Post by Nemesis on Mar 5, 2003 4:56:05 GMT -5
Can you talk about conscious or lucid dreaming—controlling dreams or their outcome? How would one acquire that skill?
Dr. Garfield: Some people actually come across it on their own. I've talked with many people who say, "oh yeah, I used to be scared in my dreams, and I said to myself this is that same old nightmare. I'm tired of this." Sometimes they wake up. Someone told me the other day, "When I saw that dream again, I just woke up."
Well, I don't think that's the best solution, but it does solve the discomfort. If you enter into the dream knowing it's a dream then it becomes more of an adventure. And that can be the best of both worlds because you're having the surprise of what's going to happen, but at the same time you hold on to awareness that it's a dream. If you don't like it, you can change it. And it gives you the consciousness of the unconscious. It's a rare state indeed, but as I said, many people discover this themselves and can use it to turn their dreams into more of an adventure like scenarios and are infinitely more comfortable with that.
It's not as easy for many people who haven't come across this skill on their own. It takes some effort, and concentration and a real willingness to pay attention to your dreams and to look for the moment when you might have realized you were dreaming. There's a lot of distortion in dreaming. I might dream that I was at my mother's house, but it wasn't quite like it. The living room was the same, but there was additional porch, or something was different, and that was a moment that I could have realized I was dreaming.
If people are being trained to recognize what we call pre-lucid moments—clues that could trigger the realization that you are in a dream, and that you are dreaming at this moment. You have got to hone that skill. Stephen LaBerge at Stanford has developed this kind of goggle that dreamers who want to develop this particular skill can wear. The goggles have an infrared light that begins to flash when your eyes go into rapid-eye-movement, so it picks up the movement of your eyes and starts a red light flashing. That red light comes into your dreams. Some people who are training don't always recognize it, and just go right on dreaming. But many of them do learn the clue and realize they're dreaming, and then sometimes carry out different things that they've planned to do. (For more on Dr. LaBerge's work, click here.)
You can also do that for yourself if you've gained the ability to lucid dream. And you can carry out predetermined tasks, such as choosing something that you would like to dream about. Many people who become lucid in dreams like to fly deliberately because it is such a wonderful, free experience. Others choose to make love with the partner of their choice. It does open up a great range of possibilities to dream of. You can be aware of the fact that you're dreaming.
Is lucid dreaming used clinically for people who are having post-traumatic or recurrent nightmares?
Dr. Garfield: It sometimes is. The training used here is not full lucid awareness, but to look at the dream as it occurs and be aware that it is a dream. Usually post-traumatic dreaming is filled with very stereotypical, horrific scenes. When you recover naturally what happens is that there are gradual changes in the scenario, as I described with the woman that had been raped. First she replayed the rape exactly as it had happened and then it would be a little different each time. Then finally there was a distance between her and the rapist until he became less important for her.
The same thing happens in all post-traumatic dreaming if you recover naturally. So what one does if trying to work with someone who has post-traumatic stress or recurrent nightmares is help them look for differences in the dreams and to try to deliberately change a small part of the dream instead of waiting for it to happen. You could say, "I wonder if this time you could just wait a minute before the bomb explodes," and help them to see places within the stereotyped dream that they might make a small change.
One young girl had recurrent dreams about sharks eating her that was very terrifying to her. And I talked with her about how it's possible to change your dreams to become active within your dream. Most people don't realize that, but you can make your dreams different if you just think about it.
I said to her, "So, next time the shark is after you in that dream, why don't you bite back? It always gets you anyway, so you don't have anything to lose, or get somebody to help you." When she came back she said, "Oh, when you said that I didn't believe you, but I tried it and you know what? It took a big hunk out of my side. And then I was lying on the beach dead, and all these people in white uniforms were around watching my body and it was still awful."
And I said, "Look! You made it different! If you can make it that different you can make it better." And I encouraged her to keep on trying, and the next thing I heard from her was, "You know, it was wonderful." She said, "I dreamt my girlfriend fell off the boat and the sharks were coming after her, and I jumped in and saved her." This was a dramatic shift from her being in the water, being the one who was killed by the shark, but she needed to do it steps.
Many dreams that have sharp teeth in them have to do with being angry. And she had, had a quarrel with this girlfriend and she said, "I think my dream is telling me that shouldn't let a silly quarrel break up a friendship I've had all my life." She instinctively, almost, understood that this was anger expression, the sharks were an expression of anger, and she saved her best friend. This is how such things can happen with post-traumatic dreaming, if you help the dreamer realize they have options. You, in a sense, are empowering the dreamer. Most people in the Western world simply aren't accustomed to thinking that you can get ready for a dream, that you can change your behavior during a dream, as well as work with a dream afterwards.
