In a pioneering study, Watson (2001) showed that dissociative symptoms—measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)—are linked to self-reports of vivid dreams, nightmares, recurrent dreams, and other unusual sleep phenomena.
Dissociative mental states also manifest during dreams and may be typically related to discontinuities and shifts in dream scenes, which according to some psychological studies of dreams may specifically manifest in pathological processes related to nightmares and recurrent dreams linked to traumatic experiences ( ...
Dreamlike phenomena, which are ordinarily confined to sleep, thus intrude into waking consciousness and are expressed as dissociative symptoms, including depersonalization and derealization, and, in the extreme case, identity fragmentation evident in DID.
Research is lacking on this question, but it's possible lucid dreaming could lead to increasing derealization-depersonalization in ways that are problematic, particularly if you already experience these symptoms or have a history of disconnecting from reality in harmful ways (e.g. mania, psychosis, substance abuse).
Symptoms of a dissociative disorder
feeling disconnected from yourself and the world around you. forgetting about certain time periods, events and personal information. feeling uncertain about who you are. having multiple distinct identities.
Zoning out is considered a type of dissociation, which is a feeling of being disconnected from the world around you. Some people experience severe dissociation, but "zoning out" is considered a much milder form. Daydreaming is the most common kind of zoning or spacing out.
Eye contact is broken, the conversation comes to an abrupt halt, and clients can look frightened, “spacey,” or emotionally shut down. Clients often report feeling disconnected from the environment as well as their body sensations and can no longer accurately gauge the passage of time.
Oneirophrenia is often described as a dream-like state that can lead to hallucinations and confusion. Feelings and emotions are often disturbed but information from the senses is left intact separating it from true schizophrenia.
Symptoms of derealization include: Feelings of being alienated from or unfamiliar with your surroundings — for example, like you're living in a movie or a dream. Feeling emotionally disconnected from people you care about, as if you were separated by a glass wall.
The sudden transitions of dream objects and sceneries experienced in dreams, may reflect dissociation related to rapid shifts in neural patterns related to chaotic or—as they are also called—self-organizing neural activities, mainly stemming from the pontogeniculo-occipital (PGO) systems in the brain (Kahn and Hobson, ...
What might trigger a depersonalization episode? Much like a panic or anxiety attack, various triggers can lead to an episode of depersonalization. These triggers vary from brain to brain; they can be related to trauma, anxiety, stress, or substance use³.
Researchers (Watson, 2001) have proposed that dissociative symptoms, such as absorption, derealization, and depersonalization originate from sleep.
More research is needed, but preliminary studies suggest that lucid dreaming is linked to psychosis both positively and negatively.
You might experience dissociation as a symptom of a mental health problem, for example post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. Some people may dissociate as part of certain cultural or religious practices.
The disorders most often form in children subjected to long-term physical, sexual or emotional abuse or, less often, a home environment that's frightening or highly unpredictable. The stress of war or natural disasters also can bring on dissociative disorders. Personal identity is still forming during childhood.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder is a sleep disorder in which you physically act out vivid, often unpleasant dreams with vocal sounds and sudden, often violent arm and leg movements during REM sleep — sometimes called dream-enacting behavior.
However, unlike personality disorders, with derealization, the individual senses something isn't quite right with their perception of the world - they have some awareness that it's inaccurate. For this reason, derealization can be highly distressing.
What does derealization feel like? Often people describe derealization as feeling spaced out or foggy. People and objects in the environment may begin to seem unreal, distorted, or cartoon-like. Others report feeling trapped by their environment or viewing their surroundings as surreal and unfamiliar.
More than half of all people may have this disconnection from reality once in their lifetime. But about 2% of people experience it often enough for it to become a type of dissociative disorder. Derealization is similar but distinct from depersonalization.
Researchers have reported that dreams in patients with schizophrenia tend to be simpler and less elaborate (2, 8), less emotionally sophisticated and self-involved (2, 9), more bizarre (10–12), and more negative, violent, and unfriendly (9, 11, 13) compared to dreams of healthy individuals.
Psychopathy and Machiavellianism—a person so focused on their own interests that they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to get ahead—were associated with dreams focusing on aggression, while psychopaths and narcissists tended to have more sex dreams.
The four dissociative disorders are: Dissociative Amnesia, Dissociative Fugue, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Depersonalization Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Frey, 2001; Spiegel & Cardeña, 1991).