• Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views




    Results 1 to 11 of 11
    1. #1
      Member MorningView's Avatar
      Join Date
      Aug 2009
      Posts
      10
      Likes
      2
      DJ Entries
      1

      Arizona Killer Jared Loughner and Lucid Dreaming: Time Magazine Flub?

      I felt it important to note a potential misunderstanding of a possible connection to Jared Loughner's violent act and lucid dreaming. The author of the article "A Mind Unhinged" by John Cloud in this week's issue of Time Magazine appears to make it look like lucid dreaming may have contributed (or caused) to Loughner's psychotic mental state. Cloud states:

      "...Loughner's interest in his lucid dreams is significant, because last year the European Science Foundation reported that lucid dreaming 'creates distinct patterns of electrical activity in the brain that have similarities to the patterns made by psychotic conditions.' Loughner's drug use could have kept him from falling into deep sleep and encouraged lucid dreaming. The European group said paranoid delusions can occur when lucid dreams are replayed repeatedly after the subject wakes up. Loughner was replaying his lucid dreams in an extensive dream journal, according to his friend Bryce Tierney, who spoke with Mother Jones magazine."

      I read both the European Science Foundation and the Mother Jones articles (I will post links below), and it seems that Cloud misinterpreted the articles. The European group did not say that paranoid delusions can occur when lucid dreams are replayed when the dreamer wakes up. All they really said is that realistic simulations of threatening events in dreams contribute to evolutionary survival. When real life threats happen, the brain is ready because it has "replayed" the threat before in a dream state. The article does not definitively say that people can develop paranoid delusions because people replay lucid dreams in real life.

      Also, all the Mother Jones article states is that Loughner kept an extensive dream journal--not that he was "replaying" the lucid dreams after he awoke.

      I should note that I do understand how lucid dreaming could harm people who are already psychologically unstable. In healthy people, however, lucid dreaming should pose little to no negative psychological consequences.

      Anybody out there have any thoughts on this? I just found that part of the Time article a little fishy so I dug a little to find out more.

      EXT: News-Singleview : European Science Foundation[tt_news]=585&cHash=f5fc64419415ae815426092cda6c2aa0

      The above link does not seem to work. The title of the article is "New links between dreams and psychosis could revive dream therapy in psychiatry" July 2009

      Exclusive: Loughner Friend Explains Alleged Gunman's Grudge Against Giffords | Mother Jones
      Last edited by MorningView; 01-15-2011 at 07:46 PM. Reason: link does not work

    2. #2
      Bird Brain Achievements:
      Tagger First Class Populated Wall 10000 Hall Points Referrer Bronze Veteran First Class Vivid Dream Journal
      Puffin's Avatar
      Join Date
      Oct 2009
      LD Count
      Lost count.
      Location
      Vancouver, BC.
      Posts
      6,336
      Likes
      2063
      DJ Entries
      212
      I think there was something not right with him in the first place.
      We all live in a kind of continuous dream. When we wake, it is because something,
      some event, some pinprick even, disturbs the edges of what we have taken as reality.

      Vandermeer

      SAT (Sporadic Awareness Technique) Guide
      Have questions about lucid dreaming? DM me.

    3. #3
      Moo nsi dem oons ide kookyinc's Avatar
      Join Date
      Jun 2010
      LD Count
      4
      Gender
      Location
      Moonside
      Posts
      529
      Likes
      118
      DJ Entries
      16
      This is analogous to saying that, of a group of 2000 people using computers, one uses his computer to crack into secure documents belonging to Organization X, and thus computers are dangerous.

      It's ridiculous to suggest that LDing causes psychopathy-- if it did, there would be a lot more weird stuff on DV other than the entirety of the Inner Sanctum and Beyond Dreaming (ok, that was a bit cold on my part. Sorry ). Obviously, this guy had some issues to begin with (Time mentions schizophrenia). Lucid dreaming probably didn't help, but it's not an activity to be pursued by the unstable. You can LD, but you shouldn't if you're neurotic, just like you can eat sugar, but you shouldn't if you're diabetic.

      I don't know what to think of Time for this article, but I have some idea. I don't think this was intentional, just the product of pure, concentrated ignorance and stupidity. Why not include information from an article that apparently was skimmed at most. The delightful quote-mine in the Time article can be extended to the entire paragraph, revealing someting less sinister about LDing:

      Quote Originally Posted by ESF Article
      Lucid dreaming – when you are aware you are dreaming – is a hybrid state between sleeping and being awake. It creates distinct patterns of electrical activity in the brain that have similarities to the patterns made by psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia. [Time uses this previous bit ONLY] Confirming links between lucid dreaming and psychotic conditions offers potential for new therapeutic routes based on understanding how healthy dreaming differs from the unstable states associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders.
      Here's a working link: ESF Article

      In conclusion, fk you, modern mass media for being ignorant @$$-holes who don't understand how to conduct research in an intelligent fashion. That's why I don't subscribe to you. Support indie reporters. I think that's about it.

      I'm going to go watch the news and yell at the people in the flashing box now.
      I don't usually think, therefore I mostly am not.
      Quote Originally Posted by abicus View Post
      You can not convince the one with faith who needs not look for fact that the facts "prove them wrong".
      Likewise, you cant teach some one who looks for facts to have faith in the absence of facts.

