AP PSYCH

This paper explore lucid dreaming. Although the concept of ‘lucid dreaming’ was first coined by a Dutch psychiatrist known as Frederik Willems van Eeden and introduced at the meeting of The Society for Psychical Research held on April 22 of 1913, the phenomenon of lucid dreaming was already known in earlier historical periods, and its descriptions can be found in writings of Aristotle; however, modern lucid dreaming research was established only after LaBerge introduced his method for physiological investigation of lucid dreaming through eye signals in 1980. Lucid dreamers often report being in possession of all their cognitive faculties: they are able to reason clearly, to remember the conditions of waking life, and to act voluntarily within the dream upon reflection or in accordance with plans decided upon before sleep. This paper also goes into many uses of lucid dreaming. It was especially cultivated in Tibetan Buddhism and is known in Sufism and Indian yoga. The final goal was to be able to maintain consciousness in the event of death so that one could consciously encounter the path to the other world. Recurrent nightmares have been shown to be alleviated by lucid dream induction, though it remains unclear whether this alleviation is because of lucidity itself or the ability to alter some aspect of the dream. Blagrove, Farmer and Williams found that lucid dreaming reduced nightmare suffering, but nightmare frequency remained unchanged. Lucid dreaming is still being studied to this day. Current attempts in the field are directed at defining the neuro-physiological correlates of lucid dreaming, an aim that still has not been achieved. Other possible therapeutic potentials of lucid dreaming are still in the process of being discovered and constitute a fertile area for future researchers.

This paper explores the experience of sharing nightmares in therapy. The author is influenced by his own therapeutic dream-work and focuses on his experience working with a client who brings a recurrent bad dream in therapy. A review and critique of Boss' dream theories is included, looking at paradox, reality/fantasy and waking/sleeping experience, while the second part focuses on Heidegger's Befindlichkeit and its relevance to distressing dreams in therapy. This paper attempts to bring Boss' theory and Heidegger's philosophy closer to the experience that happens in the therapy time and space. The client, who is referred to as “Martha,” works in a successful finance business. She came to therapy when someone told her she was depressed. She came into therapy detached from reality, feeling unsafe while with her boyfriend, insecure with her body, and upset at the fact that she is aging and time is going by. “Martha” has a reoccurring nightmare that she is traveling, whether it be on a plane, ship, etc., and the transportation crashes, or experiences a sort of bad situation, but the other passengers act normal. Bad dreams are experienced as odd, scary, elusive, insightful or meaningless – what comes to light is that there is a lot of therapeutic potential in the recounting and reliving of such dreams in the waking world. The author comes to believe that if the bond between therapist and client is key when retelling the frightful events.

The modern psyche is being shaped by the technological revolution involving the development of a virtual electronic environment in replacement of the natural world. Through the lens of the dream, as it has been valued and devalued in various cultures, including psychoanalysis, we can explore changes in the status of inner life. Psychoanalysis used to celebrate dreams. Now, it ignores dreams. This development runs parallel to the high value of dreams in pre-industrial cultures and their change in contemporary post-industrial Western culture. Despite official disregard for dreams, dreams as the original virtual experience, serve as the basic model from nature for the electronic virtual world displayed on the external screen. Also, dreams reappear in a technological transformation as film, video, TV and even computer imagery. The ancient importance of dreams has been transferred to the powerful influence of life on the external screen, but dreams as dreams are like "the canary in the mind," warning of a continuing demotion of inner life in modern "post-human" culture. A rebellious re-engagement with dreams, in clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis, is advocated.

Dolias, L. (2010). Bad Dreams Are Made Of This. Existential Analysis: Journal Of The Society For Existential Analysis, 21(2), 238-250.

Holzinger, B. (2009). Lucid dreaming – dreams of clarity. Contemporary Hypnosis (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), 26(4), 216-224.

Lippmann, P. (2003). Dreams, psychoanalysis and virtuality: the ancient mind in the modern world. International Forum Of Psychoanalysis, 12(4), 227-233.