OCD and Lucid dreaming.

[tlmesi]

As you can probably guess by the title of the post, I have OCD. It's not necessarily the stereotypical "wash your hands" nonsense that everyone thinks of when they hear OCD, but for me its different, I'll think of something and can't stop thinking of it until I act upon it or think of something else. (like moving something into a straight line) So this poses some difficulty when it comes to lucid dreaming, well mostly the beginning stages. For someone like me, relaxing is hard to do. If I concentrate on breathing, then I become conscious of my breathing and have to manually breathe. If I try to relax, I think too much on relaxing and stay awake. As you can see, its a bit hard for me to do. Most of the time, I use Isochronic tones while I sleep, and I practice the WILD technique. After about a year on and off, I really haven't made any progress. So any tips pertaining to my situation, and ocd would be great.

[melanieb]

I hope someone offers some good insight on this. You have OCD...have you ever used any techniques to control aspects of that? Have you had any success with controlling OCD issues pertaining to other activities? If so, could these techniques help here?

[LucidRaider]

I also have OCD, But the intrusive thoughts version not the hygiene love one. I find it difficult to LD because of this aswell... But what made me press on was the fact I can't afford to lose any more time with attempting to LD, I needed to do it. That's what made me push forward. You should try some meditation and some Autosuggestion self hypnosis to calm your mind, and please just relax. Relax... Don't worry. Just because you have OCD Does not mean you cannot lucid dream. <3 believe.

[Burke]

From your description it sounds like WILD will be very hard for you since it takes a delicate balance of consciousness and unconsciousness. If you're having difficulty falling asleep try this. It basically says you focus on giving up your consciousness in order to fall asleep faster. This is something that shouldn't really disrupt you very much if you have trouble clearing your mind. Aside from WILD some techniques you may be interested in are DILD and, especially, MILD. MILD is where you come up with a mantra about lucid dreaming such as "I will have a lucid dream tonight" or, "I will become lucid tonight." Basically it has to include whatever you are tying to and a large amount of confidence i.e. "I will..." as well as tonight. You then repeat this in your head while you fall asleep so that it will be the last thing in your mind when you fall asleep. However you could find that WILD works great for you so just be sure to at least give it a shot and not give up after a week of no results. I have a bit of OCD myself but not very bad. I just need everything neat directly in front of me. For example my desk is always perfectly neat/symmetrical but my room, since it is not within my immediate vicinity, is a bit messy. I'm sure your OCD won't prevent you from attaining lucidity but it may be another hurdle in your work so just keep at it. Who knows, it could end up helping you

[LucidRaider]

From your description it sounds like WILD will be very hard for you since it takes a delicate balance of consciousness and unconsciousness. If you're having difficulty falling asleep try this. It basically says you focus on giving up your consciousness in order to fall asleep faster. This is something that shouldn't really disrupt you very much if you have trouble clearing your mind. Aside from WILD some techniques you may be interested in are DILD and, especially, MILD. MILD is where you come up with a mantra about lucid dreaming such as "I will have a lucid dream tonight" or, "I will become lucid tonight." Basically it has to include whatever you are tying to and a large amount of confidence i.e. "I will..." as well as tonight. You then repeat this in your head while you fall asleep so that it will be the last thing in your mind when you fall asleep. However you could find that WILD works great for you so just be sure to at least give it a shot and not give up after a week of no results. I have a bit of OCD myself but not very bad. I just need everything neat directly in front of me. For example my desk is always perfectly neat/symmetrical but my room, since it is not within my immediate vicinity, is a bit messy. I'm sure your OCD won't prevent you from attaining lucidity but it may be another hurdle in your work so just keep at it. Who knows, it could end up helping you Yeah I hate OCD.... FACT: I clean my room everyday, Problem is,... It was already clean when I began to clean it. :/ lolz.

[tlmesi]

I've tried autosuggestion before, again to no real avail. With the exception that I remember a dream better occasionally. I have had a DILD before, (just this week actually) I was lucid, but for me it had a bit of latency? Like there was lag with my actions, and I was controlling myself with my mind rather than my body. I did however have some control over the situation, but it required me to close my "eyes" and reopen them, or open and close a door. (Dunno if the latency is typical with real LD) But yeah, I just find it hard to relax, and I think the ocd might be the cause of it. I will however try some new techniques. X) And Yeah, I have that type of ocd that you have. It just a bit worse. Numbers have to be even, tv volume divisible by 5, anything circular has to be tangent to a straight line, things need to be perfectly center, or aligned. And if I dont do these things it will nag at my brain until I fix them. XD then theres breathing. One of my biggest problems that is a pretty big hurdle when it comes to relaxing, is if i become conscious of my breathing, it no longer becomes an involuntary action. It's quite annoying XD

[LucidRaider]

I've tried autosuggestion before, again to no real avail. With the exception that I remember a dream better occasionally. I have had a DILD before, (just this week actually) I was lucid, but for me it had a bit of latency? Like there was lag with my actions, and I was controlling myself with my mind rather than my body. I did however have some control over the situation, but it required me to close my "eyes" and reopen them, or open and close a door. (Dunno if the latency is typical with real LD) But yeah, I just find it hard to relax, and I think the ocd might be the cause of it. I will however try some new techniques. X) And Yeah, I have that type of ocd that you have. It just a bit worse. Numbers have to be even, tv volume divisible by 5, anything circular has to be tangent to a straight line, things need to be perfectly center, or aligned. And if I dont do these things it will nag at my brain until I fix them. XD then theres breathing. One of my biggest problems that is a pretty big hurdle when it comes to relaxing, is if i become conscious of my breathing, it no longer becomes an involuntary action. It's quite annoying XD Poor boo. Hm... I don't know!!!

