We know a great deal about the adverse effects of nightmares and the replaying of traumatic memories at night. Modifying these dreams leads to restful sleep and better outcomes
It's a fact that our subconscious has access to our memories and sometimes it plays the most traumatic ones over and over at night. Until just recently very few of us could enter the traumatic dreams and modify them in a good way. Now we can.
Creating extinction memories while we sleep
"To enter a traumatic dream while it is playing out, and change it positive ways - like leaving the battle field and being a a favorite beach instantly - is the way to create the new memories that diminish the trauma overnight while you sleep"
While we have learned a great deal about how we create and manage memories, it is just recently that we have begun to focus on REM sleep and the traumatic memories we replay in incredible realism that can disrupt our sleep and waking life.
Therapists use repetition of traumatic events
Therapists use a number of ways to get their patients to replay their traumatic event while in the office setting - and the therapist being present. The successes are many and well recorded. Repetition and immersion forces the sufferer of a traumatic event to begin to add positive non-threatening memories that attach to the primary memory of the event.
This repetition while awake in a safe therapist's office setting diminishes the fear associated with the event. Most current therapies for PTSD use this pattern to improve the patient's life. By introducing a sleep component - lucid dreaming - it is possible to manipulate memories while they are playing out within a nightmare. This is new and shows great promise when added to the current effective office therapy procedures.
Controlling nightmares is better than being controlled by them.
" Entering a nightmare replaying a memory of a horrific event takes courage, especially while asleep. But the benefits are almost immediate. Dreamers simply are aware it is a dream when they are lucid dreaming and say (or think) something like: I don't like it here... I'm going to the beach with y friends - and there you are instantly!"
The power of our conscious in a dream is undeniable and indisputable. Anything you wish for in a lucid dream instantly happens. Your subconscious which is playing your dreams is controlled by your conscious wishes. It's not up for discussion! So when you consciously take over an uncomfortable dream, you sleep better and are more confident when awake.
Healing while dreaming
Therapists know what to instruct trauma sufferers to do at night and offer ways to practice these procedures during office visits. Constructive role playing and meditation prepare the client to sleep with a new confidence that their nightmares are now controllable.