Using Lucid Dreaming Communication Further For Nightmares

 The realm of lucid dreaming is one that has captivated the attention of many people as new methods have been arising as to how to trigger such dreams. One can only imagine the possibilities that can occur as there is now studies that have been able to communicate with people during when they are lucid dreaming. Although such methods aren’t entirely to their full potential quite yet, as there have been many misinterpretations during the recollection of events that occurred when one was asleep, it is quite a phenomenon that two-way communication can occur. This two-way communication is conducted in a research done by Karen Konkoly et al. in which the researchers were able to utilize eye and chin movement signals to recognize lucid dreaming, thus then utilizing communication with the dreamers to discover answers as to what extent dream reports are accurate and if dreaming serves any real function. Many people may ask themselves, what is the reason as to why we dream, and possible explanations to that is that we dream due to activation-synthesis, to simulate threats and specific social situation, or to help with cognitive function. This was researched further in a study by de Macêdo et al. in which it was studied whether one can halt fearing the threats that induce nightmares by utilizing lucid dreaming. So, both these studies, develop ways in which to understand lucid dreaming better in terms of its limitations to use it in ways that can help the lives of the participants in either their cognitive function or to help stop nightmares. But the realm of lucid dreaming is a complex one with much research to still be done, so as of now it’s hard to tell which theories are fully representative of dreaming content as it’s difficult to control what individuals dream about. However, there is some research that has been done that give insight to discoveries made about lucid dreaming that can help advance future research regarding lucid dreaming.

In a recent study, “Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep”, Karen Konkoly et al. were able to conduct real two-way communication and were able to find results that show that people can answer questions that the researchers were asking during REM sleep by using eye and chin movements. Using fMRI during lucid dreams, high-density EEG, and sleep onset dreams in fMRI, there was a more of an understanding of dream content from dream reports. The signals in REM signals are really similar to when they are awake and lets us know one is having a lucid dream. Lucid dreams were induced by sensory stimuli for dream incorporation and target memory reactivation. This was done by presenting a cue and a prompt to which was read to the participants during when they were in REM sleep. Instructions were told to the participants prior to them sleeping as to how to respond with their eyes or chin to either the questions or mathematical problems asked. Upon awaking, a dream report would be made, but at times the participants would not be able to accurately recall what had happened in their dream or what was communicated to them during their dream, which is something that can be further studied in future research.

In the research done by Konkoly et al., it only went as far as to see what was the limit that inducing lucid dreams could be able to go to alongside communication. This idea of inducing lucid dreaming was used in the research done by de Macêdo et al., where researchers gathered a bunch of research articles from various scientific databases and used them to find different findings regarding the induction of lucid dreaming that help nightmares. One of the main findings was that participants who were able to receive lucid dreaming therapy individually had resulted in a stronger decrease in the number of nightmares than a group who had received the LDT. From this finding and others in the articles gathered, some further conclusions were made. The neurobiological and psychological mechanisms that underlie lucid dreaming therapy is that there is a neurotransmitter patterns in REMs that are not during lucid dreaming that are quite the same as observed in psychosis. From this, it was observed that if one suppresses the limbic system by the frontal lobe during lucid dreaming, one could decrease not only the frequency of nightmares, but also the intensity of them. From the psychological lens, it was believed that through psychotherapy and using certain treatments such as avoidance, it helped with maintaining the nightmares. Lucid dreaming therapy can target nightmares and has more of an effect on the intensity of nightmares as there is more control over them than other therapies such as imagery rehearsal therapy (de Macêdo, 2019). There are some limitations to this however, as without proper control, lucid dreaming therapy can worsen nightmares as dreamers will have no control whatsoever over their dream. So, proper care is needed when lucid dreaming therapy is used, and more research is warranted to determine the proper extent of how to effectively use lucid dreaming methods for people experiencing nightmares. Using the research done by Konkoly et al. and to see how to properly control by using communication effectively, this research of using lucid dreaming to help nightmares can be taken further in a clinical base study to help individuals with nightmares.

References:

Konkoly, K., Appel, K., Chabani, E., Mironov, A. Y., Mangiaruga, A., Gott, J., Mallet, R., Caughran, B., Witkowski, S., Whitmore, N., Berent, J., Weber, F., Pipa, G., Türker, B., Maranci, J.-B., Sinin. A., Dorokhov, V., Arnulf. I., Oudiette, D., Dresler, M., & Paller, K. A (2021). Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Current Biology, 31(7), 1417 - 1427. e6, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026 

Macêdo, T., et al. (2019). My dream, my rules: can lucid dreaming treat nightmares? Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2618. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02618