It has been a big month for dreams in the news, with the New York Times and the New Yorker both weighing in on the subject. First up, the Times reports on a new theory advanced by Dr. Allan Hobson, who says that dreaming exists as a "warm-up" state for waking.
According to Dr. Hobson, dreaming is "a parallel state of consciousness that is continually running but normally suppressed during waking." But during sleep, dreaming comes to the forefront of the brain's activity, exercising it and "tuning the mind for conscious awareness."
Hobson has long been controversial for his insistence that dreams are the result of physiological process and have no inherent meaning. His new theory draws in part on studies of the brain activity of lucid dreamers--people who are aware that they are dreaming while still in the dream.
Brain wave patterns during lucid dreaming show a typical REM sleep pattern associated with dreaming, mixed in with patterns associated with waking awareness. The discovery of these "mixed states" give validity to the notion that we can hold two (or more?) different states of awareness simultaneously, and should give rise to some interesting research on altered states of consciousness.
Margaret Talbot also has a great recent article on nightmares in the New Yorker. The article focuses on imagery-rehearsal therapy, a technique where nightmare sufferers imagine how they would re-script a frightening dream, then "rehearse" it several times during the day and just before going to sleep at night.
Imagery-rehearsal therapy is surprisingly successful in many instances. Talbot speaks to a wide range of experts on dreams and nightmares, and the article gives a thorough, well-rounded picture of current thinking on why we have nightmares, and what to do about them.
These are exciting times to be a dream researcher, and an active dreamer! For nightmare sufferers, there have never been so many good options for coping with bad dreams. And for those of us who have occasional nightmares but aren't debilitated by them, we can extend our understanding of why these dreams come to us and what wisdom they might hold, like never before.
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Anne Hill: Dreams of Falling and Flying
Tired of it.
1. In vision problem solving in dreams
2. In vision dream redirection through consciousness in the dream state.
3. Let go of anxieties prior to going to sleep (this one is very important)
4. See yourself learning and growing. Allow yourself to change without ego.
5. Ask for answers to be revealed on why your dreams take the path that they do.
Over time dream patterns will change but it does take time so do not get discouraged.
The idea that there may be several states of consciousness which sometimes run side-by-side makes sense for my daily experiences
http://med.stanford.edu/school/Psychiatry/narcolepsy/
Good luck!
I know that imagery-rehearsal therapy is effective. I used it many years ago. I never heard of such a thing but I intuitatively understood that if I'd plan a response to the most frightening recurring nightmares I was having, I'd at least have a chance to alter them and it worked. I highly recommend anyone having the same nightmare over and over create a plan to either overcome the dreams antagonist or at least build an early escape from the dream. "I'm having this dream again, time to end it" worked for me with the alligator dream.
Great post,
little brother
Barry Krakow's IRT protocol evolved from the Lucid Dreaming work of Stephen Laberge. It was made into an even more crackerjack method (combining some cognitive elements from EMDR), called Nightmare Reprocessing, by Drs. Beverly Donovan and Edgardo Padin at the Louis B. Stokes V.A. in Brecksville Ohio, where for years it has helped hundreds of Vietnam Vets get beyond their nightmares and back into their lives.
And the protocol is so simple and clearcut, anyone can use it. Check out the Transcend program at the Brecksville V.A... Had to give 'em a shout-out, with all this timely talk about nightmares!
I created my own personal Superheroine (at 4 years old) who takes over if the situation gets too dangerous. She is still a useful tool at 32 in dealing with the nightmares I get.
The bonus, is my nightmares often turn into dreams because of this and I get to enjoy a vivid creative story about my Superheroine.
So take your nightmare, consider it a friend and then a mystery, become a sleuth figuring out the many things it is telling you.
http://www.squidoo.com/jeremytaylordreams
Thank you.
Thanks for the great post. It's been an exceptionally rich dreaming month to me. I'm looking forward to trying out your nightmare re-visioning tips tomorrow.