No more nightmares - a signature symptom of PTSD
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
2 likes•1,292 views
Learn how to stop traumatic nightmares that are often a part of PTSD
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to No more nightmares - a signature symptom of PTSD
Similar to No more nightmares - a signature symptom of PTSD (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
No more nightmares - a signature symptom of PTSD
- 1. Sounder Sleep for Veterans How to use Planned Dream Interventions® to stop nightmares 1 Presented by: Justin Havens FdA BA MBACP (accred) Trauma Therapist & PhD Researcher
- 2. Self-help approach No disclosure Triggered by examples? Pause and take a break if necessary Safety Brief 2
- 3. 1. Background and objectives 2. Trauma, sleep and dreaming 3. The history of the Planned Dream Intervention® (PDI) 4. 3 steps to creating a successful PDI 5. Examples of successful interventions 6. Key guidelines for successful interventions 7. Practice, knowledge quiz, summary, next steps Contents 3
- 4. Developed and tested in USA over 14 years Taught to thousands 8/10 success rate …but not a cure for PTSD No scientific research or use within UK My project Background 4
- 5. Workshop Objective: 5 Learning to Stop Traumatic Nightmares with Ease
- 6. Absurd??? New perspective – your dreams have a purpose! Continuously running film - you decide what comes next Stop being woken by scary dreams Improve sleep quality and daytime functioning There is no such thing as a bad dream! 6
- 7. Senoi Tribe in Malaysia - “Face and conquer” If there is danger in your dream, you should confront and conquer it (or make friends with it) Nothing new under the sun... 7
- 8. From this…. To this….. Fear ‘Good’ gut feel Out of control In control Passive Active 8
- 9. Trauma, Sleep and Dreaming 9
- 10. Images, feelings, smells, body sensations and thoughts all become locked or frozen As if the brain is taking a recording in full HD Until this is ‘reprocessed’, it will continue to be disturbing and ‘active’ What happens when we experience a traumatic event? 10
- 11. Why dream? Natural process to discharge emotion from brain – survival process ‘Reset’ brains and bodies Interpretation not important – anything can happen in a dream Extreme emotions normal Dreams - natural response to an abnormal event Sleep and Dreaming 11
- 12. 12 When bad things happen, we are supposed to dream about them
- 13. The Lemon Test! 13 Imagine biting into a lemon What do you sense? Is the lemon real?
- 14. Normal = 90 minute cycles of: Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep Stages 1 & 2 – light sleep Stages 3 & 4 – restorative deep sleep Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep Emotional processing task – ‘dreamwork’ Physiological symptoms Long term memory and time/space supressed Human Sleep Cycles 14
- 16. Dream during REM sleep Easily woken when dream ‘scary’ Traumatic dreams break sleep cycles Traumatic material ‘stuck’ PDIteaches brain to stay asleep and continue its processing task The Impact of Nightmares on sleep 16
- 17. 17 Abnormal sleep Cycle Too much REM, no deep sleep! Abnormal Sleep Cycles
- 18. 18 Washing machine Metaphor 1. The aim of the washing machine (brain) is to clean all the dirty washing (‘hot’ traumatic memories) so no longer disturbing. 2. Repetitive scary dreams which wake you up represent ‘stuck’ machine and leaving washing dirty 3. The PDI is about kick starting the machine and getting to the end of the cycle with clean washing!
- 19. Remember: The problem is the memory stored in the brain, not past events 19
- 20. Can be perplexing as well as disturbing Interpretation is not important Brain is just trying to find a way to process Dream content 20 Replay of past events Completely surreal
- 21. The History of the Planned Dream Intervention® 21 Dr Beverley Dexter PhD CDR US Navy (Ret) Psychological Trauma Therapist
- 22. 22 “I was just one of those people who have nightmares.”
- 23. 23 A little bizarre!!! The Colosseum on the back of a pickup truck?
- 24. 24 “I know, the Colosseum building is made out of $100 bills and we get to keep the ones falling on us!”
- 25. 25 “I got so angry I kicked my bosses head off”
- 26. 26 “Well…what if he sprouted a new head and the new head was a nice person and came over and apologized to you?”
