New dream research shows new links to Psychiatry
Author: Willow // Category: Uncategorized, dream researchA dream research conducted by the European Science Foundation (ESF) revealed that there are similarities noted in the brain activity during psychosis and lucid dreaming which only strengthened the link between Psychiatry and dreams.
Lucid dreaming means that the person is aware that he is dreaming. Having such, according to the researchers, shows distinct electrical activity patterns in the brain. They noted that the patterns have similarities with psychotic conditions (like schizophrenia). Making this discovery is a big step in determining new ways of diagnosing neurological disorders.
Ursula Voss, a researcher from Germany’s University of Frankfurt, said that the brain is in a dissociated state during lucid dreaming. Having this dissociation means losing that conscious control over the mental processes (emotional reaction or logical thinking).
Some experts are now reconsidering the revival of dream therapy which was widely discredited in the past. In the past, people having nightmares are usually treated by having them trained to dream lucidly in order for them to wake up consciously.
Dream researcher and psychiatrist Allan Hobson said that a lot of dreams can play a role in the learning process and may not be threatening at all. It’s all about determining these factors before doing any treatment.
Tags: dream analysis, dream research
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:05 am
For a long time, scientists have thought that there is a relationship between dreams and the hallucinations of schizophrenia. Mark Solms believes that dreams are caused by activation of the brain’s dopamine pathway, and schizophrenia is related problems with dopamine levels.
Schizophrenic hallucinations appear to be waking dreams, and research by both Solms and David Foulkes shows that the distinction between dreaming and waking is not always cleared cut.
However, schizophrenia seems to be characterised by an inability to distinguish between dreams/hallucinations and reality, and lucid dreaming is just the opposite - the lucid dreamer is more aware of the difference between dreaming and reality than “normal” dreamers.