BACKGROUND: Dreaming during anesthesia is common and may have mental health benefits. However, systematic research on its incidence and outcomes in clinical settings remains limited. This study implemented a standardized propofol-based, electroencephalography (EEG)-guided emergence bundle to facilitate a preemergence state conducive to dreaming, integrating it into routine care to assess...
Abstract To reduce maladaptive behaviors, cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based interventions can be engaged during wakefulness. Such strategies may also be engaged during sleep, providing a unique and powerful pathway to positive behavioral change. Here we describe an initial scientific investigation of Dream Yoga, a type of contemplative practice that includes a set of prescribed tasks...
The present study aimed to describe the prevalence rates of frequent (i.e., at least weekly) dream recall and nightmares with consideration for differences in age, gender and sleep duration in 16 countries using equivalent assessment methods. The study sample included 15,854 participants (69.9% women) aged 18-99 years (M = 42.39, SD = 16.43) collected by the International COVID-19 Sleep Study...
Recurrent nightmares are a distressing manifestation of trauma-related disorders and can persist even in the absence of full post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This case report describes the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment of a 31-year-old male presenting with a recurring nightmare involving an identical scenario. The nightmare was characterized by intense...
The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that dreams reflect waking life, however, research has also shown that dreams can affect waking life, e.g., creativity, daytime mood. So far, factors that are associated with the effect of dreams on waking life have been rarely studied. Overall, 2492 persons (1437 woman, 1055 men) with a mean age of 47.75 ± 14.41 years participated in the study. The...
Nightmare Disorder (NDO) is an underdiagnosed sleep disorder causing significant impairment, particularly in active duty U.S. military personnel who experience unique stressors. Despite 59.28% of referred service members reporting nightmares and 19.76% screening positive for probable NDO, baseline diagnosis rate was only 0.60%. Our quality improvement project aimed to improve identification and...
While most research on sleep mentation focuses on dream reports, sleep experiences can also include reports lacking content, such as white dreaming —the feeling of knowing one dreamt but being unable to recall its contents. I claim that white dreaming is a metacognitive feeling, akin to tip‐of‐the‐tongue and déjà experiences. Conceiving it this way allows for a more nuanced understanding of its...
Background: Lucid dreaming (LD), which involves being aware of and controlling one’s dreams, is of particular interest in the study of consciousness and has potential therapeutic applications. In this narrative review, we highlight the neurobiological aspects of LD, specifically its mechanisms associated with the activation of prefrontal and parietal areas, increased gamma oscillations, and the...
Background: Individuals with schizophrenia appear to experience differences in dreaming compared to control populations-the small amounts of research that does exist demonstrates abnormalities such as simpler dreams that are more bizarre and with greater negative content than those of controls. Dream-related psychopathology remains insufficiently described however-particularly experiences in...
Introduction Recurrent nightmares often severely impair the quality of life, school functioning, and daily functioning of trauma-exposed children and adolescents. However, research to date is limited for treatments focused on reducing the impact of posttraumatic nightmares among youth in conflict zones. This study aimed to investigate the outcome of the Better Learning Program 3 (BLP) as it was...
Beta-adrenergic blockers are effective in migraine prevention but can induce neuropsychiatric side effects, including vivid dreams and nightmares. Their lipophilicity allows penetration of the central nervous system, where β1-adrenergic blockade may disrupt REM sleep, alter noradrenergic activity, and suppress melatonin secretion, contributing to emotionally intense dreams. While reported in...
This special issue unites original theoretical and empirical research on two topics that are gaining traction in cognitive neuroscience and psychology, but so far have small philosophical footprints: dreaming and waking mind wandering. While the fields of dream and mind wandering research are largely separate, phenomenological and neurophysiological similarities between waking mind wandering...
This nightmare-focused study was conducted based on data collected in an open-label, controlled treatment pilot trial conducted at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research (CPCR) under an approved protocol (IRB00407008; NCT06407635). Participants completed screening, baseline assessment, four preparatory sessions, two psilocybin dosing sessions, seven post-session...
Introduction: Background: nightmares are a common sleep disorder characterized by distressing dreams, leading to sleep disruption and psychological distress. Emerging evidence suggests a potential link between lipid metabolism and nightmare occurrence, but the causal relationship is poorly understood. Objective: to investigate the causal relationship between blood lipid metabolism...
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sensory stimulation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been proposed as a method to induce lucidity, yet most approaches rely on distal sensory modalities such as light and sound. We explored whether bodily stimulation targeting the muscle and vestibular systems differentially influences dream incorporation and lucid awareness during REM sleep. METHODS: 28 participants...
In this exploratory study, the authors used subjective participant data to investigate sleep disturbance in functional neurological disorder (FND) and its impact on FND symptoms. An online questionnaire was designed in collaboration with FND charities and administered to 373 adult participants with a self-reported FND diagnosis. Most participants (86%) were women, and most (73%) perceived their...
A recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) did not find an effect of imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) for nightmares as an add-on to treatment as usual in a sample of trauma-affected refugees. However, certain factors may have accounted for substantial variations in treatment outcomes. This study aimed to test whether symptom severity, cognitive functioning, use of an interpreter, motivation for...
This study explores how lucid dreaming might inform Integrative Counselling Practice (ICP). A thematic analysis of 14 existing studies identified four key themes: Healing Mechanisms of Lucid Dreaming, Therapeutic Applications of Lucid Dreaming, Risks Associated with Lucid Dreaming, and Characteristics of the Lucid Dreaming State and Experience. Findings suggest that the lucid dreaming state...
Nightmares are distressing dreams that occur across psychological conditions and may reflect underlying vulnerability in the regulation of internal experience rather than symptoms of specific psychiatric disorders. This study examined relationships among self-structure self-functions (regulation and integration of internal experience), nightmare proneness (a cognitive-affective processing style...
Dreams offer insight into how individual differences shape conscious experience in the absence of external input or task demands. This study examines whether synesthesia is linked to distinct patterns in dream content, suggesting underlying differences in cognitive architecture. Leveraging the statistical power of large-scale, naturalistic data, we analyzed 2,337 dream reports from Reddit,...