Lucid Dreaming and Depression

**Edcase** · 07-10-2016 10:25 PM

Hey folks,

This may have been discussed before but I am brand new so please forgive me.

My main motivation to lucid dream is to try and get to the route cause of my depression by exploring the dreamscape. Any psychology buffs will see a slight parallel with Jung, but I am not nearly as cleaver as he was.

I have a blog documenting the journey, and posting some Quazi scientific links to sleep patterns. I really wanted to know if any one has had any success with this? If not, any fellow sufferers out there have any issues with motivation, and hat is your secret?

Ed

**DieForMetal** · 10-16-2016 06:14 PM

Hello Edcase,

I suffer from chronic genetical depression and I have been training Lucid dreaming for about 5 years now. Unfortunately, lack of motivation is a big issue for me as well and as such I was only able to have 2-3 unintentional Lucid dreams (in other words Lucid dreams not caused by RC or anything, just lucid from the start for some reason :/ )
So I still don't know how to induce lucid dreams, in those 5 years I have been trying a lot, trust me. The motivation thing is really weird for me. Most of the time I am unable to motivate myself for anything, no matter what. In the case of LD-ing I had some minor bursts of motivation here and there, but nothing great... even though Lucid dreaming is the number one thing I want to learn. I am stunned by the fact that you managed to achieve 10 LD's although you suffer from depression as well, trust me thats a lot compared to me.

I always tried to motivate myself for LD-ing, telling myself that once I learn it, I can do what I want in the dreams and that perhaps I'll also find a way to finally deal with my depression, as no psychiatrist or therapist was able to help me.
That self-motivation never worked for me, because my depression crushes motivation like a stone, not giving me any control about it. It seems so hopeless

**ESP** · 10-31-2016 01:30 PM

I also suffer from depression & luckily had recently found a new psychotherapist who also incorporates dream work into our sessions. A lot of the issues that come along with depression - problems with motivation, creativity, negative expectations/thinking, concentration, memory etc. seem to be influencing my recall & ability to practice lucid dreaming & dreaming in general. I find the expectation of having one dream to write down & recall for my next psychotherapy session is slowly helping. I have only had one session so far but with patience & practice, I'm hoping I also understand myself better.

In fact my first dream a few nights prior to my initial session, I had dreamed about a lot of the underlying issues associated with my depression! So I think this was a direct result of expectation, as I was expecting that in my first session I would have to prepare myself to go through recalling all the trauma I had experienced with my psychotherapist. Unfortunately, psychotherapy can be expensive but it is the only real way I find I will be able to manage my depression at this point.