From Dreams to Fear?

I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but have you ever had a dream create a fear?

I have a fear of bugs (roaches, spiders but usually bigger ones, and anything with a stinger). I also have a fear going up and down stairs and escalators (it's more of a fear of falling then of heights). I never had a traumatic experience with either fear, but I remember both began when I had a dream that had horrific outcomes.

My dream involving bugs (which I still have similar dreams to this day) involves swarms of any and all kind of bugs that attack and kill me. Even butterflies and inch worms seem to do it! I don't fear all bugs because of this, but I have a huge fear over some as previously mentioned.

My other dream I had when I was really little. I was riding on an escalator with my mom and the thing went on into oblivion (it had no end). I somehow fall and continue to fall since its going up. I end up snapping my neck (after other terrible injuries) and to this day I get slight vertigo from escalator and stairs alike.

A similar thing happened to my friend. When she was younger, she had a dream about dying in a car accident in a bridge collapse and has had a fear of bridges ever since. Luckily she can cross them well enough, but if she stops over them she freaks!

So do you think that dreams can create fears?

This is really interesting- I do remember being slightly disgusted with pizzas for a while after a very memorable nightmare involving it and the grim reaper ( it was an incredibly messed up dream). Never heard of anyone getting a phobia out of dreams though..

I've had nightmares in middle school that helped turn my fear of ants into a phobia.
For a week or 2 I had da same nightmare of being trapped in a coffin while being attacked
by ants it really messed me up at the time and now I have a ant phobia.

This is an interesting subject. I've also suffered a dream induced fear for sharks. At a young age, my fascination for sharks turned into a fear when I dreamt that I was being hunted relentlessly by one till it finally tore me to shreds. Never ventured far from the shore since but I still retain an interest in them.

I've had a lot of terrible dreams, but they were based in preexisting (and justified) fears. Your escalator fear reminded me of a recurring dream I've had since an incident with an escalator. As a child I often tied my shoes loosely, and the came untied nearly every time I was walking for more than a few hours. I was riding an escalator at an imax theater and my shoelace fell into the machinery. It started with a tug, but then it became a more powerful pull as it caught more of the lace. It pulled hard enough to bend my foot down where the eyelet was flush with the side of the step. Fortunately it ripped off (taking part of my shoe with it) and, outside of a few bruises, a broken toe, and some slight cuts I was alright. That's definitely not the worst influence a dream has had on me, but I'm none too fond of escalators.

I have had a similar experience with dreams, when I was younger my dad worked as a bio-teacher at a college, and as part of his work, he was allowed to play around with some of the local animals that the school had. I would often go with him to his work, so at one point in my life I was perfectly fine with spiders and snakes, as my dad would let me hold the snake, and look at the spiders. (The snake was a python or a boa, I can't remember which as I was like 4.) but one night I had a dream, in this dream I was all alone on the streets of New York, and the sky was pitch black. I felt a rumbling under my feet, and for the next few hours, I was chased through New York by a GIGANTIC tarantula. it all ended when I jumped on a raft on the beach, and right when I was out of harms way, a snake came out of the water and began to strangle me. At which point I woke up. Since then I have had a very strong fear of snakes and spiders. Although I am a little embarrassed to admit it, my girlfriend has to kill the spiders for me...