If you dream of being the victim of abuse, then you are venting your connection to the victim archetype and are coming to terms with your own power. You are realizing that it is either time to stand up for yourself, or to remove yourself from a non-supportive situation.
If you dream of being the abuser, then you are venting your frustration and rage at feeling out of control. Your subconscious mind may be cautioning you to take responsibility for your feelings and actions and treat others the way you’d like to be treated. Dreams of abuse also reflect the way you treat yourself.
See also: Venting Dreams. [1]
Feeling violated or exploited by an individual, a group, or a situation.
If you are the abuser in the dream, this may represent pent-up displeasure toward yourself or antagonism toward another.
A memory surfacing. Some abuse victims have uncovered their memories through dreams. However, caution must be issued here. Since this topic is widely covered by the media, what you experience in a dream can reenact some of these stories, engendered by your emotional response (fear, indignation, outrage, etc.). [2]
To feel yourself abused, you will be molested in your daily pursuits by the enmity of others.
For a young woman to dream that she hears abusive language, foretells that she will fall under the ban of some person’s jealousy and envy.
If she uses the language herself, she will meet with unexpected rebuffs, that may fill her with mortification and remorse for her past unworthy conduct toward friends. [3]
2. Fear of being abused or taken advantage of.
3. If dreamers witness someone being abused and liking it, it may be themselves if they were abused early in life (abuse equals love—attention—however represented).
4. If being attacked by an animal or other creature, the creature may represent someone who abused the dreamer when a child. [4]
If you feel that you are abused, or if you are being verbally or physically abused, you will soon fall into the hands of an enemy. Being forewarned is being forearmed, and your dreams are advising you that you will be the sufferer unless you pay close attention to your dealings in the immediate future. [5]
Something in your past that was (or felt) abusive.
Perceiving someone in your life as hurtful or disrespectful.
See also: Tormented, Attacked, Being, Attacking, Judgment or Disapproval, Hurt, Being, Weird [6]
If you abuse someone in your dream, there will be negative results from not doing the right thing in a friendship situation. Obviously, dreams of abuse are also common among people who have experienced abuse in real life. [8]