I am penpal-ing with a natural LDer in jail. She can’t get past “the thing behind” her. I told her to use video games to make a weapon and kill it. She can’t even get the nerve to turn around. Someone on a forum suggested just shouting at it and tell it doesn’t belong there and go away!. I may have done more harm then good because now she’s getting 2-3 nightmares a night and more severe. If anyone can post how to confront “the thing behind” you, I’ll print them out and mail them to her. I did print out the new dream paralysis article as that is her second problem. I feel so bad in making things worse for her!
She has to realize it’s all in the mind. You are everything and everything is you. You have to get control, to know and realize. She is a natural LDer you say, why doesn’t she know? Maybe she believes it’s some sort of malevolent entity? Tell her SP isn’t.
Your mind affects everything.
Dreams are powered by expectation. If you do not expect anything to be behind you, there will be nothing. 
Also, you can simply make it vanish using your own will.
Oh, and whatever you do don’t look behind you.
It’s safer just to continue reading this then to look behind you.
You wouldn’t want to see what’s behind you, when instead you could just keep reading this and not worry.
It will only hurt for a second.
I hope your pen-pal can make it go away 
Well when you stop paying attention to things in dreams they cease to exist. Tell your friend to ignore the thing behind her and pay it no mind
Whats the thing beind you
Don’t you know “the thing”, you know…
It’s the thing that does certain stuff by doing, you know…
And the it does that thing followed by something, still following me…
And if you don’t “you know what”…, Well i guess you know what happens then…
I’ve got no idea what the thing is, just making lame jokes 
, sorry
I had posted a question about “the thing behind you” a while back. I would think that the feeling of being chased by some amporphus creature or thing while having the feeling that you CAN’T run or are running through mud or tar would be just about the first thing most LDers learn to conquer. It was mine. Next step was actually destroying the beasties and scary things, then controlling them to leave me alone, then guiding dreams as I saw fit. What order do all you other dreamers tend to learn things?
Remember the legend of Perseus battling Medusa? It might work, to have a compact or mirror or something.
Or, you can talk to it, like, “You keep behind me because you’re a coward. I’m telling you that it’s safe for you, to come around to my front and face me.”
But, I’m also guessing… since your penpal’s in prison… she’s had a tough life. That can take a toll on one’s mind, and sometimes just to function in waking life you need to repress a lot. Those repressions can turn into “the thing behind you”. If you’re not ready to turn around, then you’re not.
I suggest this video as a guide to solve her problem.
Everything in your dream is you…
So I realized the “Thing” or “Dark shadowy figure” whatever it was… was me. It helped me IRL because I realized that there is a part of me that wants to hurt myself.
For me it helped just realizing that I am the “Thing” and it is me.
maybe that’ll help?
when i read Robert Waggoners book he talked about a being behined him he called it a shadow figure. He then turnd around and seen it was a woman. He put her in front of him and asked her who are you. She said i am a discarded part of your self he then absorbed the being into him self. the next day he felt a great energy within him self which then gave him the will to write his book. . . . . . . this is not word for word but the main point. i DO NOT suggest hurting or killing the being behind you in your dream. the being behined may be a very impotent part of your self that needs attentoin. i recamend your friend to get brave and confront the being and get to know it. . . . . . . . if u dont know who Robert is his book is advertised on this ld4all dreaming site on the main page and he has studied lucid dreaming for 30 plus yrs. his advice i have found very usefull… . . . Lucid Dreaming Gateway to inner self. By ROBERT WAGGONER. realy hope this helps… . . . . . i did think a bit and thought. if after she confronts it and realizes that it is bad then maybe she might want to rid of it.