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Extraordinary dreams
Published in Josie Malinowski, The Psychology of Dreaming, 2020
Lucid dreaming became of interest to scientists, however, thanks to some innovative minds in the 1960s–80s. In 1968, Celia Green, who was at the time the director of the Institute for Psychophysical Research in Oxford, UK, published a book called Lucid Dreams, which included first-hand accounts from many people who had had lucid dreams – the first of any such English-language publication. In this book, she also pondered how it could be possible to study lucid dreams in the laboratory. She raised the possibility of training participants to somehow be able to communicate with the outside world while they were asleep and having a lucid dream. When a person has a lucid dream, they are aware that they are dreaming, so they can remember what has been going on in the waking world, and they can remember that they are in a psychology experiment, so in theory they could do this. But how? Remember that we’re paralysed during REM sleep: we can’t move, so it’s not as if participants could simply wave a hand or say “Hey, I’m in a lucid dream right now!”
Signs and Symptoms in Psychiatry
Published in Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay, Essentials of Psychiatric Assessment, 2018
Lucid dreaming is a rare dissociated state, which may be defined as the conscious awareness that one is dreaming while dreaming; i.e., a lucid dream is a dream in which, during the dream, you are aware that you are dreaming. In normal dreams, your self-awareness is shut down. That’s why they often feel indistinct and distant. In lucid dreaming, the dreamer has a sense of being consciously aware of being in a dream. The dreamer may be able to direct the events that occur in the dream.
A triune model for sleep and dreams
Published in Frederick L. Coolidge, Ernest Hartmann, Dream Interpretation as a Psychotherapeutic Technique, 2018
Frederick L. Coolidge, Ernest Hartmann
There is also a plethora of anecdotal reports of creative ideas and solutions for problems arising from dreams. For example, Krippner and Hughes (1970) found, in a survey of contemporary mathematicians, that over 50% reported they had at least once solved a mathematical problem in a dream. The brilliant Indian mathematician Ramanujan (1887–1920) said that the goddess Kali gave him solutions to theorems in his dreams, although there was some suspicion he said so for politico-religious reasons. There is also the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, where dreamers can become aware that they are dreaming within a dream, and thus control the direction or outcome of the dream. This technique has reportedly been used successfully as a psychotherapeutic technique, as claimed by its proponents (e.g. Cartwright and Lamberg, 1992;LaBerge, 1985). However, lucid dreams are infrequent, and few people can successfully and regularly control their dreams (e.g. Hartmann, 1998).
Managing Insomnia Using Lucid Dreaming Training: A Pilot Study
Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2021
Jason G. Ellis, Joseph De Koninck, Celyne H. Bastien
The results indicate that a proportion, albeit in the minority, of those trained still reported being unable to lucid dream on completion of the study (i.e. 22.9%). Whether it is actually the ability to lucid dream or the ability to recall dreaming per se that underpins this finding is, however, unclear (Herlin, Leu‐Semenescu, Chaumereuil, & Arnulf, 2015). Irrespective, not being able to lucid dream was associated with higher anxiety levels at baseline and poorer outcomes in terms of the magnitude of change in anxiety symptomology. Further, individuals with higher depression scores at baseline were also more likely to drop out during training. Together these findings suggest that perhaps lucid dreaming training would be more suitable for those with insomnia co-morbid with mild to moderate levels of anxiety and/or depression as opposed to those with more severe cases. Furthermore, although the technique used here appears to have been largely successful, future studies may wish to explore alternative cognitive methods to increase its effectiveness or utilize a different initiation techniques such as pharmacotherapy (Stumbrys et al., 2012). Perhaps these additions will make LDT-I more suitable for those with higher levels of anxiety and depression.
Developing awareness of confabulation through psychological formulation: A case report and first-person perspective
Published in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 2018
Jessica Fish, Joseph Forrester
Confabulation makes it harder to believe myself and forces me to question myself. It feels like a lot of my precious time is used trying to investigate whether something did actually happen. I fear for my sanity, “normal” people don’t have to cope with this! Am I just being stupid? No; I am told confabulations can happen to anyone! Personally, I hope that it may be a good sign (however confusing that sign may be) because I’ve always been very imaginative and pre-injury I was quite fond of lucid dreaming! A lucid dream is any dream during which the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming. My brother and I used to talk in great detail about our lucid dreams. So I think that ability may have returned without intention.