Thread: Hi All

Welcome to Dreamviews!

I haven't heard any other cases of anyone with mental health issues who practiced lucid dreaming, although I'm sure someone here has. I understand why that might make you wary of lucid dreaming; one of the few reasons why it might possibly be dangerous to lucid dream that I've heard is if someone with a mental condition mistook reality for a dream because of hallucinations, they could try something that would be fun in a dream like jumping off a building and get hurt. Since you're stable now, there probably won't be problems with it, but you might want to decide to just not do anything in lucid dreams that could hurt you in real life, to be safe.

That book you read when you were 17 sounds interesting, what was it called? BTW, about the best book out there on lucid dreaming is "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Stephen LaBerge, and if you don't want to actually find the book, all the practical information from it and more can be found in the tutorials sub-forum.

If you want to talk more about astral projection, OBEs, NDEs, etc., there's the Beyond Dreaming sub-forum, but we warned that a lot of the threads there degenerate into arguing. However, the threads there where people aren't trying to prove/disprove some phenomenon usually turn out well.

I'm someone with a colorful history of mental health issues who is an avid lucid dreamer. I am fairly stable now. I take some meds, see a psychiatrist, and see a counseler. I'm a "natural" LDer, meaning I stared to LD at a young age and have had LDs off and on since then.

Since I hallucinate I am always very careful to be sure that I am dreaming before I do anything that might get me killed, or be embarassing in waking life. Beyond this I haven't found LDing to cause any problems in my waking life.

In fact, I've used LDing to improve my mental health. One of my MH issues is (or maybe "was") post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from some bad stuff that happened when I was younger. I've been quite successful in using my lucid dreaming to combat the crippling nightmares caused by the PTSD. I've used the LDs to deal with the fear, anger, etc associated with the events. I am a calmer, less anxious person. I gotten so much better than I'm not even sure if I have PTSD anymore.

Originally Posted by seeker28

I've been quite successful in using my lucid dreaming to combat the crippling nightmares caused by the PTSD. I've used the LDs to deal with the fear, anger, etc associated with the events. I am a calmer, less anxious person. I gotten so much better than I'm not even sure if I have PTSD anymore.

Thank You for the positive & encouraging reply Seeker.

Originally Posted by Serith

That book you read when you were 17 sounds interesting, what was it called?

Thanks for the reply & info Serith. The Book was called "Visions of the Night" by David Coxhead and Susan Hiller, 1976

Besides containing marvelous information about the ancient and esoteric history of oneirology, this book has marvelous illustrations, gathered from many cultures, illustrating key points about dreams.

The dream mediates between the worlds of matter and spirit, time and eternity. In Jacobs dream; the ladder with angels ascending and descending; symbolizes the ease of transition between these levels of reality in the mind of the dreamer; Time is abolished, and analogous incidents of past and future are perceived simultaneously as the dream opens the way from one world to another, establishing a relationship between the mundane and spiritual realities.

The entire world may be understood as the dream of an awakened dreamer. In dreams of this order there is, literally, no distinction between levels of reality. The creative principle of the World grows out of the navel of the dreaming god in the mythical instant of the creation of the universe. This concept is present in the shamanistic tradition, perhaps as old as human history, in which the individual adept, assumes the role of conscious creator.

CentralSphere

I hope you find a happy medium that works for you. Maybe just giving more attention to your already incredible dreams will yield you some results without confusing your mind too much.

There are some great opportunities for psychic healing to be found in dreams. An easy example would be talking with your dream characters to find out more about yourself. You can get some surprising answers if you ask the right questions.

welcome to dv!.. nice avatar

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

CentralSphere

I hope you find a happy medium that works for you. Maybe just giving more attention to your already incredible dreams will yield you some results without confusing your mind too much.

There are some great opportunities for psychic healing to be found in dreams. An easy example would be talking with your dream characters to find out more about yourself. You can get some surprising answers if you ask the right questions.

Thanks Robot; I am a bit of a computer/technology obsessive & I put the PC on as soon as I wake up; & so I am going to try keeping a regular dream Journal, on this site. I will try what you suggest, & speak with dream characters, it is something I don't really do or attempt, but I will give it a go.
I agree that dreams can be very healing - I think one aspect of dreams is a way of working through "negativity", or a release valve for emotions, & an expression of the "Psyche" or unconscious.