Thread: Depression and lucid dreaming?

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I think that correlation does not imply causation, and that bumping a thread 14 minutes after its creation is just. . . wrong.

I've had a depression (and still a little, I guess). I didn't feel like lucid dreaming back then. I think lucid dreaming can help in overcoming your depression. Perhaps a depression could make it easier for someone to attain lucidity somehow, but I think this is personal. I've found that a lack of motivation, which is generally part of a depression, really holds you back from lucid dreaming, like almost anything else.

Actually, a year ago I was suffering from deep depression and I found that I was having lucid dreams almost every night. After I overcame the depression I started having less lucid dreams and bad recall. So whether or not depression does help with lucid dreaming, it is clear that the state of mind is a large variable. Perhaps some people experience more lucid dreams when they are in a state of euphoria..

Originally Posted by HyperNova

Actually, a year ago I was suffering from deep depression and I found that I was having lucid dreams almost every night. After I overcame the depression I started having less lucid dreams and bad recall. So whether or not depression does help with lucid dreaming, it is clear that the state of mind is a large variable. Perhaps some people experience more lucid dreams when they are in a state of euphoria..

Could this be because you had other things to concentrate on after your depression was over?

they are definatly correlated from what research i've done and it seems this could be chemically based, high dopamine and low serotonin is often a cause of depression and high dopamine means vivid dreams.

You didn’t tell specify what kind of depression or meds (if any, you are on) so this is a long answer for your possible lucid variances. Lucids occur in the late REM cycle so here are variables r/t depression and REM sleep.

All antidepressants (except for one) decrease and/or suppress REM sleep (REM sleep is where most of your dreams occur. Sometimes a few dreams can occur in non-REM sleep in the hour or two before normal waking time). Antidepressants decrease nightmares and vivid dreams (making recall on antidepressants more difficult).

Sleep disruption is common in all forms of depression and the lack of sleep on some days will cause REM rebound later.

If you are Bipolar and went through a manic stage and then became depressed, REM rebound occurred during your “down” time (more REM sleep to compensate for lost REM sleep in the manic stage). Rapid Cycling Bipolars have disrupted REM sleep and will rebound REM sleep when started on a non-antidepressant, Bipolar medication.

If you are an individual that contemplated “issues” during your depressed time consider the following study which showed that mental activity (learning) increased REM sleep: Rats have increased REM sleep after participating in mental activities (forced on them by researchers). Learning causes increased REM sleep to occur in mammals. Some researchers think that this occurs because the brain requires more REM sleep to assist the brain’s memory process.

Depression and anxiety can impair memory, delay recall and impair concentration. (Perhaps you didn’t have as many lucid dreams as you thought during your depression.)

Benzos and alcohol (both can cause depression) suppress REM sleep (alcohol during first half of night). Both cause REM rebound upon discontinuance or in alcohol’s case, elimination in the body after a specific number of hours r/t the amount consumed. (Alcohol or drugs?)

Thinking about dreaming is the best predictor of high dream recall and therefore, high recall of any lucids. ( Perhaps you were frequently thinking (for whatever reason) about your dreams during your depressed time.)

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

I think that correlation does not imply causation, and that bumping a thread 14 minutes after its creation is just. . . wrong.

why are you even here.... zzz

Originally Posted by Liz

You didn’t tell specify what kind of depression or meds (if any, you are on) so this is a long answer for your possible lucid variances. Lucids occur in the late REM cycle so here are variables r/t depression and REM sleep.

All antidepressants (except for one) decrease and/or suppress REM sleep (REM sleep is where most of your dreams occur. Sometimes a few dreams can occur in non-REM sleep in the hour or two before normal waking time). Antidepressants decrease nightmares and vivid dreams (making recall on antidepressants more difficult).

Sleep disruption is common in all forms of depression and the lack of sleep on some days will cause REM rebound later.

If you are Bipolar and went through a manic stage and then became depressed, REM rebound occurred during your “down” time (more REM sleep to compensate for lost REM sleep in the manic stage). Rapid Cycling Bipolars have disrupted REM sleep and will rebound REM sleep when started on a non-antidepressant, Bipolar medication.

If you are an individual that contemplated “issues” during your depressed time consider the following study which showed that mental activity (learning) increased REM sleep: Rats have increased REM sleep after participating in mental activities (forced on them by researchers). Learning causes increased REM sleep to occur in mammals. Some researchers think that this occurs because the brain requires more REM sleep to assist the brain’s memory process.

Depression and anxiety can impair memory, delay recall and impair concentration. (Perhaps you didn’t have as many lucid dreams as you thought during your depression.)

Benzos and alcohol (both can cause depression) suppress REM sleep (alcohol during first half of night). Both cause REM rebound upon discontinuance or in alcohol’s case, elimination in the body after a specific number of hours r/t the amount consumed. (Alcohol or drugs?)

Thinking about dreaming is the best predictor of high dream recall and therefore, high recall of any lucids. ( Perhaps you were frequently thinking (for whatever reason) about your dreams during your depressed time.)

Wow great answer, thank you. I used to run over my problems in my head a lot, which I've heard is not a good thing for recovery, and also I am on benzos now so I guess that explains it. Thanks for the information.

Originally Posted by Conquer

why are you even here.... zzz

Boredom, mostly. Also, all of my other forums pretty much died.

I am on benzos now so I guess that explains it.

See, now you have evidence that supports the idea of depression and LDing being linked. Before, there was nothing to go on besides assumptions, intuition, and personal experiences. I'm not a fan of making conclusion based on any of those.

IMO you guys left out two likely variables- depressed people sleep a lot, meaning more overall opportunities to dream as well as longer REM periods, and people who are depressed and not happy with the state of their lives probably enjoy being able to indulge in escapism and have fun in their own heads. If you're happy and doing fun things in the real world, lucid dreaming probably isn't as exciting.

Hmm, through a *rough/depressing* period in my life, I had very noticeably more vivid, long and frequent LDs, though that was also in a time where I slept only once every two or three nights.

For a while I actually attributed that to my natural lucid dreaming -- I've never really been a happy chappy. The lifestyle factors and mindsets surely aren't something to be ignored, and I think Shift has hit the nail on the head.

Would like to hear more opinions on why!

The reason why you stopped having LDs and especially remembering dreams well is because once depression was over, you attention turned to the waking life.

Not all people with depression sleep more. Many depressed individuals have sleep disruption (difficult going to sleep, staying asleep or change in sleep pattern). Not sleeping well can intensify depression and prolong it.