Being Chased
Something in the self refusing to be faced.
The chase dream is the psyche asking you to turn around. Jung taught that what pursues you in a dream is almost always an aspect of yourself — the shadow, an unfelt feeling, a responsibility refused. The identity of the pursuer is the most important data: an animal suggests instinct denied, a stranger suggests shadow, a specific person from your waking life suggests unfinished business with them or with what they represent in you. Running intensifies the pursuit; turning to face it often dissolves it. Many dreamers who have learned to turn around in chase dreams report the pursuer becoming curiously still — even curious themselves — once looked at. Notice what you are running toward, not only from.
What to ask in your journal
If being chased appears in your dream, sit with these prompts before reaching for an interpretation.
- What was the being chased doing in your dream?
- How did you feel in its presence — drawn, repelled, indifferent, awed?
- Was the being chased familiar from waking life, or unfamiliar?
- What in your waking life right now resembles the quality the being chased carries?
- If the being chased could speak, what would it say to you?
Frequently asked
What does it mean to dream of a being chased?
Across the depth-psychological tradition, dream-being chaseds carry the meaning suggested by the dreamer's emotional response and the symbol's behavior in the dream. Something in the self refusing to be faced.
Is the being chased a positive or negative symbol in dreams?
Most dream-symbols are not intrinsically positive or negative; they take their valence from the dreamer's relationship to them in the dream. The being chased is no exception — its specific weight depends on context, emotional tone, and the dreamer's associations.
How do Jungian and other traditions read the being chased?
Jungian dream-interpretation places the being chased within the broader Jungian, Universal reading of the dream-life. See the page body and bibliography for the specific primary sources cited.
What if the being chased keeps recurring in my dreams?
Recurrent dream-symbols generally point to material the conscious self has not yet fully integrated. The recurrence usually softens once the underlying material has been allowed expression — sometimes through journaling, sometimes through therapy, sometimes simply through more careful attention to the symbol on its own terms.
Cited works
Each interpretation on this page traces back to one of these primary sources. Quotation with attribution welcome — see our methodology for how we cite.
- Carl Gustav Jung (1959) *The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Collected Works, Vol. 9, Part 1)*. Princeton University Press. Trans. R. F. C. Hull.
- Carl Gustav Jung (1956) *Symbols of Transformation (Collected Works, Vol. 5)*. Princeton University Press. Trans. R. F. C. Hull.
- Artemidorus of Daldis (c. 2nd century CE) *Oneirocritica (The Interpretation of Dreams)*. Oxford University Press. Trans. Daniel E. Harris-McCoy (2012).