Hey, Alice:

Recurring dreams.... eccchhh!! Like you, I've had ones that kept coming back for years. Why are recurring dreams always nightmares? I'd say that if you at some point can remove yourself from the situtation that is causing all the stress that the dreams will stop. If doesn't seem to work that way... or at least the don't stop anywhere near fast enough.

When I was at Columbia University a couple of centuries ago, I dropped out of a German class after the first few weeks. I had decided not to complete my Doctorate, and was just filling out a teaching assistant commitment that I'd made until the end of the year. It made all the sense in the world to drop the class. It was Scientific German (I'd already had two years of German) and I had no intention of continuing in the profession I was majoring in. But, for several years after I had this disturbing dream that I was in the class and going to a final exam, with no possibility of passing it. In my dream, I was concerned about how an "F" would look on my transcript (which made zero sense as I had moved on, had a wonderful, fulfilling job and no need for a college transcript.) Some of these fears seem to be so deeply ingrained in us that it takes a long time for them to finally subside.

Actually, I probably wasn't afraid of failing the German test. It was probably a deep-seated fear of brocolli.

Sorry I can't give any sensible advice. I don't know if hypnosis can affect recurring dreams or not..

Have you considered cutting down on your brocolli?

Jerry