Thread: Possible Dangers Of Lucid Dreaming!

Originally Posted by Luciel

So basically it's my fault even though I never said there was any scientific evidence and just asked for opinions. It's my fault those potential thousands of people don't know how to carefully look over my post? I never said it HAS to be true, you're putting words in my mouth to try and support your point . I said " I mean, like anything, too much of a "good" thing can be bad." I'm questioning it, and I'm definitely not held responsible for other people's possible illiteracy.

Did I say it was you fault? Nope. All I said was that you posted it, and all I asked was why you looked it up. Was I referencing YOUR post being the cause of the potential loss of future dreamers? Nope. I was referencing the ARTICLE. It's not your fault is it? Nope. It's whoever wrote that BS-tastic article with no backing both potentially and scientifically.

The article should never have been posted (regardless of proper citation or "controversial" labelling) because as Samael said, some people don't have bullshit detectors. The posting of the article itself doesn't bother me because people make mistakes, but the fact that it's deterring people and is being defended so strongly, I think we should all take a time-out and just cool down a bit. This is getting pretty confrontational; Luciel is probably feeling attacked.

I am occasionally (slightly) worried about potential dangers of lucid dreaming, and I think there is slightly too much hostility towards discussing these things. I agree that there are no major risks -- we would have seen them by now. And I also agree the article is nonsense. However, I do wonder if lucid dreaming can have some (negative?) impact on certain memory-related processes that go on during sleep. I don't know enough about sleep and dreams to justify this, but I would be curious to see if anything has been written on the topic.

Only possible danger I can see is if you are awake but kinda tired and you are on the top of a skyscraper and you see a flying pig and you realize how out of place that would be and automatically assume you are dreaming then jump off of the building and plummet to your death.

But that all comes down to seeing the flying pig so highly unlikely.

And by the definition of lucid dreaming you are AWARE that you are DREAMING that means you wont think it is real later because you KNOW it was a dream.

I can tell my storie, that i think other users of LD could eksperiance.
My friend die are couppel years ago, and I was in deep gref. I found out how to meet this person in my LD, and spend time with her.

When I found out of this, my life was all about dreaming, and meeting her. At last, it allmost maked my insane, I convinse my self that she actually was real and not are part of my subconscious. My life was on are standby, when I was awake i thinked about the night before end the night to come. And if I diden´t had are LD i thoght that she was mad at me, and diden´t wan´t to see me.

Now I can see that I was totally out of my mind. I belive other persons can eksperience this, and i wan´t to make are warning. It can get really diffucult to see what´s real and what´s is not.

Sorry for my spelling, i´m not good at english. Hope you understand :-D

Just because it's peer reviewed doesn't mean it's legit. I was looking for any articles that metioned lucid dreaming and are from peer-reviewed journals and found stuff concering OBE's and spiritual healing and psychic healing and other stuff like that (no offence to anyone who believes that stuff). And I have no idea how you guys suddenly thought lucid dreaming might be dangerous to somone who is mentally ill. I do believe that there is evidence of virtual reality systems helping with PTSD (usally used on people in the military) and how virtual reality systems can help people with phobias, but virtual reality systems are hard to come by and are pricey, and maybe lucid dreaming can be a cheaper form of this virtual reality. I was reading an abstract of a case study (couldn't find the whole article and couldn't find the researcher's email) about, well I don't wanna summarize this.

"Presents a case report of a 39-year-old male presented to the emergency department with a history of five suicide attempts in a week. He had three previous admissions to psychiatric wards with varying diagnoses including depression, PTSD and alcohol dependence. He would awaken after 2 hours from a nightmare and find it extremely difficult to return to sleep. These nightmares usually revisited one of a number of traumatic incidents which he had witnessed in his life. He was commenced on an alcohol withdrawal scale (AWS) which was ceased after 5 days. He was prescribed 200 mg quetiapine nocte and 100 mg fluvoxamine mane. Initially he was using considerable amounts of prn temazepam (20 mg nocte) and chlorpromazine (300 mg daily). He was then instructed to write out his dreams on awakening, and to then reimagine them as he tried to fall back asleep. After several days of this, he began to become aware of the fact that he was dreaming in his dreams when he had a nightmare, and then changed the dream so that it was more pleasant. The nightmares did not bother him as much, his sleep improved, and he was able to sleep 6 hours without awakening as a result of nightmares, with no medication. It is not clear to what degree the psychoeducation contributed to his improvement, but the patient was adamant it was the primary factor in his improvement."

