Dreaming
June 1, 2006
Brigitte Holzinger, Stephen LaBerge, Lynne Levitan
69 citations
In lucid dreams, where dreamers are aware they are dreaming, brain activity in the beta-1 frequency band (13–19 Hz) is higher in both parietal regions compared to nonlucid REM sleep. The ratio of frontal to parietal beta-1 activity shifts from 1 to 1.16 in nonlucid dreams to 1 to 1.77 in lucid dreams. The greatest increase tends to occur in the left parietal lobe (P3), an area linked to semantic understanding and self-awareness. Seven men and four women experienced in lucid dreaming were recorded over two nights, with lucidity confirmed by dream reports and eye-movement signals in response to light stimuli.
Acta Neurologica Scandinavica
January 30, 2015
Brigitte Holzinger, Gerhard Klösch, B. Saletu
59 citations
Adding lucid dreaming training to Gestalt therapy reduces nightmare frequency more quickly and to a greater extent than Gestalt therapy alone. Thirty-two people who had nightmares at least twice a week were randomly assigned to ten weeks of either Gestalt therapy alone or Gestalt therapy plus lucid dreaming instruction. Both groups reported significantly fewer nightmares after treatment and at a three-month follow-up. Only the group receiving Gestalt therapy alone showed a significant drop in dream recall frequency. Sleep quality improved significantly for both groups at follow-up, but only the lucid dreaming group showed significant improvement immediately after therapy ended.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2020
Brigitte Holzinger, Bernd Saletu, Gerhard Klösch
30 citations
Lucid dreaming therapy (LDT) did not improve sleep quality or reduce nightmare severity in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but it significantly decreased levels of anxiety and depression. About 80% of PTSD patients suffer from nightmares or dysphoric dreams. LDT teaches dreamers to become aware of and control dream content, offering a potential alternative or complementary treatment for PTSD-related anxiety and depression, even though it had no effect on sleep variables or the PTSD profile measured by the Impact of Events Scale.
heiDOK (Heidelberg University)
January 1, 2009
Evelyn Doll, Georg Gittler, Brigitte Holzinger
27 citations
People who frequently experience lucid dreams—dreams in which the dreamer knows they are dreaming while the dream continues—tend to score higher on measures of mental health, freedom from complaints, expansivity, autonomy, and self-esteem compared to rare or non-lucid dreamers. This conclusion comes from a study of 89 subjects, divided into frequent (27), rare (33), and non-lucid (29) dreamers. However, no significant differences were found between the groups in behavioral control, decision behavior, or spatial abilities.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2020
Brigitte Holzinger, Lucille Mayer
15 citations
Lucid dreaming is a state where dreamers know they are dreaming and can deliberately control the dream's content. This study examined seven awareness criteria of lucid dreaming, originally proposed by Paul Tholey, and mapped each to its underlying brain circuits. The results showed that multiple brain regions are involved, and during lucid dreaming a coordinated brain network emerges that is more than the sum of its parts. The findings suggest that lucid dreaming involves a distributed neural network rather than a single area, though further research is needed to fully understand the neurological basis.
Journal of clinical medicine
May 12, 2023
Severin Ableidinger, Brigitte Holzinger
13 citations
Sleep paralysis and lucid dreams are both connected to REM sleep but differ in emotional tone and perceived controllability. A review of 10 studies, mostly surveys plus a case study, a randomized trial, and an EEG study, found positive and significant correlations between sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming in most of the studies, indicating a connection between the two states. Research remains limited and methodologically diverse, and future work should develop standardized methods for examining both phenomena.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2021
Brigitte Holzinger, Franziska Nierwetberg, Gerhard Klösch
2 citations
A woman with severe PTSD and recurrent nightmares completed six weeks of lucid dreaming training, which enabled her to alter her dream plots and improve several psychological measures. Her dream reports and assessment results are presented. The authors argue that sleep and nightmares should receive more attention in psychiatric treatment, not only for PTSD patients, and support their case with literature on non-medication treatments for sleep problems.