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,...
Nightmare Disorder characterized by recurrent dysphoric dreams is strongly associated with major depressive episodes (MDE) and suicidal risk. Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) is the standard treatment for nightmares, but its effectiveness in individuals with MDE remain understudied. This study evaluated whether IRT is associated with greater improvement in nightmare symptoms compared to sleep...
Spontaneous thoughts and experiences, including mind wandering and dreaming, make up a significant proportion of our conscious mental lives. An influential proposal posits that dreaming and mind wandering exist on a continuum of spontaneous thought, in which dreaming is intensified compared to mind wandering. Yet the precise relationship between dreaming and mind wandering is only beginning to...
This article examines a corpus of dream reports produced by nurses at the Münsterlingen psychiatric hospital (Canton Thurgau, Switzerland), compiled by the psychiatrist Roland Kuhn between the 1950s and the 1980s and incorporated into psychotherapy documentation. It argues that these dream narratives — mediated through a layered documentary chain (clinical dictation, secretarial typing, and...
Lucid dreaming (LD), sleep paralysis (SP), and false awakenings (FA) are liminal sleep phenomena that are often studied independently, despite evidence suggesting that they may arise from overlapping states of consciousness. Within Filipino cultural contexts, such experiences are frequently interpreted through folklore and superstition, such as bangungot, rather than through scientific or...