Autism and Lucid Dreams?

[Jackal]

So it suddenly just came to me, a thought, that we all know autism can effect people in various ways, but since (if im correct) it is a neurological disorder. would that mean that someone who is autistic, may somehow have a natural ability to be able to have incredibly vivid, powerful, and controlled lucid dreams, and perhaps achieve lucid goals that many would strive or dream to do? ie. Building a whole universe in a dream world with its own complex organisms, and worlds and be able to return to this dream world every night to see the progress of the universe? Whats your takes and ideas on this?

[Sensei]

I could see it, but there are people that aren't autistic that have always been lucid (is what they say). So autism might be able to do it, but autism would be an extreme since it is done without autism. Most savants are extreme in one area like memorization, but awareness doesn't seem like it would fit in.

[ACaddict]

Hello there, I figured I should reply to this, as I have borderline aspergers syndrome, which is a form of autism. I have been able to achieve lucidity a lot in the past, up to seven a week, but my abilities are quite bad. Due to my low self esteem from the syndrome, I always have doubts about if I can do something. This means that a lot of the time I am not able to do amazing things. I don't know whether all people with my condition suffer this, but it doesn't help me to lucid dream, if anything it hinders it.

[Sensei]

Interesting. Sounds like you should join up in the dream control class next time the sign up comes around. You are exactly the type of person we want in there. No troubles with inducing, just control. Up to 7 a week is great. That should strengthen your confidence more than anything.

[Mayatara]

I am arriving at this thread 8 years late I was going to open a thread about Autism and Lucid Dreaming but instead decided to just add to this conversation. I am a natural lucid dreamer (had control of my dreams since a kid and became fully lucid in my 20s before knowing what a lucid dream was) and I have recently discovered that I am on the autistic spectrum (I am still trying to get an official diagnosis as I speak, but to me it is beyond obvious at this point). Recently I joined a support group for women and girls in the autism spectrum and I was really surprised to see that a huge % of them are lucid dreamers and well informed about it. Considering my past experience in groups unrelated to dreams, where usually I am alone in being a lucid dreamer, it surprised me to find so many lucid dreamers among autistic people. So I did a little research online to see if there is a known connection between being autistic and having naturally occurring lucid dreams and it seems there isn't much info on that. What I found was others also wondering about that and wondering if autism actually is more responsible for affecting the sleep quality than improving dream quality. Seems like there is also a spectrum within the spectrum Here are some links I stumbled upon. What I really want to find now is if there are scientific papers on this at all... I'll look it up when I have the time. https://lucid-dream-research.com/hig...by-ian-jaydid/ https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming....nd-dreams.html https://spectra.blog/news-views/auti...tistic-people/ https://www.verywellhealth.com/autis...issues-4165825

[Hilary]

One of the setbacks of autism is a deficit in social awareness, possibly self- or present moment awareness as well. People with autism can be very much in their own worlds, and the sensations they are experiencing may be very intense. I imagine this can get in the way of the cool-headed thinking needed for lucidity. Sort of like how in an LD you can lose your awareness if your emotions run high. Anything overwhelming can be a distraction to awareness. Not that some people with autism can't be very much aware of their environment, and have natural lucidity, but I would not assume that there's a connection with autism. Anyways, my son and brother have never mentioned having any lucid dreams. *Shrug* I would be interested in seeing scientific studies. I would also be interested in any correlation with people who claim not to have strong emotional responses and lucidity (like sociopathy).