I feel like I should cite this or something (study done by Greg Been and Vikas Garg from some mental institution in Australia)... anyway there was another report that wasn't conclusive but was talking about if lucid dreaming could cause apnea (stop breathing during the dream) and seemed to be just making conclusions and there was no experimentation to prove that not breathing in a lucid dream can couse sleep apnea (assumptions made by Staish C. Rao Mayo Clinic in Minnesota).

Here's a study that specifically studied the relationship between nightmare's and lucid dreaming.

"Abstract
Background: The goal of this pilot study was to evaluate
the effects of the cognitive-restructuring technique ‘lucid dreaming treatment’ (LDT) on chronic nightmares. Becoming lucid (realizing that one is dreaming) during a nightmare allows one to alter the nightmare storyline during the nightmare itself. Methods: After having fi lled out a sleep and a posttraumatic stress disorder questionnaire, 23 nightmare sufferers were randomly divided into 3 groups; 8 participants received one 2-hour individual LDT session, 8 participants received one 2-hour group LDT session, and 7 participants were placed on the waiting list. LDT consisted of exposure, mastery, and lucidity exercises. Participants fi lled out the same questionnaires 12 weeks after the intervention (follow-up). Results: At follow-up the nightmare frequency of both treatment groups had decreased. There were no significant changes in sleep quality and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity. Lucidity was not necessary for a reduction in nightmare frequency. Conclusions: LDT seems effective in reducing nightmare frequency, although the primary therapeutic component (i.e. exposure, mastery, or lucidity) remains unclear."

This study done by Victor I. Spoormaker and Jan van den Bout from Netherlands.

There was also an abstract which I thought was kind of silly (talked about the relationship of NDE's and LD's and something called dream yoga) but very intergering and was able to find the researchers email and ask them about the study. No reply yet but the abstract was

"This article brings together three areas of research on disembodied consciousness: death, near-death, and dreaming. Research on lucid dreaming suggests that there is a close connection between consciousness in the dream state and that experienced in dying. More specifically, it is dream yoga as a special form of lucid dreaming that relates to the near-death experience (NDE) as the occasion for encounter with the clear light. The author discusses the meaning of the clear light in dream yoga and in the NDE in order to inquire into the interpretation of its role in spiritual emancipation."

Study done by Raymond Lee of Maylasia. Also all the above were peer-reviewed and I take no credit for any of these studies don't sue please and thanks.

Also @ Alt Ateist, yea I could imagine that happening, even though there was no research on this subject for some reason (probaly because there arn't as many people who even know about lucid dreaming, and even if they do few can ld well enough to do this, I know my lding skills suck at least :-()

Sry for long post.

I don't think most of this is true. Even if any of it is, not a problem for me yet, since I don't have lucid dreams regularly. But I will try to keep this thread in mind, just in case.

Sorry if someone already said this, but it's kind of impossible to become addicted to lucid dreaming. You only have a certain amount of REM sleep time, so it's not like you could spend all of your time doing it...

I agree 100 percent with Puffin. These negating topics greatly disappoint me when I see someone has posted disinformation and manage to draw so many people into it. For those who say they are terrified of false awakenings... Most of us are not, but it is easy to get out of a series of false awakenings just as it is easy to get out of Sleep Paralysis. If you want to leave the dream state altogether, Lucidity, SP, false awakenings, ect. All you have to do is take very long deep breaths in and out repeatedly for about 5-10 seconds. Your mind/body notices the difference in response, and will leave the state altogether. This is why getting excited in dreams usually ends them, changes in the body states, heart rate, breathing, ect. So there is nothing to be afraid of and you are likely to see that lucid dreaming will be a great stepping stone forward in your life and spirituality.

theres crazy stuff in the news about the guy who shot the congresswoman in arizona being all into lucid dreaming.

