Mansion House Counselling Practice

Lucid Dreams

For most of us, dreaming is something quite separate from normal life. When we wake up from being chased by a monster, or seduced by that gorgeous 25 year old, we realize with relief or disappointment that "it was only a dream".

But lucid dreams are different. Lucid dreams are dreams in which you realise you are dreaming while still in the dream. You realise you are dreaming and are able to consciously interact with the dream.

The term lucid dreaming was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in 1913. In his book ‘A Study of Dreams’, he wrote:

"The seventh type of dreams, which I call lucid dreams, seems to me the most interesting and worthy of the most careful observation and study. Of this type I experienced and wrote down 352 cases in the period between January 20, 1898, and December 26, 1912... the re-integration of the psychic functions is so complete that the sleeper reaches a state of perfect awareness and is able to direct his attention, and to attempt different acts of free volition. Yet the sleep, as I am able confidently to state, is undisturbed, deep, and refreshing".

The term ‘lucid dreaming’ was originally coined by Frederik van Eeden, but it was Keith Hearne, a British psychologist, who proved that they truly exist. On the morning of 12th April 1975, at the University of Hull’s sleep-laboratory, Keith Hearne, along with his dreamer, Alan Worsley, agreed that on becoming lucid within the dream, Alan would signal his lucidity to Keith by moving his eyes in a predetermined pattern. He succeeded. Keith found the signal in the midst of REM sleep. So lucid dreams are real dreams and do occur during REM sleep.

He communicated the data, and other examples, to Professor Allan Rechtschaffen of Chicago University. Prof. William Dement at Stanford University was also informed. Much later, Stephen LaBerge, at Stanford, produced similar work.

Although many authorities quote Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) as the first to mention lucidity in dreaming, Buddhism, founded in 500 BC, had lucidity as part of its basic goals. Yoga, an even older practice, gave methods to wake up in sleep.

Here in the west, it was the Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid (1710 - 1796) who spoke of using lucid dreams to control his nightmares, which leads us to the current therapeutic use of lucid dreams.

A pilot study was performed in 2006 that showed that lucid dreaming therapy treatment was successful in reducing nightmare frequency. This treatment consisted of exposure to the idea, mastery of the technique, and lucidity exercises.

If a person suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) has a distressing dream about their trauma it could be very beneficial to re-experience the trauma while having more control and less fear. This gives the opportunity for exploration of other possible outcomes or the exploration of feelings in general. They can use this control to deal with the stress in a sort of "virtual" way and also be free to go at a pace that they feel is comfortable.

For many people, having lucid dreams is fun, and they want to learn how to have more or to induce them at will. One finding from early experimental work was that high levels of physical (and emotional) activity during the day tend to precede lucidity at night. Waking during the night and carrying out some kind of activity before falling asleep again can also encourage a lucid dream during the next REM period and is the basis of some induction techniques.


Induction Techniques:

1. Reality Checks - The simplest form of reality check is just asking yourself "am I dreaming?" If done consistently, this habit will carry over into your dreams and you will eventually get lucid by doing a reality check in a dream.

It is important to note that you should never do a reality check mindlessly. Take a minute to look around you and ask yourself if your surroundings are really logical. Ask yourself how you got there, why you are there, and where you are going. Remember your day from the moment you woke up to this present moment.

Read some text, or glance at a digital clock or watch. Wait a few seconds and then do it again. If the text or time inexplicably changes, then you are in fact dreaming. Even if the time or text doesn’t change, try to focus on changing it for a moment. In dreams text often changes upon a second glance and we almost always accept it, even though clearly it is an alarming clue that we are dreaming.

2. MILD (Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dream) - This is done on waking in the early morning from a dream. You should wake up fully, engage in some activity like reading or walking about, and then lie down again. You must then imagine yourself within the dream you awoke from, but this time see yourself realising that you are dreaming. At the same time keep repeating "the next time I dream, I will recognise that I am dreaming". Keep this going until you fall asleep.

3. EILD (Externally Induced Lucid Dream) - This technique relies on some sort of external cue to help you get lucid as you are dreaming. The most famous of these is probably the NovaDreamer, a device you would wear on your head which emits soft blinking lights that you will see in your sleep. There are other devices and signals which are more cost-effective, such as vibrating alarms. These will work for you if you are very familiar with your sleep cycles and will be able to accurately guess when you will be dreaming.

4. WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dream) - WILD techniques can be so wide and varied that they could never be covered in one page. Because WILD depends on the dreamer to pass directly from a waking state to a dream state, each person will experience the transition differently as we each have different physical and mental responses to it. Nearly every WILD technique will have the same basic structure. Normally you would set an alarm or wake up naturally during the night or morning (though some take daytime naps). This is known as a Wake-Back-to-Bed. You would go back to sleep, only you would keep yourself conscious as your body falls asleep. By doing this you can directly enter into a dream and be lucid from the beginning.