Lucid Dreaming Experiment Essay

Psychological Analysis. When an individual is diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), multiple criteria must be addressed which I will elaborate in the document. When Mr. Wertz was deployed to Iraq in the infantry division, he witnessed the death of a comrade and in his second deployment he had many mortar attacks fulfilling criterion A of PTSD. Conclusively, there was a presence of a trauma while in the army when Mr. Wertz witnessed the death of soldiers in his division. Mr. Wertz recounts having nightmares about his combat. The nightmares are described as reoccurring for the duration of two months. The dream described is Mr. Wertz and his unit being barricaded in a house and being fired at directly;

For many centuries, people would think of dreaming as curses or blessings that we can not fend off or operate. Lucid dreaming, a dream in which a dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming; they may be able to control the dream by exert amount. In this dream stage, we perform superhuman features that would be impossible when we’re awake. While a person dreams, these wonderful things become a temporality reality. Researchers says that a average person dreams four to six times a night(insert). Many people dream every night without even realizing that their dreams can be controlled. Others might not give too much care about the dreams that they might experienced. Lucid dreaming can turn scary dreams into happy dreams, or happy dreams into more relaxed ones. This method of dreaming can provide the dreamer endless ways to control their subconscious which can provide enjoyable experiences.

Research has shown that, “people who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience trough nightmares and flashbacks,” (“What”). Survivors’ dreams are most often related to a specific traumatic image or situation the individual was put in, that continues to haunt them years later.

Dreaming, although a substantial component of our nighttime lives, remains somewhat of an enigma due to the fact that it occurs while we are unconscious. The inaccessibility of the unconscious mind weakens full analysis and comprehension of dreaming which researchers have been attempting to accomplish. However, over the years many researchers have elucidated many mysteries about dreams, such as when we dream, why we dream, and what we dream about, in order to bring forth an understanding of dreams as well as identify

The best part of a long, hard-working day is when you finally get to lay in your bed, close your eyes and let your imagination run free. As you sleep your mind takes you to another place far away from the real world. You begin to dream. Over the night, you may have several dreams. In the morning, you may wake up and wonder what your dreams were suppose to mean for you and your life. By analyzing your dream, it "gives a true picture of the 'subjective state'-how we really feel about ourselves-which the conscious mind cannot or will not give" (Wietz 289). In order to find the meaning of a dream, you have to pick out the most important symbols and define them. But you may be wondering what exactly is a symbol?

The battles that go on between countries of the world are not just left on the grounds in which they were fought. The trauma of everyday exposure to the elements of war has created a lasting and often debilitating disorder for many veterans. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD has been a recurrent result of war leaving many survivors with prolonged physical, mental and emotional distress. Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced daily stressful situations including bombings, combat fire, and injuries. For those that make it home, PTSD is a common development of these stresses. Those who develop this disorder may experience relentless sleep disturbances, triggers, and recurring “flashback” or vivid memory recollections

The client presents to the facility appearing to have symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder including night mares, flash backs, and having a difficulty sleeping at night; she reports many nights that she does not want to go to sleep because the nightmares will wake her up. According to the American Psychiatric Association “posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape or other violet personal assault” (American Psychiatric Association, 2018, para.

Many soldiers suffered through nightmares during their time fighting, and if they made it home alive, their nightmares would only worsen. In the story Fallen Angels, the main character, Richie Perry, was faced against a Viet Cong, but Perry was lucky enough to have shot first. Because of this near death experience, Perry suffered many awful nightmares. Perry wrote, “I kept waking up in a kind of terror and then falling asleep again and having the same dream” (Myers 188). While this is only one example of the nightmares, many other soldiers faced

Many may feel like these nightmares are difficult or even impossible to overcome, there are methods in which the memories can be subdued. Hector Garcia, a Psychologist in the Valleys Coastal Bend Veteran Health Care Systems, describes a method that he has found to help people who suffer from PTSD-induced nightmares. The affected veteran listens to his combat experiences over and over until the memories no longer generate anxiety within the person. One of Garcia’s patients, Carlos, chose this method as his solution, and, as Garcia explains it, “he processed his memories so much that his brain no longer needed to return to those experiences in his sleep”(We train soldiers to go to war. Let’s train them to come home, too, 2015). In effect, Carlos’s brain had come to terms with the trauma he had experienced in Vietnam, and was able to stop the endless loop of nightmares.

It is stated that once a person experiences a traumatic event, PTSD can develop as a combination of varying symptoms. When diagnosing possible PTSD patients, clinicians use the DSM-IV as a guide in “understanding clusters of symptoms” (Staggs, para. 1). Some of these symptoms include “recurrent and intrusive” recollections of the situation, “including images, thoughts, or perceptions; acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring; intense psychological distress” to symbols representing trauma; and “recurrent distressing dreams of the event”, or nightmares/terrors (DSM-IV, Appendix E). While all

There are many facts that are unknown about the mind. For centuries, philosophers and scientists have tried to understand how it works. We have learned that the mind has a number of different levels of processing. Before Sigmund Freud “nearly all the previous research and theorizing of psychologists had dealt with conscious, such as perception, memory, judgment, and learning“ (Hunt185). Freud brought forth a number of theories that dealt with “the unconscious and its crucial role in human behavior”(Hunt 185). The unconscious is a storage area for information that is not being used. It is also the home of “powerful primitive drives and forbidden wishes that constantly generated pressure on the conscious mind”(Hunt

Confrontation of the dream begins with psychoeducation about Imagery Rehearsal as well as the role of nightmares in PTSD and how nightmares can create and exacerbate insomnia and other sleep disorders which may be co-morbid with PTSD (Krakow & Zadra, 2006). Avoidance of trauma-related nightmares is another aspect of PTSD nightmares which can be addressed through confrontation of nightmares through psychoeducation in treatment. In addition to psychoeducation, confrontation of trauma-related nightmares occurs through either verbal retelling of the dream or writing the dream down (Pagel et al.,

Often medical science contributes similar characteristics for GAD and PTSD with an exception that PTSD has more extreme tendencies towards one side of the emotional spectrum or the other along with re-experiencing the event, avoidance, and hyperarousal. PTSD also, is usually triggered by a traumatic event; while, GAD is persistent about an expansive range of issues. Difficulty concentrating and being able to focus consisted of 100% with GAD and 100% with PTSD. 88% of GAD and/or those with PTSD had anxiety extending two weeks or more. Depression spanning two weeks or more is shown at 94% of those with GAD and/or PTSD. Participants with re-occurring dreams are proven to show in the survey as 56% having GAD and/or PTSD; also replaying traumatic events was a total of 88% with GAD and/or PTSD.

Each night without fail our eyes grow heavy and our minds tired, and dreaming we drag ourselves to bed and normally fall asleep quickly and peacefully off to dream land we go.

that one is dreaming and that the dream is coming from the self. The notion that