The effectiveness of lucid dreaming therapy in patients with nightmares: A systematic review.
L'Encephale – October 01, 2023
Source: PubMed
Summary
Lucid dreaming therapy (LDT) shows promise in reducing nightmares, a distressing experience affecting 2% to 8% of the population. A systematic review analyzed four randomized controlled trials and additional case studies, revealing that LDT effectively decreased nightmare frequency in adults with chronic issues. Most studies reported significant improvements, though no data was available for children. While the findings are encouraging, the limited internal validity suggests that larger and more rigorous trials are necessary to fully understand the impact of this innovative intervention on sleep disturbances.
Abstract
Nightmares can be defined as "an unpleasant dream with anxiety and oppression". They represent a symptom possibly leading to serious psychiatric and physical consequences. It occurs to 2% to 8% of the general population. Lucid dreaming therapy (LDT) is an interesting upcoming psychotherapy for the treatment of nightmares. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of LDT in the treatment of nightmares in adults and children. We performed a systematic review of the literature, based on the Cochrane organisation's methodology. We explored the PubMed, Cochrane library, PsycINFO via Ovid and Embase databases and clinical trial registries (CTR), namely clinicaltrials.gov, EU clinical trials and the WHO clinical trials registry platform. Four randomized controlled trials (RCT), 2 case series and 5 case reports were included. Most of the included studies found LDT effective in reducing nightmare frequency among adults with chronic and recurring nightmares. We did not identify any reports in children. Despite a limited internal validity for the included studies, these first results are encouraging. Nonetheless, larger and more rigorous studies would allow to better assess the utility of LDT for nightmares.