- 27. 27 Coffee Break – 10 minutes
- 28. Believe “there is no such thing as a bad dream!” 1. Think only about the part of the dream when you woke up (VITAL!) 2. Think “what would I like to happen next that feels good at a gut level and puts me in control?” Uncensored, fantasy/surreal, can be violent, sexual, funny, violate laws of nature or any combination 3. Write it down and read before going to sleep28 3 Steps to create a Planned Dream Intervention®
- 29. “I was severely burned as a child and had frequent nightmares for years. I would wake up during the part where the burn occurs, often screaming. The dream intervention I used was that suddenly I was standing under a waterfall laughing, and the water was washing dirt off of me—so the burn wasn’t my skin being burned now, it was just dirt on my skin.” 29 Example – Being Burnt
- 30. “In my dream I was getting shot and I was clearly going to die. I had the dream quite a few times, but I stopped waking up at night after I created a new scene where I was laughing and mocking the shooter. I was yelling, “Na, na, na, na, na, missed me!” I didn’t add anything on other than that, but somehow I had the knowledge that I was ok and that the whole shooting thing was over.” 30 Example – Getting Shot
- 31. Think back to the ‘lemon test’ The power of imagery 31
- 32. “This never happened in real life, but I used to have a nightmare about driving down a hill with my family in the car and the brakes failing. We hit a wall at the end and I wake up in a right state. My intervention was to imagine myself sitting in a car game in an amusement arcade, with my family around me cheering me on, whilst I threw the car violently to the left and right.” 32 Example – Runaway car
- 33. “There is no such thing as a bad dream” Re-enter the dream with a sense of mastery 33 From this…. To this…..
- 34. “I was raped several years ago and kept dreaming of the event as it occurred and was even afraid to go to sleep. When I learned how to do the dream intervention I created a different scene. Now he isn’t on top of me, he is in front of me and I am Superwoman strong and I just whack him really hard and he fly’s off and smashes against a wall, completely unconscious. Now he is no threat and I am the heroine!” 34 Example – Sexual Assault
- 35. Key Guideline #1 The ‘good’ gut level response is vital 35
- 36. 36 What do you see? ‘Aha’ moment- Once learnt, it cannot be unlearnt!!!
- 37. Key Guideline #2 The PDI is completely uncensored 37
- 38. Key Guideline #3 Violent dream interventions do not lead to violent behaviour 38
- 39. Key Guideline #4 Focus on dream events at point of waking 39
- 40. Key Guideline #5 Emotional ‘volume’ of PDI must equal that of dream 40
- 41. Key Guideline #6 The PDI that will work may not be your first idea 41
- 42. Key Guideline #7 If the dream has content from a real event, the PDI that will work may not be related to this event 42
- 43. Key Guideline #8 If PDI doesn’t work, create a new one! 43
- 44. Key Guideline #9 If nothing has come to you before you go to sleep, go to sleep in the mode: “What do I want to happen next?” 44
- 45. Key Guideline #10 If no dream content, focus on negative feeling or sensations 45
- 47. Struggling with idea ‘it could be easy’ Separating real life past events from dreams Meeting nightmares ‘head on’ instead of with fear Multiple and jumbled dreams: deal with them one at a time and persevere! Practice to make it a habit - teach brain to sleep through anything! (even if not disturbing) 49 Dealing with Blocks
- 48. Don’t let your partner wake you up ‘Acting out’ whilst asleep should stop once good PDI made Educate your partner with PDI theory and practice Dreams are doing a job – just need to stay asleep! 50 Bed Partners
- 49. 51 Learning to ride a bike….
