New ways to trigger lucid dreams – in which people stay aware and in control of their actions – could let dreams themselves be used for psychotherapy

Ronald Kurniawan

I WAS scrambling away from a monstrous dark figure when I started to have the sneaking feeling that I had been here before, running from this man. I realised that I was in a bad dream, one I’d had several times recently. Only this time, I stopped mid-stride and turned around to face my attacker. “Who are you?” I screamed. “What do you want?”

I was in a lucid dream, a state of consciousness in between waking and sleeping, in which people are in a dream world but remain aware and able to control their actions. I normally use the dreams for fun – flying, say, or exploring – but sometimes I become lucid within bad dreams or nightmares. At first, I would simply wake myself up whenever this happened, but over time I realised I could change the dreams from within.

Psychologists have long been interested in using dreams to rewrite nightmares or help people overcome persistent fears. But the ability to use lucid dreams has been limited because they are difficult to trigger, and, as with all dreams, memories of them evaporate so quickly upon waking.

That could be about to change, however, as more consistent ways to induce these dreams are uncovered. It is even becoming possible to communicate with the dreamer and record what’s happening within dreams. These advances raise the tantalising prospect of unlocking this unique state of mind to create therapies for people with nightmares, anxiety and other conditions. We may soon be able to treat people within their dreams.

I learned …