A theoretical and empirical association between lucid dreaming and mindfulness, as well as lucid dreaming and nightmares has previously been observed; however, the relationship between nightmares and mindfulness has received surprisingly little attention. Here, we present the findings of two studies exploring the relation of nightmare frequency and distress with two components of mindfulness,...
Background: Nightmare is a prevalent parasomnia associated with various forms of psychological distress in both clinical and general populations. This study aimed to explain the experiences of a client regarding the effects of nightmares and effectiveness of dream analysis treatment on idiopathic nightmares. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted on a 34-year-old woman who participated...
ABSTRACT This article analyzes Śaṅkara’s use of dreaming in Advaita Vedānta. For Śaṅkara, dreaming functions philosophically as a direct phenomenal inquiry into mind and consciousness. Dreaming also functions as a syllogistic illustration. While dreaming, we experience unreal objects that do not exist apart from our minds. Dreaming thus illustrates the waking world’s nonrealism despite...
SLEEP AdvancesSeptember 10, 2022Kenneth A Taylor, Skai W Schwartz, Amy C Alman et al.
Low back pain (LBP) disproportionately impacts US military veterans compared with nonveterans. Although the effect of psychological conditions on LBP is regularly studied, there is little published to date investigating nightmare disorder (NMD) and LBP. The purpose of this study was to (1) investigate whether an association exists between NMD and LBP and (2) estimate the effect of NMD diagnosis...
Purpose: Nightmare is common and is also independently implicated in suicide risk among the adolescent population. Adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) are at an increased risk of suicide. Therefore, comorbid nightmares may amplify suicide risk among this clinical population. This study aimed to explore the effects of nightmares on suicide risk among adolescents with MDD. Patients...
Sleep-related metacognitions play a role in the etiology of insomnia and are distressing while falling asleep. Although similar concepts, such as thought suppression, have been studied in the context of dreaming, the relationship between sleep-related metacognitions and more negatively toned dreaming due to stressful pre-sleep experiences has yet to be studied. Overall, 919 patients with...
abstract:Sleep paralysis, as it is known today, was one of the most remarked-upon maladies in premodern medicine. The feeling of being choked during sleep was usually seen by physicians as being caused by an abundance of melancholic humors. Others interpreted the experience as a supernatural attack. However, the distinctions between medical and "superstitious" remedies against nightmares were...
Event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the involuntary orientation of (bottom-up) attention toward an unexpected sound are of larger amplitude in high dream recallers (HR) than in low dream recallers (LR) during passive listening, suggesting different attentional functioning. We measured bottom-up and top-down attentional performance and their cerebral correlates in 18 HR (11 women,...
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic affects mental health and sleep, resulting in frequent nightmares. Therefore, identifying factors associated with nightmare frequency is important, as it can indicate mental health issues. The study aimed to investigate increases in nightmare frequency comparing the pre-pandemic and pandemic period, and identify its risk factors. Further, the mediating role of...
Routledge eBooksJuly 28, 2022Greg Mahr, Christopher Lawrence Drake
Nightmares are very common, but it can be difficult to understand why they occur and what they mean. Nightmare deaths among Hmong immigrants are discussed as an example of the influence of interpretation on the power of nightmares. Freudian and Jungian understandings of nightmares are reviewed, as well as current treatment approaches, especially Image Rehearsal Therapy. Like all dreams,...
A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer becomes aware of the fact that they are experiencing a dream. The higher awareness and cognitive traits which accompany lucid dreams offer individuals a unique opportunity to use this practice to rehearse waking skills. This scoping review aimed to summarise existing evidence on the effectiveness of lucid dreaming practice (LDP) on the...
Starting from the idea that dreaming could be considered an index of the psychological health of individuals regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, a major risk of psychological maladjustment has been registered for maladaptive daydreamers (MDers;i.e., people with a compulsive fantasy activity associated with distress and psychological impairment). Nevertheless, there is a gap in literature about...
Studies conducted during the COVID-19 Pandemic have reported increased rates of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [1]. A common symptom of mental illness is change in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, the phase of sleep associated with dreaming and nightmares. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the effects of...
Early research suggests that the vestibular system is implicated in lucid dreaming, e.g. frequent lucid dreamers outperform others on static balance tasks. Furthermore, gravity-themed dreams, such as flying dreams, frequently accompany lucid dreaming. Nonetheless, studies are scarce. We attempted to: (1) replicate previous findings using more sensitive static balance measures and (2) extend...
The current study was designed to examine the role of nightmares in psychosis proneness in relation to lucid dreaming. In this correlational study, the sample comprised of 220 young Pakistani adults from both genders (124 women and 96 men) age range from 18 to 26 years (M = 21.14, SD = 1.87). The participants were assessed on nightmares, psychosis proneness, and lucid dreaming through the...
Dreaming and insomnia are important markers of distress in times of crisis. Here, we present a longitudinal, mixed-methods study examining changes in dreaming between individuals with and without insomnia symptoms and their relationship to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. A global survey examining insomnia symptoms, dreams and mental health was launched in April 2020 and followed...
Lucid dreaming is the awareness of being in a dream, allowing dream control and living out fantasies. It also has benefits for growth and well-being. Yet, lucid dreaming is not accessible to most people. So, we created Lucid Loop—a neurofeedback-augmented immersive experience that utilizes AI-enhanced visuals and spatial audio in a virtual reality device for simulating lucid dreaming. We...
Symptoms of insomnia and frequent nightmares are prevalent in psychotic disorders, and are associated with psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the non-clinical population. Whereas the role of impaired sleep in psychosis was extensively examined by longitudinal and interventional approaches, studies on the association between psychosis and dream quality are scarce, and mainly cross-sectional....
Nightmares are a core feature of posttraumatic stress disorder, are poorly understood, and are associated with serious negative outcomes. Their biology has been difficult to study, and the feasibility of capturing them in the naturalistic home environment has been poor. This said, the published research and dominant scientific model has focused on nightmares as a manifestation of noradrenergic...