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Your dreams can be your cure: A study suggests that a person's dreams can be used in psychotherapy.
Lucid dreaming is one of the most interesting aspects of human consciousness, where one is aware that one is actually dreaming while still asleep, and in some cases, can predict what will happen next. Therefore, scientists are increasingly interested in lucid dreaming, although research is often scattered across different fields.
a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive review of existing studies to gather all the evidence and discovered that this mental state may help treat mental health problems such as chronic nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder .
Understanding lucid dreams
The team analyzed 38 peer-reviewed studies involving healthy adults and people with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder or Parkinson's disease . The study was limited to research that proved lucid dreaming with objective data, such as specific eye movement signals or brain wave patterns measured by electroencephalography (EEG).
When a person enters a lucid dream, certain areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, become active. This area is associated with many basic functions, including planning and decision-making, impulse control, working memory, and concentration. During normal dreams, its activity is usually much less.
Some of the studies reviewed by the team showed an increase in gamma wave activity (around 40 Hz) in the frontal regions of the brain. These fast brain waves are associated with higher-level thinking and help dreamers realize that they are dreaming. This awareness gives them a sense of control, which the researchers believe means that lucid dreaming could be used as a treatment for nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Healing through dream control
Researchers suggest that because lucid dreamers have the ability to confront and change the content of their dreams, therapies could be designed to help those with PTSD break the cycle of reliving painful memories—in other words, to change or reframe the frightening dream into a harmless one.
According to the researchers, although the evidence is still preliminary, deep learning therapy shows promising results as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety symptoms , including reducing nightmares. It combines neuroscience with the ability to self-regulate, highlighting the need for more funding and public awareness campaigns to take advantage of its scientific and clinical potential.
Although the study authors caution that their findings are still in their early stages, they believe that future studies could explore the use of wearable technology to help people induce lucid dreaming themselves at home, away from a clinical setting
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