- 50. 52 Potting training??? The sleeping brain maintains a level of awareness
- 51. A message from someone who has recently used the planned dream intervention to stop his frequent nightmares…. 53
- 52. Some scenarios to think about… IN CAR FLYING OVER CLIFF – TERRIFIED What do you want to happen next? FALLING DOWN A NEVER ENDING HOLE – TERRIFIED What do you want to happen next? TSUNAMI WAVE COMING AT YOU – TERRIFIED What do you want to happen next? 54 Practice
- 53. Multiple choice quiz to check understanding 12 questions – 1 right answer per question Make a note of each answer on a separate piece of paper as you go 55 Knowledge Quiz
- 54. 56 Question 1 1/ What single statement represents the underlying approach to No More Nightmares? a. Some people are just unlucky and have bad dreams b. There is no such thing as a bad dream c. Dreams represent reality and so cannot be changed
- 55. 57 Question 2 2/ What is the purpose of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep? a. To enable the brain to process emotionally difficult information and reduce its impact b. Nobody really knows why people’s eyes move during sleep c. To keep the brain busy during the deep sleep part of the sleep cycle
- 56. 58 Question 3 3/ Must a Planned Dream Intervention be based on reality and obey the laws of physics? a. Yes b. No
- 57. 59 Question 4 4/ The Planned Dream Intervention (PDI) must start from: a. The beginning of the dream b. The most frightening part of the dream c. The part of the dream occurring as you wake up
- 58. 60 Question 5 5/ The most important attribute of a Planned Dream Intervention is: a. That it must be possible in real life b. That the ‘emotional intensity’ of the PDI matches that part of the dream when you woke up c. That it must be the first thing you thought of
- 59. 61 Question 6 6/ If your Planned Dream Intervention doesn’t work, then: a. Carry on using the same intervention as long as possible, in the hope that it will work b. Give up because it must be one of those nightmares that can’t be stopped c. Think of a new PDI, paying attention to the emotional intensity, and other top tips
- 60. 62 Question 7 7/ The best Planned Dream Intervention will: a. Be the first one you thought of b. Be one that feels good at a ‘gut’ level and gives you mastery over what is happening c. Match what you want to happen in real life
- 61. 63 Question 8 8/ What do you do if you can’t remember the dream but wake up feeling awful? a. Nothing – Planned Dream Interventions only work for recurring dreams b. Hope that the feeling will go away quickly and not come back c. Focus on the negative thought or feeling and think “what do I want to happen next”
- 62. 64 Question 9 9/ What happens when you get jumbled or mixed up dreams? a. Do nothing – the Planned Dream Intervention only works for recurring dreams b. Create a Planned Dream Intervention for the scariest dream c. Methodically use Planned Dream Interventions every time you wake up, focusing on the dream content present at the moment of waking
- 63. 65 Question 10 10/ The purpose of the Planned Dream Intervention is to: a. Provide an interpretation of the dream so that it ‘makes sense’ b. Teach the brain to sleep through nightmares thereby allowing the brain’s processing task to be completed c. Reduce the intensity of a dream so that it feels a little less scary
- 64. 66 Question 11 11/ Logic rather than intuition is more important for creating an effective intervention? a. True b. False
- 65. 67 Question 12 12/ What is likely to be true about a successful Planned Dream Intervention? a. It can defy the laws of physics and nature b. It could contain fictional or comic characters c. It may make absolutely no sense d. It may be abstract, violent, sexual, funny, or any combination of these e. All of the above
- 66. 68 Answer’s! 1/ b 7/ b 2/ a 8/ c 3/ b 9/ c 4/ c 10/ b 5/ b 11/ b 6/ c 12/ e How did you do?
- 67. “Try it, stick with it, it does work, don’t give up” “Don’t be frightened to try it.” “Definitely give it a shot, because it is painless and if it doesn’t work, no harm done” “There is light at the end of the tunnel, and you will get there” “Have a go – it’s better than feeling like shite all the time” 69 Some words of support from those that have gone before you…
- 68. New perspective on dreams “There is no such thing as a bad dream” The goal is to permanently stop all nightmares – nothing less Learned skill that needs practice – start now! Skill for life – use for all dreams 70 Summary
- 69. Questions? Review key guidelines Replay whole session Email support available 71 Next Steps and Support mail@justinhavens.com
- 70. The most successful interventions will come in the hours/days following this session. ***START NOW*** 72 Sounder Sleep for Veterans
Editor's Notes
- Welcome, teach you a new and innovative approach to stopping nightmares – doesn’t involve sharing experiences and can be carried out from the comfort of your own home. It will last 1hr and by end put ideas into practice. You can stop and take a break at any time. My name is Justin…. part of UK veterans research project, start with radio clip from March 2015, which lasts about 8 minutes. The presentation will then commence after that.
- Dr Beverley Dexter. Ease symptoms and provide much needed relief from proper sleep
- ‘With ease’ is the key word here - Its not going to be a white knuckle ride to get through your nightmares – we are talking about a totally new approach that will give you full control over them, and quickly teach your brain to sleep through the night, however long you have been experiencing problems.
- The premise of this whole new perspective on dreams is that ‘there is no such thing as a bad dream’, which is going to sound absurd if you have been having terrible nightmares for 30 years, but I really want you to suspend your judgement on this and listen to the ideas that I put forward. Important that we start taking a new perspective, and learn that our dreams actually have a purpose, and that with a bit of help, we can get them back on track. We are going to learn to see our dreams as a continuously running film, where we are the director and get to decide on what comes next. This is going to stop us being woken by scary dreams, which in turn will lead to improved sleep quality and a sense of restfulness, which will make us function better during the day.