*shakes head*

ryan hurd has done a good counter article:
Jared Loughner and Lucid Dreaming | The Dream Studies Portal

Wow. No Offense ZhineTech.. but we've already heard it. There are atleast 6 new post on this very subject. Can we bring anymore negativity to the world of Lucid Dreaming? This is so annoying to me... and I know so many others.. it sucks that many reputable news organizations are now dogging lucid dreaming due to this one nut case.

sorry i had scanned for it in this section and did not see it, plus had not seen it in this thread.

hurd's article is a good counter balance to the negativity, which is why i posted it btw.

**ahh i see the thread i missed. apologies.**

I was going to post something stupid and witty, but I stopped myself. Because this thread should be taken seriously! Everyone should know how dangerous this is! *snicker*

losing touch with reality can be a bit dangerous, say you thought you were dreaming and did some crazy shit like tried to superman punch a moving car... your'ed get owned, i mean it all depends on the mental stability of the person, but if you have trouble differentiating real life from your dreams then there may be some decent risks

Originally Posted by nzshaman

losing touch with reality can be a bit dangerous, say you thought you were dreaming and did some crazy shit like tried to superman punch a moving car... your'ed get owned, i mean it all depends on the mental stability of the person, but if you have trouble differentiating real life from your dreams then there may be some decent risks

Every time I turn on my gamecube the health warning screen ones up, telling me that it could cause seizures if I have a previous history of epileptic issues. Since I don't, I have nothing to worry about. Your point is valid, yes, but is it the standard?

Originally Posted by nzshaman

losing touch with reality can be a bit dangerous, say you thought you were dreaming and did some crazy shit like tried to superman punch a moving car... your'ed get owned, i mean it all depends on the mental stability of the person, but if you have trouble differentiating real life from your dreams then there may be some decent risks

Once again you don't understand that awareness is fundamentally what lucidity is. Therefore how can you believe you're dreaming in waking life, you would in that circumstance be worse then the average person in terms of awareness.

I doesn't really understand the danger of sleeping normally at night while being lucid ..Most of all it just only a dreams..The different is maybe just the awareness and you can tweak it a little bit..But in the end the reality after waking up is all the matter..Just like games is addicting..But people still live up normally..It just like some kind of hobby that you do at night..Exploring the dream world..I think that there is no harm in that..In short its a choice in life..Some prefer to live in reality and some to live in fantasy..Its up to each of the single individual out there..For me..I choose to Live in both

I've had lucid dreams for around 17 years now or 2/3 of my life, the only real consequences is length of time dreaming, time dilation & conflict escalation. All other claims sound improbable to me & likely stem from preexisting circumstance.
For my experiences, the length of time spent lucid dreaming has steadily increased over time. It started insignificant enough, around fifteen minutes to half an hour every night. Now it's often between an hour or two every night, which can get annoying at times. This can also become exceptionally distorted if I wake up to my alarm & hit the old "snooze" button, going back to sleep. In these cases it isn't irregular to experience a (1:10 min ratio) time dilation. I can only validate time dilation during these periods of time, but suspect it occurs during normal sleep as well. I'm still rather young, so in the back of my mind I wonder how extreme this time dilation can get.
The other primary consequence I've experienced is conflict escalation. I strongly believe my lucid dreaming evolved as a consequence to nightmares. My ability to recognize when I'm dreaming, also gave me a quasi sense of immortality. Knowing you can't die when your enemy certainly can is an intoxicating feeling for anyone. Nightmares ceased existence soon after, but what soon came can only be described as an arms race. Instead of a nightmare dream-scape, my controlled dream-scape can sometimes encounter intruders. These intruders always meet a quick demise, but only because I've evolved faster then they apparently can. These interruptions although infrequent are extremely annoying & drag innocent entities into the conflict. I've never been a religious person, but through lucid dreaming I understand my Creator's paradox. To be all powerful & yet unable to save everyone. For those who think your lucid dreams are a theme park for all manner of immoral mischief, consider this. In the beginning I was reckless, but was confronted by an individual with a simple question. It asked me, "Just because you gave us life, do you think we don't exist?". I never answered because I didn't know how to. I could only think what If I was in that entities place facing my Creator. Even if at the time I was unsure, how crushing would it be if your Creator told you that you don't exist? For those who think lucid dreaming is an escape, they're vastly misinformed. Lucid dreaming is the opportunity to be a god, but what you do with that power defines you as a person.

