What Does it Mean When You Have Déjà Vu with Dreams?

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Learn about and interpret your sleeping déjà vu

Co-authored by Lauri Loewenberg and Luke Smith, MFA

Last Updated: July 13, 2025 Fact Checked

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• What is déjà rêvé?
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• Déjà Rêvé vs. Déjà Vu
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• Why does déjà rêvé happen?
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• Interpreting Déjà Rêvé
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• Expert Interview

|Show more |Show less

You’re going about your day when you get the striking, uncanny feeling that you’ve already done this before, but in your dreams. “Déjà rêvé” is the term for this eerie sensation, and while it may seem like a sort of omen, the explanation might be more scientific than you think. We took a look at the academic research and spoke to psychic medium Mari Cartagenova to get to the bottom of what Déjà rêvé is, why it happens, and how you should interpret it.

What to Know About Dream Deja Vu

Dream analyst Lauri Loewenberg says déjà rêvé may be related to precognitive dreams, which seem to predict real-life experiences. To understand your déjà rêvé better, track your dreams nightly to find proof of recurring themes or even precognition. Creative or introspective people may be more likely to have déjà rêvé.

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Section 1 of 4:

What is déjà rêvé?

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1. 
   Déjà rêvé is the feeling you’ve already seen something in a dream. “Déjà rêvé” literally means “already dreamed” in French. It’s that uncanny sensation where you feel as though you already dreamed something that happened in real life. You might have déjà rêvé about certain sights, sounds, emotions, or situations that seem oddly familiar as you encounter them. Researchers have identified a few different “types” of déjà rêvé, each of which may come with their own sensations:

   • “Episodic” déjà rêvé is the recollection of a specific dream after the fact.
   • “Familiar” déjà rêvé is the general feeling that you’ve already dreamed something, like an emotion or vague situation, but can’t link it back to a specific dream.
   • “Dreamy state” déjà rêvé is when you feel like you’re currently dreaming something, even while awake.
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Section 2 of 4:

Déjà Rêvé vs. Déjà Vu

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1. 
   Déjà vu is the feeling that you’ve already done something before. Where déjà rêvé is the feeling that something you’re experiencing already happened in a dream, déjà vu is when you feel like it’s already happened in your waking life. A subtle distinction, but no less disorienting.

   • Researchers believe déjà vu may be caused by temporarily scrambled connections between parts of the brain responsible for memory and feelings of familiarity.
   • Neither are to be confused with lucid dreaming, which is the sensation of being aware of or controlling your own dreams while asleep.

Section 3 of 4:

Why does déjà rêvé happen?

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   Déjà rêvé may be your brain recollecting memories or past dreams. Research is still ongoing, but experts think that déjà rêvé may have something to do with the way our brains “store” dreams, recalling them when we encounter something in our waking life that resembles those dream-memories.

   • Researchers in a study in 2018 were able to trigger déjà rêvé in epilepsy patients by delivering an electric brain stimulation, suggesting that the brain can recall specific dreams under certain conditions.
   • Researchers suggest that the brain’s left hemisphere might “encode” or store and interpret dreams, while the right hemisphere contains the actual “materials” of the dreams.
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   Déjà rêvé may be caused by overlapping thoughts or feelings. A study in 2010 suggests that déjà experiences may be more common in people with “thin” boundaries between mental states, or for whom thoughts, memories, feelings, and dreams tend to crowd or overlap, making it more difficult to distinguish each.

   • The study suggests that déjà experiences may occur because of crossed wires (so to speak) between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which are each responsible for different functions.
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Section 4 of 4:

Understanding & Interpreting Déjà Rêvé

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   Déjà rêvé may simply be a memory of a dream. As the 2018 study suggests, you may have déjà rêvé simply because you’ve encountered a situation that reminds your brain of a dream it had. It could be nothing more than your brain associating waking feelings with feelings you had while you were asleep.
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   Some say déjà rêvé moments are echoes of a past life. Psychic medium Mari Cartagenova says that déjà experiences may be “harkening back to whatever happened in your past life.” Some interpret déjà moments as moments you lived in another lifetime, resurfacing in this lifetime.

   • These moments may be resurfacing because you have unsolved troubles from a past life that you may need to overcome or better understand in this life.
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   Ask yourself how your déjà rêvé makes you feel and why. Take a moment to self-reflect on those feelings or that moment. Maybe it resurfaced because it’s important to you, or bothers you in some way. Psychic medium Mari Cartagenova suggests thinking about how the experience makes you feel and asking yourself if it suggests something you might need to work on now.

   • For example, if you have déjà rêvé of a frightening car accident, ask yourself if you have an anxiety surrounding driving, where that came from, and how you might face that fear.
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   Visit a medical professional if your déjà experiences are upsetting. A psychologist, therapist, or even a neurologist may be able to help. Déjà experiences are common, harmless, and usually nothing to worry about, but frequent occurrences or disorientation may be cause for concern, especially if accompanied by:

   • Confusion
   • Loss of awareness
   • Seizures
   • Headaches
   • Trembling or shaking
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