    4. #4
      Sleeping Early Achievements:
      Created Dream Journal Tagger First Class Made lots of Friends on DV Populated Wall 10000 Hall Points Veteran First Class

      Join Date
      Sep 2010
      Posts
      774
      Likes
      221
      DJ Entries
      46
      Quote Originally Posted by Puffin View Post
      I think there was something not right with him in the first place.
      Same here. The only way you can become /more/ insane because of lucid dreaming is if you were already insane before.

    5. #5
      DreamSlinger The Cusp's Avatar
      Join Date
      Oct 2006
      Location
      Ottawa, Ontario
      Posts
      4,877
      Likes
      647
      DJ Entries
      192
      Hmmm... did that guy ever come onto Dreamviews? If he was obsessed with it as they say, he would have been sure to google it at some point, and he must have come across dreamviews. Could this guy be a member that we all know? Anybody been missing from the forums this past week?

    6. #6
      Lurker
      Join Date
      Jan 2011
      Posts
      3
      Likes
      0
      Jared Loughner will have no disciples.

      That’s what the dream told me.

      See my blog, if you want to know.

    7. #7
      Night Stalker <span class='glow_000000'>Baron Samedi</span>'s Avatar
      Join Date
      Aug 2009
      LD Count
      999
      Gender
      Location
      honolulu, Hawaii
      Posts
      5,849
      Likes
      2238
      DJ Entries
      476
      Quote Originally Posted by The Cusp View Post
      Hmmm... did that guy ever come onto Dreamviews? If he was obsessed with it as they say, he would have been sure to google it at some point, and he must have come across dreamviews. Could this guy be a member that we all know? Anybody been missing from the forums this past week?
      Yes. Me. DAMN YOU, THE CUSP, DAMN YOU!
      ya gwan fok wid de Baron? ye gotta nodda ting comin. (Formerly known as Baking Nomad.)

    8. #8
      Member Achievements:
      Referrer Bronze 1 year registered 10000 Hall Points 1000 Hall Points Veteran First Class Made lots of Friends on DV

      Join Date
      Apr 2007
      Gender
      Posts
      2,797
      Likes
      206
      Quote Originally Posted by ThomasGrey View Post
      Jared Loughner will have no disciples.

      That’s what the dream told me.

      See my blog, if you want to know.


    9. #9
      Newbie louie54's Avatar
      Join Date
      Sep 2004
      Gender
      Location
      San Diego
      Posts
      1,895
      Likes
      347
      Well... this is just fucking perfect. This author obviously hasn't done very good research. All you have to do is Google "lucid dreaming" and you get Dream Views, which is a site full of us lucid dreamers that are not crazy. Is it really that hard to Google or Wikipedia it?

      And supposedly we relive the delusion by writing it in our journal? I'm sorry but Time Magazine must have some real incompetent people writing for them.

      Quote Originally Posted by The Cusp View Post
      Hmmm... did that guy ever come onto Dreamviews? If he was obsessed with it as they say, he would have been sure to google it at some point, and he must have come across dreamviews. Could this guy be a member that we all know? Anybody been missing from the forums this past week?
      This was brought up in another thread. There is a person on here named Jared whose profile says he loves guns/ammo. He only posted twice back in October though and he's from Tennessee so I doubt its him. Here's his profile anyway: View Profile: Jared5995 - Dreamviews Lucid Dreaming Community & Resource

      If he is obsessed with lucid dreaming, I don't doubt he came across Dream Views.
      Last edited by louie54; 01-24-2011 at 09:32 AM.

    10. #10
      Lurker
      Join Date
      Jan 2011
      Posts
      3
      Likes
      0

      More question than statement

      Quote Originally Posted by Caradon View Post
      I dreamed I was at the shooting. It brought up a world I had forgotten. I'm trying to make sense of it. I'm supposed to find others. My blog is at blogspot. It's called Whispers and Shadows. This system won't let me post a link yet. I hope that helps.

    11. #11
      Lurker
      Join Date
      Mar 2011
      Posts
      1
      Likes
      0
      I came across this thread while searching for potentially negative side-effects that can come as a result of lucid dreaming. This is an area where very few in the lucid dreaming community have put a disclaimer for those that may not be mentally stable.

      Let me give you an example. If I were to endorse the consumption of psychoactive mushrooms as a means to expand the mind, I would definitely include a disclaimer to warn those who are mentally unstable (knowingly or not) of the potentially negative psychological effects. While a majority of people would be able to handle the experience just fine, it can have seriously negative consequences on some people. For instance, it could trigger paranoid schizophrenia and nearly ruin somebody's life.

      It's easy to say "oh, they had something wrong with them in the first place," but often times the individual in question is unaware of this until it's too late (you don't know your schizophrenic until you start having schizophrenic episodes). It's one thing to know that something may trigger hidden psychological issues and willingly do it anyways; it's another thing to be completely unaware of the possibility.

      I found very little on the internet about the possible negative side effects of lucid dreaming, however I could see the line between dreams and reality getting blurred for certain individuals (perhaps to the point of triggering serious psychotic episodes? I don't know but would like to find out).

      The responsible thing to do would be to provide a disclaimer when endorsing lucid dreaming.

    Similar Threads

    1. Dangers of lucid dreaming? (A response to the Arizona shooting)
      By Vast Oceans in forum General Lucid Discussion
      Replies: 101
      Last Post: 01-29-2011, 07:02 AM
    2. Replies: 7
      Last Post: 01-14-2011, 08:02 PM
    3. Tucson Shooter Jared Lee Loughner Was A Lucid Dreamer :U
      By Loaf in forum General Lucid Discussion
      Replies: 4
      Last Post: 01-12-2011, 02:52 PM

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •