Thread: Can Lucid dreaming in any way be used to aid depression?

Are you depressed yourself?

Well yeah... that's kind of why i want to know if anyone has tried some kind of lucid dreaming therapy.

Have you consulted a doctor/mental health professional? I don't want to sound all "dad" on you, but I had a major depression a few years back and what helped me the most was tackling the problem in waking life.

I know, i've had depression before. For an year and a half, shrinks and all that didn't help at all, made me feel even more wierd about myself, i was perscribed medication because it was getting really bad... And that ofcourse made me feel even more like a freak (and plus i'm all against pills and that stuff) After some time i found color in life again, but now it's back. And i know that time will heal, but i really don't want to wait another year and a half and LDing seems like a really nice natural way of getting through depression (if it's possible).

Cool. I always am worried that people suffer in silence and try to use LDing as a "cure" while ignoring other options.

Yes, it can, and it can also make depression worse. It can make it worse when you have such amazing lucid dreams, and your waking life sucks, and you want to go back to sleep and dream more. Lucid dreaming can help improve depression by putting you in a good mood when you first wake up in the morning.
I started doing lucid dreaming in the middle of a horrible depression from a divorce. It helped me until my skills increased to the point where I like the dreamworld more than the wakeworld. But, I have learned to transfer some of those skills and "mentalities" from the dreamworld into the wakeworld, like confidence and optimism. I have even practiced some waking life skills in dreams, like oil painting, which actually helped my real oil painting.
Peace.

Thanks! I'm always really happy, confident and fearless in lucid dreams, so i'll try and transfer that to my waking life also. Now i just have to find out how to do that... Actually even when i don't know i'm dreaming i'm pretty much the same, but in life i'm quite the opposite. I suppose i just have to wait and get better at LDing to do that.

yes it can, Lucid dreaming helped me overcome depression by showing me that there is much more to life than what it seems and that waking life is a dream too, it's up to you to make it what you want it to. I had the realization that I didn't have to feel like that if I didn't want to, it was the habits and negative state that kept me depressed and happiness is not something attained once you acquire a certain object or achieve a goal. Its a state of being, living in the moment (at least to me). lucid dreaming helped me see how magnificent life is and that we are lucky to be alive, and I now tend to enjoy life much more than I ever did before specially having experienced the other side. I didn't really do anything specific in dreams to help me through it but rather my discovering of new aspects of life grew my curiosity and allowed me to enjoy the little things.

Take care =)