Strange Grief

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An old friend of the family passed away recently. Although I saw this person fairly frequently when I was younger, I did not see him for several years before his passing. When told about his death I felt only a very faint sadness.
BUT...for the next couple of nights I had very intense, violent dreams. Dreams of blood and execution. In the dreams I was a witness, not an active participant (thank goodness!). None of the characters in the dreams were people from real life, except that one night the aforementioned deceased was present. Like me, he was an observer.
Do you think this is some kind of subliminal expression of grief? I do feel that my conscious response was inadequate, though I am not surprised by it.

different people have different ways of grieving. if the dreams continue for more that a week i would see a doctor.

I think that your conscious response to the news of this person's death was normal. Some sadness for someone you used to spend time with, but haven't seen for a while. Typically, the intensity of grief is related to how close, emotionally and "physically" you were to the deceased at the time of their death.

And yes, it seems likely that the dreams are related to this person's death. Subconsciously, you are aware of the deceased, and so they are with you again. The rest may be related to a heightened awareness of death, and mortality.

The dreams may be troubling, but they are only dreams. Ponder them as you choose, but don't worry about them, or your depth of grieving.

I think could be a subliminal expression of grief.....maybe your way of grieving is just more subconscious?

Frightening dreams are quite common with any event that causes emotional trauma or stress.