- When for instance a child had dreamed that a tiger attacked him, his parents would tell him that such dream-tigers could not hurt him. They encouraged him to attack the tiger himself the next time. And if he wasn't strong enough, he could call a 'dream-friend' to help him. If the child fell from a mountain, he would be able to land softly or fly etc. Besides this the child was encouraged to have as much pleasure as possible in the dream. "Try to fly and discover all sorts of things, and always let your dream end positive". Even if the dreamer died, he could be reborn in a better and stronger body.
- So this approach is really all about going from a scenario based on fear, to one of mastery and control over what is going on in your dreams. This may sound fanciful to those that have had very bad nightmares for many years, but the aim of this presentation is to take you though this new approach step by step, to show how it is based on logical and rational ideas that make sense.
- This section will lay some foundation stones before we look at Planned Dream Interventions in more detail. It is vital to realise that dreams about traumatic experiences are normal and that scary dreams which constantly wake you up prevent the healing function of dreams to be completed.
- During a traumatic incident, the brain takes in a huge amount of visual and sensory information, and it cannot all be processed immediately. Images, feelings, smells, body sensations and thoughts all become trapped, as if the brain has taken a HD recording.
- When bad things happen, we are supposed to dream about them. No matter what the dream content, the brain is simply working on resolving emotional distress. It our natural way to reset our brains for the next day ahead. We know this from our own experience – sometimes we go to sleep with a difficult issue in our heads, and feel clearer about it the next day. Interpretation of dreams is not important – many people put lots of effort into deciphering dreams – we want to channel that effort into teaching the brain to sleep through all kinds of dream content. Where dreams are based on real events, it is normal to have very high levels of emotion in the dream, and remember, dreams are a natural response to an abnormal event.
- Dreams are provoked by experiences we have already had. The brain is trying to assimilate emotionally charged material into existing memory systems. This is why sometimes dreams have past and present content mixed together. This is a natural process and sleeping through our dreams is the default, and it is what should be happening. Exposure to violent experiences will create violent dreams – as long as you are asleep, it doesn’t matter…
- The problem is that these memories, stuck in the brain, feel so real. Here is an example of how this is so. There is no lemon, but the image and associated thought makes the brain respond as if it was there. Past memories, of course, will have a much stronger impact than this example
- So let us turn out attention to sleep cycles, which are normally 90 minutes long and consist of 2 types of sleep. Non REM sleep has 4 stages, from light to deep sleep, which is where out bodies heal, and which leaves us feeling refreshed in the morning. Then we have REM sleep, where we are dreaming and and trying to process our difficult experiences, and this strange process of eye movements seems to help that. For those of you that have heard of EMDR, which is a trauma therapy using eye movements, REM sleep is a very similar process. I sometimes tell people that it is like getting free EMDR! We are very physiologically aroused during this period – our heart beat and breathing rate may be up, we may sweat more, and we look very much awake. Interestingly, long term memory is supressed during sleep, which is why we tend to either not be aware of regular dreams, or only remember them briefly after waking. Of course this is different for very repetitive dreams based on past events. Suppression of time and space also takes place, meaning people can fly and time has no meaning. No one ever hits the ground in a falling dream.
- So this is what a normal sleep cycle looks like: From light sleep into deep sleep and back again, before going into REM sleep. This process shows how we tend to get more deep sleep earlier in the night, which is a survival response really. Caveman would need to get this sleep in first to be as rested as possible in case of an attack during night. More REM sleep tends to occur in the 2nd half of our sleep.
- A nightmare is really defined as a scary dream that wakes you up, and the key issue is that we are easily woken out of REM sleep because it is close to waking. Therefore any heightened fear or anxiety, which we experience in the dream as incredibly real, breaks the sleep cycle, and we end up in a pattern of broken sleep that can be extremely insidious and totally ruin our sleep. These dreams can then become ‘stuck’, and manifest themselves as repeating nightmares that can last for years. The purpose of the planned dream intervention is to break this cycle by teaching the brain to stay asleep and continue its processing task during REM sleep. When we are asleep, we are not experiencing the dream as a nightmare anymore. Many people who wake up after a successful dream intervention are unaware of what happened.