Source: Discovery Health - Dr. Patricia Garfield, Ph.D.
Dr. Garfield: Some people actually come across it on their own. I've talked with many people who say, "oh yeah, I used to be scared in my dreams, and I said to myself this is that same old nightmare. I'm tired of this." Sometimes they wake up. Someone told me the other day, "When I saw that dream again, I just woke up."
Well, I don't think that's the best solution, but it does solve the discomfort. If you enter into the dream knowing it's a dream then it becomes more of an adventure. And that can be the best of both worlds because you're having the surprise of what's going to happen, but at the same time you hold on to awareness that it's a dream. If you don't like it, you can change it. And it gives you the consciousness of the unconscious. It's a rare state indeed, but as I said, many people discover this themselves and can use it to turn their dreams into more of an adventure like scenarios and are infinitely more comfortable with that.
It's not as easy for many people who haven't come across this skill on their own. It takes some effort, and concentration and a real willingness to pay attention to your dreams and to look for the moment when you might have realized you were dreaming. There's a lot of distortion in dreaming. I might dream that I was at my mother's house, but it wasn't quite like it. The living room was the same, but there was additional porch, or something was different, and that was a moment that I could have realized I was dreaming.
If people are being trained to recognize what we call pre-lucid moments—clues that could trigger the realization that you are in a dream, and that you are dreaming at this moment. You have got to hone that skill. Stephen LaBerge at Stanford has developed this kind of goggle that dreamers who want to develop this particular skill can wear. The goggles have an infrared light that begins to flash when your eyes go into rapid-eye-movement, so it picks up the movement of your eyes and starts a red light flashing. That red light comes into your dreams. Some people who are training don't always recognize it, and just go right on dreaming. But many of them do learn the clue and realize they're dreaming, and then sometimes carry out different things that they've planned to do. (For more on Dr. LaBerge's work, click here.)
You can also do that for yourself if you've gained the ability to lucid dream. And you can carry out predetermined tasks, such as choosing something that you would like to dream about. Many people who become lucid in dreams like to fly deliberately because it is such a wonderful, free experience. Others choose to make love with the partner of their choice. It does open up a great range of possibilities to dream of. You can be aware of the fact that you're dreaming.
Is lucid dreaming used clinically for people who are having post-traumatic or recurrent nightmares?
Dr. Garfield: It sometimes is. The training used here is not full lucid awareness, but to look at the dream as it occurs and be aware that it is a dream. Usually post-traumatic dreaming is filled with very stereotypical, horrific scenes. When you recover naturally what happens is that there are gradual changes in the scenario, as I described with the woman that had been raped. First she replayed the rape exactly as it had happened and then it would be a little different each time. Then finally there was a distance between her and the rapist until he became less important for her.
The same thing happens in all post-traumatic dreaming if you recover naturally. So what one does if trying to work with someone who has post-traumatic stress or recurrent nightmares is help them look for differences in the dreams and to try to deliberately change a small part of the dream instead of waiting for it to happen. You could say, "I wonder if this time you could just wait a minute before the bomb explodes," and help them to see places within the stereotyped dream that they might make a small change.
One young girl had recurrent dreams about sharks eating her that was very terrifying to her. And I talked with her about how it's possible to change your dreams to become active within your dream. Most people don't realize that, but you can make your dreams different if you just think about it.
I said to her, "So, next time the shark is after you in that dream, why don't you bite back? It always gets you anyway, so you don't have anything to lose, or get somebody to help you." When she came back she said, "Oh, when you said that I didn't believe you, but I tried it and you know what? It took a big hunk out of my side. And then I was lying on the beach dead, and all these people in white uniforms were around watching my body and it was still awful."
And I said, "Look! You made it different! If you can make it that different you can make it better." And I encouraged her to keep on trying, and the next thing I heard from her was, "You know, it was wonderful." She said, "I dreamt my girlfriend fell off the boat and the sharks were coming after her, and I jumped in and saved her." This was a dramatic shift from her being in the water, being the one who was killed by the shark, but she needed to do it steps.
Many dreams that have sharp teeth in them have to do with being angry. And she had, had a quarrel with this girlfriend and she said, "I think my dream is telling me that shouldn't let a silly quarrel break up a friendship I've had all my life." She instinctively, almost, understood that this was anger expression, the sharks were an expression of anger, and she saved her best friend. This is how such things can happen with post-traumatic dreaming, if you help the dreamer realize they have options. You, in a sense, are empowering the dreamer. Most people in the Western world simply aren't accustomed to thinking that you can get ready for a dream, that you can change your behavior during a dream, as well as work with a dream afterwards.
Source: Discovery Health - Dr. Patricia Garfield, Ph.D.