Bachelor thesis: Lucid Dreaming as Possible Therapy for Psychosis

Vetten, R.N. de (2017) Bachelor thesis: Lucid Dreaming as Possible Therapy for Psychosis. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.

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Abstract

Lucid dreaming is a state of consciousness in which individuals become aware that they are dreaming and can possibly control the content or events in their dream. The awareness and control in the external world is a lack in psychosis. This review investigates whether lucid dreaming can serve as therapy for psychosis. Lucidity is trainable and can be self-induced, so it is an opportunity to study the brain basis of consciousness. Lucid dreams usually occur in REM sleep and are very intense, but signals to create detailed images are not strong enough. Experimental studies of lucid dreaming are difficult, because it is not easy to arouse lucid dreams in laboratory settings. Methodologies to investigate lucid dreaming are the use of questionnaires, non-invasive methodologies and neuroimaging techniques. In electroencephalography (EEG), lucid dreaming can be indicated with eye movement signals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) shows a clear difference in activation of multiple brain areas, in particular the prefrontal cortex (PFC) increases in activity during lucid dreaming. Psychotic episodes are characterized by a hypo-function of the PFC. A great diversity of brain areas are involved both in insight deficits in psychosis and lucid dreaming. The most common brain areas seem to be the prefrontal, medial parietal and cingulate cortex. Further experimentation is required to investigate whether the feeling of control during lucid dreaming can be converted to the feeling of better control during psychosis and therefore can help as possible therapy.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Degree programme:	Biology
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2018 08:27
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2018 08:27
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/15086

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