- This diagram clearly shows the abnormal sleep cycle as a consequence of traumatic nightmares, and how it results in too much ineffective REM sleep no restorative deep sleep, and a vicious circle of being asleep and awake. Many veterans report that when these get woken in the night, they are not even able to get back to sleep, which compounds the lack of sleep even further.
- Disturbing memories intrude into dreams when asleep, and as flashbacks when awake, but it is important to separate the memories from past events, as they are different, even though the memories ‘feel’ so real. Remember the lemon test for why this is.
- Dream content can be perplexing as well as disturbing, but it is important not to waste effort trying to work out dream content, but instead put it into creating PDI’s. The brain is using dreams to try and resolve the emotional disturbance – that is why sometimes past and present events come together in a dream and it seems really weird. PDI’s can be used with any type of dream – just trying to teach the brain ‘there is no such thing as a bad dream’ and keep you asleep! Dreams that repeat over time are an indication that the healing experience is not happening as it should.
- This is a good place to pause and have a break, thinking about the ideas we have talked about, before moving onto the practical guidance on how to make good planned dreams interventions.
- These are 3 steps for creating a successful PDI. They are based on the belief that we are teaching our brain that there is no such thing as a bad dream, and that it is ok to sleep through the night. That was what the first part of the training today was focused on. Step 1 is to think about the part of the dream just before the point of waking. This is usually the scariest part, but not always. Step 2 is creating the intervention itself by thinking ‘wwilthntfg’ Coming up with the intervention is a creative process and it so important to let your mind be free and uncensored. Anything can happen in a dream, and it is the same with your intervention. There are no rules of the physical world – people can fly, shrink, expand, come back to life. You are also able to do superhuman things – reach long distances, exert great forces or move with lightening speed. Things can morph into other things – here is an example: “When I woke up, I was in a car and some gang members were in another car shooting at me with guns. I morphed them into little toy plastic figures and their car is like a Hot Wheels car. I can just squash the toys or brush them away now.” The PDI might be abstract, violent, sexual or funny, and involve fictional characters and things that couldn’t happen in reality and finally must feel good at a gut level. This good gut feel has positive energy and emotion about it and you know it when you feel it. Think about a time when you did something well, or you won a game. Imagine what it would be like to win the lottery! Remember this is just dream stuff and you are not planning real action, so there is no need to feel guilty, embarrassed, surprised, shocked, or scared by it. This often involves a sense of mastery – being in control of what happens in the dream as opposed to being acted upon. Finally, read it before going to sleep and bring up the imagery and feelings associate with the intervention, paying special attention to the good gut feelings. This information will then be accessible to your brain when asleep. Remember, you are not rewriting the whole dream – just re-entering it with a sense of mastery at the point where you woke up. And if it doesn’t work, don’t give up, but pay attention to the guidelines, and create a new one.
- Here is a a real example from someone that suffered terrible nightmares for years. READ IT. The most important part here is the good gut feel associated to standing under the waterfall. After creating this intervention and thinking about it before bed, the person woke up in the morning feeling refreshed, and was not even aware of having the dream.
- READ IT The intervention is reminiscent of a childhood game with toy guns, and this represents the paradigm shift that we are trying to create, from a scene with extreme fear and helplessness, to something completely different. You could almost imagine the frustration on the attackers face as he was way too slow as the man kept darting around at lightning speed popping up in different positions.
- The brain thinks the lemon is real, and produces an appropriate response….even though there is no lemon! The imagery in the last examples – standing under a waterfall and the look on the attackers face as they are too slow, is very strong, and helps create the good gut feeling.
- Another example that isn’t based on real life events, but was nonetheless scary and had troubled the person for a long time. READ IT. Imagining the physical movements to the left and right with the steering in the arcade alongside the family cheering, is all part of the intervention.
- The PDI is trying to teach your sleeping brain that there is no such thing as a bad dream, so that it doesn’t have to wake you up. It is about reentering the dream with a sense of mastery. We just want to the sleep to do its job – this is an automatic process, a bit like a broken bone healing. And the good bit is that we are unaware of what is happening when we are asleep if the PDI has kickstarted the dream – we should just wake up in the morning feeling rested. Each one of us is different, with an entirely unique set of life experiences and perspectives on them. This is what creates the infinite variations in how different people would answer the question of what a good dream intervention would be. So if you don’t censor your thoughts what spontaneously comes to you as a good intervention will be what your health-oriented mind-body needs. It is a very personal thing, and what will work for one person, may not work for someone else.