[dutchraptor]

You should give DEILD a go, when I deild I literally wake for 10 seconds and then I'm back in a dream. It goes so fast I never really have time to think of anything.

[LucidRaider]

You should give DEILD a go, when I deild I literally wake for 10 seconds and then I'm back in a dream. It goes so fast I never really have time to think of anything. What guide do you use? you sound like you use it like a master? EDIT: @ tlmesi . Hm, boo maybe you should go to a therapist to discuss your feelings of it even if your sad or upset over it and it is really getting you down, Or maybe see a doctor to prescribe some relaxation medication, kno wat i sayin' ??? hm? hm? the good stuff haha XD no but really. My advice on lucid dreaming, is just do what I did, press on, spite of failure, spite of stress, press on, and believe you can do it..KNOW you can. I believe you can do this, because I can do it too, So boo, believe.

[Burke]

My advice on lucid dreaming, is just do what I did, press on, spite of failure, spite of stress, press on, and believe you can do it..KNOW you can. I believe you can do this, because I can do it too, So boo, believe. Best advice anyone can give, especially to someone having difficulty.

[LucidRaider]

Best advice anyone can give, especially to someone having difficulty. Thank you!, he deserves good advice... He's a dedicated one.

[dutchraptor]

What guide do you use? you sound like you use it like a master? I'm in no way a master lol. I used http://www.dreamviews.com/f49/yuppie...-dream-126343/ Its nice cause theres not that much too it, it just takes some work to wake up naturally. In my experience its the easiest technique to master because its not as time consuming as WILD but its a tonne more efficient than DILD.

[LucidRaider]

Thank you.

[Carrot]

Yes I know not every OCD sufferer has the "wash your hand" nonsense. There are different components in OCD and it just so happened you ain't exceptionally bothered by the fear of contamination part. I'm an OCD sufferer too, probably around your severity, I get the focus on breathing problem and trying too hard to relax problem too. Ended up I opened my eyes when I seemed to be almost consumed by darkness. I didn't get that when I attempted lucid dreaming techniques, just any other normal day if I'm not tired enough. Probably that explains why I sleep at terrible times like 5am. Somehow I find it easier to fall asleep when I'm less than ready for sleep, without bathing, not lying on my bed etc. Weird huh? Considering I'm quite obsessed with cleanliness and tidiness.

[tlmesi]

Yes I know not every OCD sufferer has the "wash your hand" nonsense. There are different components in OCD and it just so happened you ain't exceptionally bothered by the fear of contamination part. I'm an OCD sufferer too, probably around your severity, I get the focus on breathing problem and trying too hard to relax problem too. Ended up I opened my eyes when I seemed to be almost consumed by darkness. I didn't get that when I attempted lucid dreaming techniques, just any other normal day if I'm not tired enough. Probably that explains why I sleep at terrible times like 5am. Somehow I find it easier to fall asleep when I'm less than ready for sleep, without bathing, not lying on my bed etc. Weird huh? Considering I'm quite obsessed with cleanliness and tidiness. I've noticed lately, that whenever I feel the need to sleep and I'm actually tired, it takes me longer to fall asleep (around 1hr- 1 1/2hrs) Compared to the "average" 15min falling asleep normal people should have. This happens regardless of whether I try techniques of autosuggestion, breathing or meditation. However, like you, when I don't really feel like sleeping, I can fall asleep semi-normally. Not really sure why I can't fall asleep when I'm sleepy. I think it's the fact that my mind is so concentrated on sleep, it won't allow me to lapse in consciousness, that being the case, I should be a lucid dreaming pro by now. But I think it may be a combination of that and my inability to think of nothing, because lets face it, with ocd you're gonna be thinking of about 3 different things at once. I'm going to try some LD techniques when I'm not really sleepy tonight, I'll post the results if you're interested.

[Highlander]

Hi Tlmesi, Yes people and the media generally do tend to project the stereotypical view of the OCD condition. However as you quite rightly say OCD can manifest itself in different ways, plus with differing severity. I myself am a bit ocd’ish. (Note the lowercase lettering to indicate severity level.) However if I get stressed then sometimes it’s a little worse. I don’t really see it as a problem in myself as it is part of my personality - well sort of. E.g. I am a bit of a perfectionist, etc. So my OCD traits do have a positive side. For example: I produce good work when doing certain projects. Also no one is going to break into my house as sometimes I can check the door is locked 2-3 times repeatedly, and I make sure all the lights are out in a similar fashion, so saving electricity. I did have a dream where I checked my back gate 2-3 times to see it was locked which made me think at the time, so I become lucid. However after having some really big stressful situations, possibly the biggest I will probably face in my whole life (except when it is my turn?) then I try to think now “well…what the heck” the worst has already happened! Anyway, that is my experience. I can see what you mean regarding the relaxation problem although I don’t really have the breathing issues, but I could imagine where trying to ‘clear’ the mind might be difficult for someone with OCD and the intrusive thoughts that can accompany it. I find that I like to keep my mind ‘busy’ (when awake) with tasks myself. I do a bit of (physical) exercise to keep my mind focused, so I relax (eventually) that way. The best advice I could give you is avoid stress, wherever possible. Good luck!