Lucid dreams against social phobia?

Dear Dreamviews-Community :)

This is my very first post here and I would like to have your opinion for a "problem" of mine:

Unfortunately, since I can think I suffer from a social phobia called "Shy Bladder", which means that I find it very difficult or sometimes impossible to pee in the presence of other people. Otherwise, I am a very self-confident, social and open person and love being in the presence of other people.
Unfortunately, I do not know the origin of this phobia and I do not know if it was a development or perhaps even related to a particular experience.

I use lucid dreams now for some time to pee in front of other people in the dream, so to speak confrontation therapy in the lucid dream. I think that helps a bit, but I was wondering if that really is the only way.
I have also already tried with dream persons to talk about the subject, but that has not revealed much.

I always face my fears in my dreams, I sometimes have a very strong sense of fear in my dreams and then it is usually very dark somewhere, I go there, stay as calm as possible and as friendly as possible, all that just what you should do.

I would be interested to know if you think that I can cure my phobia with a "key experience" in the lucid dream, eg. facing my fears, talking with people...
Or do you think that only further confrontation in the dream can help me with this problem? (Regardless of the measures in real life)

I am curious about your opinions!

:welcome: okese!

I think any key experience, real or imagined, would cure your phobia, but only if it changed your perception of the worst-case scenario regarding your phobia. This perception is the root of your phobia. I think you should try to identify your perception of the worst case scenario regarding your phobia so that efforts to change it are less hit-and-miss.

What do you think is the worst thing that could happen to you if you peed in the presence of other people? Any answer is fine (we won't judge), but the more honest the answer is, the more effective it will be at helping us identify the root of your phobia.

Thanks for your kind answer!

So first I want to say that the phobia in my opinion is not rational, I know this, but it doesn't changes anything. If I compare it with a phobia of spiders it is also not rational as most of the spiders wont do anything to you. Still, a lot of people do have this phobia and the same thing is valid for my phobia: Not rational if I think about it neutrally, but still I can't change my mindset.

I think the most I am afraid of is that it looks weird when I stand at the urinal for minutes without being able to pee. I build up an inner pressure to be able to pee instantly, but somehow for my body this situation is like a "danger"-situation and the sympathetic nerve activates and this makes it impossible to pee. I already read alot about this stuff and basically you are right, I have to change my mindset when I stand at the urinal. I have to say to myself: "Hey, it doesn't matter if you pee instantly or not. The others won't really care about you anyway" .

But changing this mindset is quite hard work and a long process with ups and downs. Therefore I started making this topic to a goal of mine in lucid dreams. I started looking into lucid dreaming about 9 months ago and have like average 1-2 LD a week, but thats probably not enough to work on something like this phobia. Thats why I was wondering if I could search for something in my LD to have this key experience or if I should go on training peeing in my dreams in front of other people.

I think you should continue training peeing in my dreams in front of other people. Making the training more intense might turn it into the key experience that helps you get over your fear. For example, during your dream, rather than just having a few people watch you pee, have the restroom packed with people that are taking videos, laughing at you, taunting you, ect. Make this situation so uncomfortable that everyday situations seem comfortable in comparison.

Yes, I think so too. I always have the feeling once I am training it in my dreams that it works better in real life.
It is of course quite difficult sometimes to create the right training situation in my dreams, but I will work on it :)

It would be very interesting to read your results, okese. I wish you good luck.
I have to tell you that i am also training to feel more confident and relaxed in public speaking situations
Our results might be an interesting evidence for the application of lucid dreaming therapy, if they turn out to be helpful

Well, I will keep you up to date, but I guess I have to be quite patient with this. If I would dream lucid every night, the progress would probably be quite fast, but I "only" have about 1-2 LDs a week, so this can take some time.