- This is another example which demonstrates a successful PDI. READ IT. Again, there is a complete shift or transformation in what is going on, and the corresponding good gut feel, and this the essence of making good interventions. Increasing personal power will often lead to good interventions. The remainder of this session will now focus on the guidelines for this, which have already been emphasised, but I will revisit them and provide more examples. If the interventions you are creating are not leading to restful sleep, you will need to revisit these guidelines to find out what you could be doing differently.
- The ‘good gut feel’ to the individual concerned is the single most important thing – without it, nothing will happen. The individual concerned is the only one who can judge this!!! All of the examples illustrate this – an epiphany, eureka or ‘aha’ moment. Think of a child making a sand castle, and then stomping on it afterwards, which is WAY more fun! Or winning the lottery. That’s what the ‘good’ gut feel looks like. Taking thinking part of brain out and relying on an emotional brain/gut connection – PDI’s may seem silly! It often comes intuitively, when we may be least expecting it, but you will know it when you see it! It is a mastery experience, with you acting on the scene, instead of being acted upon. Having your favourite football team win is good, but imagine you scoring the winning goal – that is better! And yet, it is a bit like getting a bullseye in darts!
- When you realise there are 2 pictures, it is a bit of ‘aha’ moment, and you cant ‘unknow’ it. Its like a sudden insight that now makes sense, which is exactly the same for a PDI that produces a good gut level response. Think of you own examples that produce a good gut response – perhaps mastery in sport, passing a test, getting a job – these are all good.
- Interventions are completely uncensored – nobody needs to know about it, and rules of law, ‘right behaviour’ and physics do not apply in dreams – we are dealing with ‘caveman’ brain here! Let you creative mind take over. This means the intervention could be aggressive, funny, sexual, surreal, science fiction, cartoonish, something that could happen in real life, distorted, or any combination of these. Anything can be morphed into anything. It is ok for dead people to be brought back to life. This can be affirming – that person is helping you overcome your problem and perhaps what would they have wanted. You are also able to do superhuman things – reach long distances, exert great forces or move with lightening speed. Sexual themes are often present in violent dreams due to the presence of testosterone Sexual PDI’s can all work quite well - Example of Ammunition Technical Officer with multiple nightmares relating to incidents from NI and Bosnia. PDI involved having sex with wife in the back of his ATO wagon! Remember this is just dream stuff and you are not planning real action, so there is no need to feel guilty, embarrassed, surprised, shocked, or scared by it.
- People often are very wary of utilising violence or revenge in their PDI’s on the basis that it is wrong or may make things worse. In the many thousands of times Beverley has taught this, dreams becoming more violent because of a violent intervention has never happened. Secondly, your caveman brain does not care about this. Finally, most people do not recollect the dreams after a good night’s sleep, and those that do report violence as not gory but ‘stabbing cardboard’, in the case of someone being raped stabbing perpetrator. EXAMPLE This example involves a veteran who used to be the QRF commander at Maze prison in NI. He had to deal with really nasty riots and keeping republicans and loyalists separate. He had repeat dreams of a particularly bad night. He said he always felt like he wanted to stand up with a ‘gimpy’ and mow them all down, but he had always censored this thought as it represented a loss of control and was evidently wrong. But when he was taught about planned dream interventions, he realised it would be perfectly safe to use this as an intervention, and he was never disturbed by it again.
- Don’t worry about trying to remember the whole dream, and don’t go to far backward or forward when trying to create an intervention. Just focus on the dream events at the point of waking, and create an intervention to kick start the dream with a sense of mastery at this point. Remember, you are not rewriting the whole dream, or trying to create an ending, just a brief powerful intervention that has the good gut feel and puts you in control A client of Beverley’s who had been raped and then subjected to a particularly invasive medical examination had a weird dream involving ice cream at the point of waking. The successful intervention focused on this, and she created the most fantastic ice cream sundae imaginable The following example was a dream Beverley had, which wasn’t related to a real event. Daughter kidnapped from home and driven away. Leaves trail of evidence behind her that Beverley is frantically following. Beverley runs into grocery store and shouts ‘have you seen my daughter’ and in the dream, the response from the owner is weird as it is in super slow motion, and Beverley is anticipating the worst at this point. And then she wakes up. She could have created a new start point – daughter never got kidnapped – or a new end point – attacker gets punished, but neither would work. Instead, she addresses what was happening at the moment she wakes up, and she returns to the grocery store and the owner says ‘they are just outside’, Beverley runs and picks up her daughter, police arrive, and everything ok.
