Thread: Anxiety dreams

Actually, "Anxiety Dream" is the clinical term for a nightmare, as differentiated from a night terror, or "Incubus Nightmare." (when you wake up screaming, and may still think something is happening to you even after you wake up, then fall asleep again suddenly with no recollection of the occurence. These usually stop before puberty, if they happen at all.)

as far as becomming lucid, it has been my experince that the same rules apply as any other dream. If it's a recurring nightmare, it could even be easier, sinc eyou might just suddenly remember it's a dream.

As far as negative emotions that remain after waking, that just depends on whether what happened in the dream was genuinely disturbing, to the extent that you wouldn't want to be exposed to it again. (ie: you were covered in bees or scorpions, or found yourself in the middle of a horrific battle and saw a lot of people horribly killed, both of which have happned to me.) On the other hand, if it was something that either A: you realize shouldn't be scary when you wake up (you dreamed that you were utterly horrified to find yourself ankle-deep in lukewarm water) B: something that doesn't scare you badly enough on a personal level to be really afraid of going back to it (you were being chased by a dog, let' say. nobody really likes that, but unless you have a phobia of dogs, it wouldn't be a big deal after the fact) or C: it's the type of nightmare where once you wake up, the immediate sensation is releif (Oh, thank GHAWD that was just a dream! Blanking out on your final exams, showing up somewhere important naked, hell, just taking your final exams are classic examples.)

Psychologists often use lucid dreaming as a treatment for anxiety dreams, however, the DSM-IV does not offer any information on attaining lucidity that is specifically applicable to this type of dream.

Personally, I would recomend making a habit of Reality Checks every time the patient felt upset for any reason during the day, which would hopefully establish a pattern that would coincide with that type of dream in a more specific way.

Originally posted by Amethyst Star
Personally, mine usually involve me being chased or doing something that would go against my morals. Those things don't usually happen when I'm awake, so I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how one could become lucid during an anxiety dream? Nightmares are usuall blatantly obvious, but with ADs (if I may coin the abbreviation) there's usually that thought of \"it could happen.\"

I suppose it would be a case of reality checking when you feel anxious that way in real life, like when you feel worried or threatened, or when you have to make some kind of moral choice.

See, I don't normally feel threatened or worried in real life (except around finals or when I have to make a major decision), which is why it's hard for me to do a reality check when they occur. They also don't occur very often and when I wake up I my usual reaction is "Oh well" rather than something more emphatic. And the last two nightmares I had were triggered by very disturbing movies, one in October, and the other about 4 years ago.

I was also thinking of how this could apply to people who may suffer from continual stressful dreams and what they could do in real life if they have trouble realizing that they're dreaming.

Also, for people who have had nightmares on a regular basis, what do you do to battle the emotions that come from them? Would your emotions change immediately or after a period of time? Just out of curiosity.

It's impossible to quantify emotional change, or to pin it down to any one source.

Frequent nightmares are usually treated with psychotherapy. It would require an extensive working knowledge of the patient who is having the nightmares in order to give very helpful advice, and that is best acheived one-on-one.

Originally posted by RCLefty

Frequent nightmares are usually treated with psychotherapy. It would require an extensive working knowledge of the patient who is having the nightmares in order to give very helpful advice, and that is best acheived one-on-one.

Yep, that's the standard way of dealing with it in the waking world.
In a lucid dream though, I find that kicking nightmare arse seems to resolve or at least lessen the waking problems that are causing it.
Hell, I started lucid dreaming as a child because of nightmares. Took me one or two to realise I could do what I wanted to them.