Fear of water

A fear of water is not that unusual. Some time ago, a woman mentioned to me that she was terrified of water. This was in the context of a dream where she saw a huge wall of water. She woke up in a start, greatly agitated. I quickly ruled out the most common reasons for a fear of water which are difficulties in utero or birth, or possibly some kind of near drowning experience. I then learned that she had not been afraid of water until she went to see "Finding Nemo" with her family. There she sat, in an inexplicable panic, watching a G rated animated movie.

We did a little further exploring of her dream and zeroed in on a period before her Mom and Dad divorced. At that time she went to visit her grandparents who lived in another state. She talked about events during that visit which also included an aunt, an uncle and some cousins in the same community. I gently probed for any memories that might have to do with water. Yes, they went swimming and did some fishing.....

Then, with a start, she recalled watching the news on her uncle's TV. They were showing pictures of a sudden dam rupture which caused a huge wall of water to wash down upon her home town. Her Mom and Dad, her two sisters, to her knowledge, were all dead. This happened before cell phones and the internet, so it was a while before anyone knew that her family was fine. Can you imagine her horror at that sight? Imagine too that you were seven years old at the time. Water filled movie images shown on a screen re-evoked those horrifying TV screen images of so many years before.