Sleep
May 1, 2025
Robert Stickgold, Alon Shamir, Noa Brande-Eilat et al.
1 citation
A new software platform called Arctop Sleep, which uses a mobile app and an EEG headband to detect sleep onset in real time, can induce dreams on pre-selected topics and increase creativity around those topics. In pilot studies with participants experiencing PTSD, serial awakenings and dream reports were successfully recorded, with reports containing direct and metaphorical references to the chosen topic. Participants showed improvement in creativity and resilience related to the topic on post-sleep tasks compared to baseline. The platform is described as comfortable and promising for leveraging targeted dream incubation to enhance cognitive and emotional processing of trauma memories.
Sleep
May 1, 2026
Westley Youngren, Victoria West Staples, Emma Angle et al.
A single 90-minute session of Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI), which involves giving auditory cues to shape dream content, increased dream self-efficacy (DSE) immediately after and one week later in both a non-clinical group and a group with frequent trauma-related nightmares (TRNs). A control nap group showed no change in DSE. Only the non-nightmare TDI group showed significant reductions at one-week follow-up in thoughts of suicide, insomnia, PTSD, and nightmare distress. The results suggest TDI may reduce negative outcomes in people with TRNs, potentially through increased DSE, and justify larger-scale investigation.
Sleep
May 1, 2025
Westley Youngren, Emma Angle, Victoria West Staples et al.
A brief nap-based intervention using verbal cues before sleep, called Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI), can increase people's confidence in their ability to dream (dreaming self-efficacy) and enhance the joy they feel about their dreams. In a study of 15 participants, 80% reported dreams that included the cued subject (a tree). Dreaming self-efficacy scores rose significantly from before the nap to immediately after and remained higher at a one-week follow-up. Joy related to dreams also increased significantly from baseline to the one-week follow-up. These results suggest TDI is a reliable method for boosting dreaming self-efficacy and may also positively affect emotional responses to dreaming.
SLEEPJ
May 1, 2026
Victoria West Staples, W. Youngren, Emma Angle et al.
Lower dream self-efficacy (DSE; the perceived ability to manage or influence dream experiences) and heightened nightmare distress (NM distress) both independently predicted more severe PTSD symptoms and more suicidal thoughts in a trauma-exposed sample of 30 adults. Lower DSE alone predicted greater insomnia severity. The findings suggest that confidence in managing dreams and distress from nightmares contribute separately to posttraumatic outcomes, with dream self-efficacy playing a particular role in sleep disturbances.
Sleep
May 1, 2025
W. Youngren, Emma Angle, Victoria West Staples et al.
Dream-related self-efficacy (DSE) increased after a single session of Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI), a protocol that cues dream reports during hypnagogic sleep and then asks participants to think of a tree. Higher DSE at all time points was significantly negatively correlated with suicidal cognitions one week later, and the increase in DSE from baseline to follow-up significantly predicted lower suicidal cognitions. These results suggest that DSE may be a mechanism through which TDI reduces suicidal thinking, though the small sample of fifteen participants limits generalizability.