I posted this on Reddit but i hope to get a more professional response here.
Hi my problem is I am really interested in LD but I am afraid it will cause me mental problems, and hers why: for A long time I have been suffering form De realization:[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization and depression and I was also committed in a mental hospital for it. Now, thanks to the right combination of pills I feel great and I am mentally “normal”. I want to get more involved in LD but not If it will get me into that negative place I once were. So my question is should I start trying to LD or is it to dangerous for people with history like mine?
Also when I had De-realization I had lucid dreams all the time (without knowing what it was). Now i realize it was because I contently questioned my reality. And every time I found out I was In A dream I would Get scared And force myself to wake up by opening my eyes wide in my dream.
I have no idea about Derealization, but with depression in my opinion you should be careful. I have a depression and I had about 21 LD’s. After a good LD I want to go back that LD and I feel so bad that reality is so cruel than in dream and I feel suicidal. But the thing is ND can get you good emotions too, so I sometimes feel the same after ND. But again, in my case my ND’s are not that vivid as LD’s, so if I had a LD where I would be extremely happy it could lead to a bad results for me (I had some and I felt like a s**t in the next few days)… Just think if you would be able to control emotions after LD’s. If you would continue living your life or that LD would change the way you are looking to your life. I hope you understood what I wanted to say. My English is bad, sorry.
EDIT: Wait, Derealization you say… Umm… This sounds something what I had when I was little. I had a head injury and after that day I sometimes had dreams which scared me. And the thing was even when I was awake and saw my family trying to help me I saw that dream… I remember it was usualy a dream where train was going. Nothing scaring, but it was making me mad. That sound was so annoying I couldn’t stand it and that scared me. My family first thought that I have skitzofrenia because my dad has it, but luckly it wasn’t it. I took a pills for few months and it was gone. Is it the same thing? I am curious.
First of all thanks for your input, you gave me more things to consider. second, what you have described is not exactly derealization en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization
I also have a question, is your depression always there but gets stronger after a lucid dream or is it normally not there and it comes back after having a lucid dream?
It’s more like I get depressed easily if I have nothing to do and it happens very often or if I am not with my friends. After LD’s I feel better actually because I am happy that I had it. It makes me feel better. So LD’s help me to get off depression. But for me LD’s are like adiction and if I don’t get them I get depressed easily. I felt sooo suicidal few days ago when I tried WBTB and failed… It was painful because I thought I will really work. For me sometimes ND give more depression, it depends from what I dream.
I can almost certainly guarantee you that all the feelings you have are a result of your depression during waking life. It seems that loneliness and lack of occupation are a trigger for your bouts of depression, not lucid dreaming. Ask yourself this, If it weren’t LD’ing, but some other activity you were partaking in and it felt nice, and it disappeared for a little while, would you feel the same way about it afterwards? Trust me, if your depression in itself were given treatment, than LD’ing by itself would not give you those feelings.
Best answer I’ve Gotten yet. (including on reddit)
I will defiantly resume LDing.
Thank you myechta_rukovodstva
I have suffered from Bipolar disorder for the last 12 years and until recently started taking medication for it. Since i’ve started the medication I have noticed that my NDs are a whole lot more positive than in the past… a dramatic difference…
I went from having a whole lot of dreams of not being able to do something… negative thoughts of myself to the point now where my dreams have endings… positive endings.
I would say that you have a better chance of having a positive LD with the medication than without it… De-realisation might also help… if you mentally say while being awake “This is a dream” or if you feel that way… then you will most likely feel that way when you are dreaming and realize your dreaming in your dream.
I look at LD as a positive way to spend my time while im sleeping… if you take the advice here on this site… i’m sure you will see it the same way… with or without any mental issues. Like I said… i’ve only had positive experiences with dreaming in general since i’ve started taking medication… im sure you will have the same experience.
I actually do have positive non Ld dreams since the new medication kicked in. It really seems logical that my Lds will be positive to.
Thanks