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Concept
Lucid dream
Summary
A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment. Lucid dreaming has been studied and reported for many years. Prominent figures from ancient to modern times have been fascinated by lucid dreams and have sought ways to better understand their causes and purpose.
Many different theories have emerged as a result of scientific research on the subject and have even been shown in pop culture. Further developments in psychological research have pointed to ways in which this form of dreaming may be utilized as a form of sleep therapy.
The term lucid dream was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his 1913 article A Study of Dreams, though descriptions of dreamers being aware that they are dreaming predate the article. Van Eeden studied his own dreams between January 20, 1898, and December 26, 1912, recording the ones he deemed most important in a dream diary. 352 of these dreams are categorized as lucid.
Van Eeden created names for seven different types of dreams he experienced based on the data he collected:
initial dreams
pathological dreams
ordinary dreams
vivid dreams
demoniacal dreams
general dream-sensations
lucid dreams
He said the seventh type, lucid dreaming, is "the most interesting and worthy of the most careful observation and study."
Paul Tholey laid the epistemological basis for the research of lucid dreams, proposing seven different conditions of clarity that a dream must fulfill in order to be defined as a lucid dream:
Awareness of the dream state (orientation)
Awareness of the capacity to make decisions
Awareness of memory functions
Awareness of self
Awareness of the dream environment
Awareness of the meaning of the dream
Awareness of concentration and focus (the subjective clarity of that state)
Later, in 1992, a study by Deirdre Barrett examined whether lucid dreams contained four "corollaries" of lucidity:
The dreamer is aware that they are dreaming
They are aware actions will not carry over after waking
Physical laws need not apply in the dream
The dreamer has a clear memory of the waking world
Barrett found less than a quarter of lucidity accounts exhibited all four.
Official source
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