I deal with disassociation in waking reality, tons of feelings of "derealization", which has nothing to do with lucid dreaming nor was it induced by lucid dreaming. However, lucid dreaming opens one's mind to the endless possibilities OF the mind. It requires a deep amount of awareness and self-awareness and questioning reality. I can see how someone who hasn't dealt with some derealization can experience a small degree of such in waking reality, but not enough to induce a psychotic state or have lucid dreaming be "dangerous".

I get the feeling this was written by someone who studies LDs but doesnt actually have any real experience. I think his intentions are good so i'll cut him some slack. What he says can be true of someone who watches too much tv as well. His most important takeaway is that you can stop LDs if you want. Heck, most of us expend a lot of mental effort trying to figure out how to HAVE them!

So newbies, worry about lucid dreaming to the same degree you worry about television.

Well....ok, maybe it is addictive....being one of the most awesome things I can do in my life does tend to make you want to be a repeat offender

Although this conversation is a bit outdated, I'd still take the chance to comment. Everyone knows that lucid dreaming should be avoided when suffering from any type of mental illness (schizophrenia, PTSD etc.) or in case of general neurosis, increased anxiety etc. The problem with people dealing with such conditions is, that they are afraid of what they can find in their own head. And if one is not prepared to find out the rules of the subconsciousness, that he/she should not practice lucid dreaming altogether. I read an interestin article about dangers of lucid dreaming here http://howtocontroldreams.com. 'Nuff said!

The whole OP's post shows a general misconception of lucidity. Lucidity is synonymous with awareness therefore becoming dissociated or neglecting reality will diminish ones ability to become lucid. Why do you think people on this board cultivate All Day Awareness (ADA) and generally wakeful awareness techniques. Sageous on this board is able to be lucid without RC's because he progressively works on his awareness during waking life. The ideas of dissociation, problems with memory and addiction from this context make absolutely no sense.

Why do LDer adore LD's? its true because I've experienced 80% of this including the multi false awakening that makes you think, "I'm trapped!, is my life now over?". I detect a conspiracy lol

Well, LaBerge in his books said that lucid dreaming is not recommended to people with mental disorders that make them unable to differentiate reality from non reality. On the face of it initially I thought that makes sense, but I have thought about it some more, and here is my current thinking: if someone is already unable to differentiate reality from non reality, so they already have times when they are incorrectly thinking their experience is real when it is not or vice versa thinking reality is not real. So they are already doing that. In such a situation what would be the harm for such a person to try to learn to differentiate reality from dreams. Now granted they likely will be unsuccessful since they already have issues with this, but attempting to become better at it, wouldn't that be desirable? Of course, especially such people should avoid ever doing anything that they would regret if their assessment of their state was wrong, thus no shooting people with gun if one thinks it is just a dream. Lucid dreaming practice is fundamentally about increasing awareness, and even if someone is mentally ill, wouldn't attempting to increase awareness be more likely to help rather than harm? Now I may be wrong about that since I am not a psychologist of psychiatrist, so this is just speculation, and if you think I am wrong please correct me.