Nightmares exacerbate mental illness, but treatment helps
In clinical settings, nightmares are rarely inquired about, and even less often treated directly. Evidence that this needs to change is mounting. On a more positive note, nightmare treatment research continues to advance – and a new method shows that adding sensory triggers can strengthen treatment effects. Review finds nightmares may contribute broadly to mental
Dream changes help clinicians predict suicidal behaviors
There is a well-established link between frequent nightmares and a greater risk of suicide, but until now, there has been no sense of specifically what to watch for in a client’s dream life to signal that their risk is escalating. However, a group of researchers has just published an article on how dreams change prior
Focusing and Nature: Restoring connection within and without
In focusing with dreams, I usually begin by facilitating a search for helpful elements. One of the most consistently supportive places comes from the natural world: trees, beautiful landscapes, animals, ocean… all of these images seem to call us back into a sense of connection we knew about instinctively as children, but may have lost
Nightmare Distress: How we experience dreams is more impactful than what we dream
‘Mary’, a client in my clinical practice, had frequent, bloody, violent dreams and came to love them. She once dreamt of being shot point-blank but did not find this disturbing. The feeling in the dream, and in processing it after, was peaceful, almost spiritual. Another dreamer dreamt of scenes of her family around the table
Dreams as Doorways to Possibility
Dreams as Doorways to Possibility: Four ways to open up even the smallest of dreams Have you ever been stumped by a dream? Likely all of us have experienced genuine puzzlement when we wake up with a dream image that seems utterly mysterious, too wispy to follow or simply nonsensical. We are apt to dismiss
Dreams as a picture of the nervous system
Dreams as a picture of the nervous system, and an avenue for state shifts It’s beginning to dawn on me that not just nightmares, but all dreams can be seen as an expression of the nervous system. They are images direct from the body, far less filtered by our internal censor than waking thoughts —
Nightmares Quadruple Adolescent Suicide Risk
Nightmares quadruple suicide risk in youth, yet overlooked by most clinicians Scary dreams are common among children, and possibly it is for this reason that they are often overlooked by clinicians. In fact, frequent nightmares can indicate a life-threatening state. It has been well established that nightmares are robustly linked with higher suicide risk in
Terror and excitement are not so far apart
Slippery Fish: How to remember your dreams
When I tell people I work with and write about dreams, often the first thing they say is, “I don’t dream.” Or sometimes, more accurately, “I don’t remember my dreams.” We all dream what is in essence a feature film worth of dreams every night, but the vast majority of these nocturnal movies are not