widespread among those in sobriety. Though they may induce distressing feelings, they are not a sign that you are doing anything wrong. They can be part of the healing process. Sometimes, people wake up from recovery dreams with an affirmed commitment to their recovery. If you have an incredibly realistic recovery dream, try to place your energy on how you respond to it instead of having experienced it. 

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