Thread: New here. Lucid dreaming related to past trauma??

Originally posted by Zanydreamer33
I'm glad to have found this site. I have been an active dreamer from many years that started in childhood. I would like to note first of that I am a survivor of trauma, and I believe that much of my thoughts and feelings about trauma are worked through in my dreams to one degree or another.
I always know when I'm dreaming. For me it seems to be the only type of dream I have. Sometimes its deeper and more vivid, but there is always an awareness that I am dreaming. I have been able to carry on regular conversations with people with in a dream state, in that I can converse with them and then go back to the dream, and again to the conversation, ect.
To be honest, I dream so much and so actively that it interferes with my getting proper sleep. I like the idea of lucid dreaming, but in many ways I feel it is affecting me in a negative way. I feel as if I can't shut my brain down and truly rest and I am concerned for my emotional well-being. I read all the time that people want to lucid dream, I wish I didn't!
Obviously this is not the place to come when someone wants to stop lucid dreaming lol. I guess I am looking for answers and when I talk about this the general response is disbelief, or I get the raised eyebrow as if they are questioning my sanity. Believe me, there are times when I question it myself!
I guess I am still searching for more information about lucid dreaming and if other people experience negative effects or lack of sleep from it. Perhaps what I do isn't lucid dreaming, but so far I haven't a better explanation.
I use creativty for my work, so combined with trauma maybe it could explain some of the difficulty I'm having.
Thank you for reading this post. Any advice or ideas would be lovely.
Zanydreamer33

i've never heard of anyone complaining of any negative effects to lucid dreaming. It sounds like you may be low level lucid most nights, from what you have said...although then again, for it to be classed as lucid, you have to know you are dreaming. do you get that feeling?
Because i can carry on conversations with people in a dream, and not realise till afterward i was dreaming, which is very frustrating.
perhaps you should check out the lucid experiences section of the board.
By the way, welcome to DV!!

Oh yes. I absolutely know that I am dreaming. Often times it is as if I am sitting back watching myself as the participant in the dream. I will watch myself in the dream as a film critic. I dream often about people I love that have passed on. I have dreamed about my grandparents several times. The first two times I was shocked because I said to them, "How can you be here when you've passed away?" Now I accept it as common knowledge when I see them. I have no hesitation, it feels very natural so I talk away. All the while I am sitting back saying, this is such an interesting dream, I wonder why I do this? Then if something is bothering me I'll say lets do a new scene and on I go.
I wish I could find this a positive thing. Sometimes I feel good...esp when I see people I love healthy and happy. But its the other dreams that go on and on. Many are nonsense, but filled with emotions and tumoil, and the whole time I am yelling to myself WAKE UP but I get stuck inside myself. I find it nearly impossible to come out of my dreams. Hubby has tried shaking me, talking to me, throwing water on my face (I asked him to)..just about anything. I end up incorporating it into my dream. The alarm or music alarm doesnt work because I bring it into the dream.
Maybe I do more than just lucid dreaming. I just know that one day I believe I will lose my mind unless I can get some true rest
Zanydreamer33

Originally posted by Zanydreamer33
Oh yes. I absolutely know that I am dreaming. Often times it is as if I am sitting back watching myself as the participant in the dream. I will watch myself in the dream as a film critic. I dream often about people I love that have passed on. I have dreamed about my grandparents several times. The first two times I was shocked because I said to them, \"How can you be here when you've passed away?\" Now I accept it as common knowledge when I see them. I have no hesitation, it feels very natural so I talk away. All the while I am sitting back saying, this is such an interesting dream, I wonder why I do this? Then if something is bothering me I'll say lets do a new scene and on I go.
I wish I could find this a positive thing. Sometimes I feel good...esp when I see people I love healthy and happy. But its the other dreams that go on and on. Many are nonsense, but filled with emotions and tumoil, and the whole time I am yelling to myself WAKE UP but I get stuck inside myself. I find it nearly impossible to come out of my dreams. Hubby has tried shaking me, talking to me, throwing water on my face (I asked him to)..just about anything. I end up incorporating it into my dream. The alarm or music alarm doesnt work because I bring it into the dream.
Maybe I do more than just lucid dreaming. I just know that one day I believe I will lose my mind unless I can get some true rest
Zanydreamer33

This is really interesting...it sounds to me, like you are indeed having lucid dreams, but on trying to come out of them you enter sleep paralysis, which is very scary.
Sleep paralysis is a state your body creates to stop you acting out your dreams. Ie, if you dream you are chasing someone with a meat cleaver, it stops you leaping out of bed and doing the above!
Sometimes it goes 'wrong' if you like. Usually, when you are in that state, you are deeply asleep and unaware of it. But sometimes, what happens is that your brain wakes up, the conscious part of your brain, while your body is still in the state of natural paralysis (it happens to us all, every night.) It's just that many of us don't wake up in that state. I used to suffer from this a lot as a child, i'd have a recurring nightmare that i was on a train track, about to be hit by a train, i'd wake up, and be unable to move.
As i've got older, i've managed to use this to my advantage, in terms of lucid dreaming, and i've written a tutorial on it.

http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15630

here is the link to it, if you want to check it out...it may help you...because if you can do it 'at will' so to speak, then when it happens spontaneously, it won't seem so scary.
or that's the plan...
let me know how it goes!

So is that why I can sometimes lucid dream.

Hey! Welcome to the Forum!