- 5/ The ‘emotional volume’ of the dream must be the same as that of the dream at the point of being woken up. By emotional volume, we mean energy and positive action Here is another way of looking at it. Imagine that your sleeping brain kicked you out of the dream and over a river to the other side. The dream intervention has to kick start you back into the dream at the point where you woke up, so you have to get back over the same distance. If your dream has a lot of emotion in it and your intervention isn’t powerful enough, you will fall into the river. Here is an example of what I mean - US combat patrol in Iraq – 2 soldiers mortally wounded in ambush. Medic couldn’t reach them, and although he knew rationally afterwards that a casevac wouldn’t have made any difference, he felt terribly guilty about it and that he should have been able to save them. He made an intervention that didn’t work – he just asked the enemy to put down weapons… No emotion or gut connection. When Beverley said, why not BLOW them away like dust, with a big arm movement, the soldier jumped up and said ‘that’s it’ yes, that’s will work. And when he returned, not only had his nightmares stopped, but so had the flashbacks, which is something that Beverley has consistently noticed about successful PDI’s. If we think about the burn example earlier on, putting the burn under a tap is not really going to do it! It is also worth noting that avoidance or running away interventions will often not have sufficient emotional volume either.
- The example from the story – of the Collesium turning into dollar bills, was a stroke of good fortune, but Beverley realised that it didn’t always happen like that and that many times the first PDI thought of is censored by reality or morals. This is another example from Beverley. She had dream of being attacked by bad looking snakes in her bedroom – everywhere she looked was another head popped up, and she was jumping around scared to death trying to get away from them, and then the alarm goes off. She tried turning snakes into little critters and stomping on them, but no good gut feeling. She then changed them into stuffed animals so they become harmless….no…doesn’t feel right. Sometimes can’t force it. Tried turning a flamethrower on them…still doesn’t produce that good emotion/gut response. A few minutes later, having a shower, and this thought occurred to her, and it felt really good. This time it isn’t her with the flamethrower, but a knight in shining armour that bursts through the door, and Beverley’s wearing a long flowing gown, just like in a fairy tale. Now the fact that anything can happen in a dream – in her mind’s eye, it was a like a historical picture, but instead the knight had a flamethrower! This is also another example of the importance of emotional volume.
- The following examples will illustrate this point. A member of RAF ground crew witnessed his best friend being killed by an aircraft propeller 5ft away and subsequently had nightmares related to this event. A PDI that changed the sequence of events around the real event didn’t work, but later on he had a moment of creativity when something unrelated came to his mind. This was a completely separate event when he was out with his friend in a pub and had the best night out ever…..in his words….. and it worked. Afterwards, he couldn’t really explain how it came about, but his regular nightmares lasting 20 years suddenly stopped. Beverley’s example – a woman was in a bad car accident where she was broadsided by another car and her leg was virtually destroyed. The surgeons did a great job after many operations, but she was still in a lot of pain, which the medics couldn’t explain. She had regular dreams of the accident but they were not too bad - more annoying than horrifying. Her first intervention, beating up the driver of the other vehicle, didn’t work. The intervention that came to her in a moment of relaxation was completely unrelated, but resulted in the dream stopping and the pain clearing up in her leg. Before the accident, her dad had been in a hospice, and she visited him every day, except one day when she just couldn’t make it, and it was the day her dad died. She trusted her emotion gut response, and got out of the way. She stopped trying to think of something to do with the car accident, and let her mind come up with the right intervention. A little like when you forget something, and you only remember it when you stop trying to!
- If the intervention doesn’t work, or partially works, tweak it or create a new one. Don’t keep flogging a dead horse. Get used to reviewing and changing your PDI’s daily until you get results. Review all of the guidelines and let the ideas come to you. It’s a bit like finding the right key to unlock the door of your dream – if the key doesn’t fit, you try a new one until it works. You should know when you pick the key up whether it will fit, because it will feel right. A good example of this was from a Falklands veteran who was on the Sir Tristram in Bluff Cove, and had repeated nightmares about it for many years. His initial intervention was of a cruise ship sailing into sunset. That didn’t work, not enough emotional volume, so he tried turning into an action movie with special effects and going to the rescue. (Interesting connection was that person had been a film extra, so it resonated well) Sometimes the PDI will allow the dreamwork to continue, but you will get woken up later on in the dream. Just create a new intervention, paying attention to what was going on at the time.
