Overcoming Nightmares

Unfortunately for many people, instead of providing an outlet for unlimited fantasy and delight, dreams can be dreaded episodes of limitless terror. As is discussed in the books Lucid Dreaming (LaBerge, 1985) and Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (EWLD) (LaBerge & Rheingold, 1990), lucid dreaming may well be the basis of the most effective therapy for nightmares. If you know you are dreaming, it is a simple logical step to realizing that nothing in your current experience, however unpleasant, can cause you physical harm. There is no need to run from or fight with dream monsters. In fact, it is often pointless to try, because the horror pursuing you was conceived in your own mind, and as long as you continue to fear it, it can pursue you wherever you dream yourself to be. The only way to really "escape" is to end your fear. (For a discussion of reasons for recurrent nightmares, see Overcoming Nightmares from EWLD.) The fear you feel in a nightmare is completely real; it is the danger that is not.

Unreasonable fear can be defused by facing up to the source, or going through with the frightening activity, so that you observe that no harm comes to you. In a nightmare, this act of courage can take any form that involves facing the "threat" rather than avoiding it. For example, one young man dreamt of being pursued by a lion. When he had no place left to run, he realized he was dreaming and called to the lion to "come and get him." The challenge turned into a playful wrestling match, and the lion became a sexy woman (NightLight 1.4, 1989, p. 13). Monsters often transform into benign creatures, friends, or empty shells when courageously confronted in lucid dreams. This is an extremely empowering experience. It teaches you in a very visceral manner that you can conquer fear and thereby become stronger.

2.1.3 Rehearsal

Lucid dreaming is an extraordinarily vivid form of mental imagery, so realistic that the trick is to realize it is a mental construct. It is no surprise, therefore, that many people use lucid dreaming to rehearse for success in waking life. Examples of such applications include public speaking, difficult confrontations, artistic performance and athletic prowess. Because the activity of the brain during a dreamed activity is the same as during the real event, neuronal patterns of activation required for a skill (like a ski jump or pirouette) can be established in the dream state in preparation for performance in the waking world. See EWLD for examples.

Imagination Theory wrote:I've told my doctors about it but they didn't give me a name. I have these "flash forwards" about bad stuff happening, for example I am going for a run and then I think somebody will jump out from the woods and stab me, sometimes I die right away as they slit my throat or stab me in the chest and sometimes I'm able to fight them off and kill them or at least knock them out, but than I die because I bleed out and no one is around to help or sometimes I live but then lose my job and than become homeless or I'm at home there is a lighting storm and I think electricity will start a fire, sometimes we live but everything is lost, other times my husband and pets die as I almost get them out of the burning house or other times we get hit by a car and than a train crashes into us and we die or I live but am paralyzed and my husband dies and on and on about everything in sightly different ways, even zombies. It's like a day dream. I don't really think those things are going to happen necessarily, but I do get stressed and I have 1000 plans in case they do. What's that called? Because saying "flash forward" makes people think I think it is a vision or that I think it is more likely than is statistically likely. I tried Google and it seems like they think it is day dreaming. But that makes it sound like it is something good. There has to be a word, right.