Lucid dreaming, pain and OCD

[Fat_Pigeon]

Well, recently I had a non-lucid dream in which I was in some kind of race in a giant warehouse. While running, I tripped and crushed my arm and hand when smashing into an iron beam. The odd thing is the pain felt genuine and I think I attained brief lucidity because of that and wished myself wake up. My history of lucid dreaming is limited; I've only had a few lucid dreams when I was younger and in all cases it was induced because I didn't want to continue the dream and wished myself to wake up. In recent times, I am facing problems with obsessive-compulsary disorder (I'm sure some of you know what that is). Since the brain is capable of recreating in the dream state all the pleasant sensations we feel in waking life, then it should be equally capable of recreating all the unpleasant sensations we feel in waking life (eg. pain). Individuals with OCD have lots of concerns and fears for certain "catastraphes" to happen. In my case it is feeling pain if I'm lucid, and since expectations have positive effects on the dream world, I might feel it for "real" in the dream (for example, a cat suddenly bites me and I'm afraid it will hurt and it does become painful). My question to all, if you happen to get hurt in your dream (while lucid), do you actually feel pain or any other unpleasant sensations? It would be even better if someone with OCD could share his or her experiences in lucid dreaming.

[Burns]

I've never thought of myself as OCD - but I think I do have some OCD tendencies. Everyday as I'm leaving for work, and slide the key into the lock to lock the deadbolt, the thought pops in my head that I left my hair straightener plugged in and the house will burn down! I have to unlock the door, go upstairs and double check that it's unplugged (which it ALWAYS is). But I can't stop myself from double-checking. If I don't, I worry myself sick all day that something horrible will happen because of it. There are some other small things but that's the biggest one. As far as lucid dreaming and OCD goes, I have naturally occuring lucid dreams (I don't actively try to have them), so it's hard to say how it affects lucid dreaming. Theoretically, for me I think OCD tendencies would help having lucid dreaming because I'm always double-checking myself, therefore I do more reality checks while asleep. I definitely feel pain sometimes while dreaming. I have even posted about having a gunshot wound and waking up to real intense pain. There have been several other instances when I've gotten injured in a dream and woke up to have the part of my body in pain. I don't know how it happens, or why, but it's really vivid - and I definitely always record those dreams in my dream journal.

[Scruffy]

I'm not very knowledgeable about OCD, but I'd think that lucid dreaming would decrease it's effects, at least while lucid. I find that whenever I become lucid, I get this incredible feeling of safety, almost invincibility, and I worry about nothing. This is because, in the dream world, it is possible to exert complete control when you realize you're dreaming. Nn-lucid dream, however, could feed of your worries, making things seem even worse. As for feeling pain in dreams, it doesn't happen often to me, though I've felt pain twice within the past week, which is unusual. I've never felt pain as if the situation were real; the intensity has always been reduced, though it does vary considerably, from barely more than an itch to "Ow! That hurts!" pain. When you wake up and the pain lingers, I think it could actually be stemming from something in the real world, like muscle cramps, which come through to the dream world, and are interpreted into our dreams. For example, my chest will occasionally cramp up, and it is very painful to stretch it out; if that were to happen while I was dreaming, it could be interpreted as a gunshot wound, and I might wake up and still think, if only for a moment, that I'd been shot.

[Burns]

When you wake up and the pain lingers, I think it could actually be stemming from something in the real world, like muscle cramps, which come through to the dream world, and are interpreted into our dreams. For example, my chest will occasionally cramp up, and it is very painful to stretch it out; if that were to happen while I was dreaming, it could be interpreted as a gunshot wound, and I might wake up and still think, if only for a moment, that I'd been shot [/b] That's a good way of looking at it. It's just hard to tell if it's really a muscle cramp or lingering discomfort from the pain the dream. It's true that the psychological mind and physiological brain are closely linked to the functions of one another (like healing yourself if you're sick through positive thinking and visualization).

[Fat_Pigeon]

Originally posted by Scruffy I'm not very knowledgeable about OCD, but I'd think that lucid dreaming would decrease it's effects, at least while lucid. *I find that whenever I become lucid, I get this incredible feeling of safety, almost invincibility, and I worry about nothing. *This is because, in the dream world, it is possible to exert complete control when you realize you're dreaming. *Nn-lucid dream, however, *could feed of your worries, making things seem even worse. I don't know, OCD is more of a (uncontrollable) voluntary worrying rather than involuntary. From my experience, OCD behavior never occurs for me in non-lucid dreams. How it will be like in a lucid dream is yet to be known since I haven't had ones that isn't just at the endings. My guess is, OCD behavior might be induced by becoming lucid and clear in your mind, and that is my worry about having lucid dreams while awake. I could extend the fear of feeling pain while dreaming to "I might wake up," "the scenery might change," "someone annoying from waking life might show up." It would be really annoying if hoping they will not happen causes it to really happen (in the dream).