- Don’t worry if nothing has come to you before you go to sleep – go to sleep in the mode “wdiwthntfg” and trust yourself to work it out, believing that there is no such thing as a bad dream. This is the crux – if you realise that you are in control of your dreams, that they are fulfilling a purpose, and that something will come to you, then you will sleep through the night. If you wake up in the middle of the night, reassure yourself that it is just a dream and ask yourself the question “wdiwthntfg”. And again if you wake up when your alarm clock goes in the middle of something, create something then, always looking for the good gut feel. And remember, sometimes it might take a while for that good gut feeling intervention to come, and it may surprise you. Remember the example of the groundcrew that lost his friend in a runway accident, and his intervention was the best night out of his life – seemingly unrelated.
- If you don’t remember dream content, go with the feelings or body sensations that you experience when you wake up. For example, if you just wake up with a sense of anxiety, think of something very calming and picture the imagery and associated feelings. Sitting in a hot tub, or relaxing on a beach for example. 55yr old woman wakes up with pain in her leg. She was actually molested as a child and her legs were broken, but this was not in dream content. So we just go with what is going on in the dream ‘What do I want to happen next’ in relation to leg pain is ‘lift the leg up with hands and shake pain off.’ No need to address anything else. A bit like cartoon characters straightening things out - Tom and Jerry! This intervention worked, with no reference to the childhood incident. “I’m going to shake off my leg and go outside and play.” It may also help to think about what you might have been dreaming about, and work with that.
- Use this approach for all dreams, and like learning a new skill, it needs embedding. So don’t give up, and monitor and change you interventions as necessary. Many people get some benefit such as reduced intensity or frequency of nightmares, but stop short of the goal of sleeping peacefully through the night. It is important to keep going and not to give up. We are teaching the brain to go into this default mode of what do I want to happen next and then sleeping through the night. The penny finally dropped for one person who had been practicing really hard, when he realised that dreams weren’t logical. He actually recalled having a dream where he heard himself say to himself, cmon Andrew, what do you want to happen next, as he was surrounded by enemy forces in his dream. He then created an intervention and slept well that night. It can help to keep a list of different interventions, used for different dreams if necessary.
- So to summarise
- Don’t want to downplay the reality and seriousness of past events, and that this approach is not seen as being flippant. Separating real events from the past with what your dreams, which the brain is trying to deal with. It is also important to take complete control of the situation in your intervention – if that means shrinking someone down and crushing them like an ant under the sole of your shoe, then so be it. It is not good having a passive approach – like telling the bad guys to go away. It needs to be decisive and powerful. Remember about emotional volume. The use of violence is entirely ok in the dream. Don’t need to tell anyone what you are doing. Multiple or jumbled dreams require consistent application of this approach to each dream – a bit like a game of whack oh mole, when you squash one mole, another pop’s up. And of course eventually, the game is over and all the moles are down. And again practice….
- If you share a bed with someone, it is worth looking at these points
- Teaching your brain to sleep through the night is a little like learning to ride a bike – feels wobbly at first and requires determination and practice. But after the hard work, it soon becomes effortless, and is an automatic process. The PDI approach is the same.
- What an earth am I on about? But if we think about it, when a child is fully potty trained the sleeping brain detects the bladder is full and wakes the child up to go to the loo. This autonomous activity by the brain is a really like how the PDI works to keep us asleep. The PDI approach is really potty training in reverse! And potty training is achieved by reinforcing the behaviour during the constant trips to the toilet and reminders ‘do you need to go etc’, After a while, the sleeping brain can take over and perform this task.
- Sprout wings? Parachute, to James Bond Music Surf? Much easier to work with examples that don’t involve own material.
- So now you have a new perspective on dreams – they are fulfilling a purpose, you can see why scary content in dreams wakes you up, and the need to kick start the dreams with a sense of mastery and ‘good’ gut feel, and how all this teaches your brain to sleep through the night, allowing the dreamwork to be completed and giving you the peaceful sleep that you deserve. Remember, when we are asleep, we are not experiencing the dream as a nightmare anymore. Many people who wake up after a successful dream intervention are unaware of what happened. The goal is to permanently stop….