“The amount of interest is enormous,” says anesthesiologist Boris Heifets. “People are dropping in and coming out of the woodwork, trying to understand how to do this.”
Not a new idea. Just better technology without the requirement, perhaps, of resorting to psychodelic substances with their sometimes uncertain outcomes. Still though seems to be a reflection of the boring real world we have created for ourselves.
I have complex PTSD, had a lot of LSD and psyllocibin forty years ago and have been tracking my dreams whilst in a recent course of therapy, hoping to receive some insight. Have to say most of my recent dreams still seem to revolve around school and work scenarios and are not particularly illuminating. However during this course I have been using Shadow work (Jungian) techniques, particularly to do with integrating my 'bad' side. This has resulted in a breakthrough in terms of the lessening of intrusive thoughts and visualisations and my activations are now minimal. Out of all the different therapies I have tried, Jungian analysis has been the most successful. I was hopeful that my dreams would somehow provide the key to unlocking my condition but I think it was in fact, self forgiveness. This change may also be in part attributable to me quitting alcohol in April, allowing a lot more mental clarity as I started processing a lot of buried emotions. In conclusion, I think a strong therapeutic framework where the subject is primed to 'move on' may be more effective than chemicals and dream analysis and may be a better gateway to activating a more profound change in condition... perhaps in conjunction action with these other methods. The experience of healing is always personal and it strikes me we need to conduct a lot more tests to see which of these therapies is actually doing the heavy lifting...😉
This sounds very similar in what can Happen in Yoga Nidra (deep trance Meditation) - where you can take something in to explore it, induce trance and then insert the subjects own words of how they like to be... There's often great insights n resolution even without the latter 🤔
How exciting that we finally have formal research going on with this! I think there's huge potential in exploring consciousness and trauma therapies through this lens. Also...love that they've called it the "Dream Team."
This is so interesting and promising! A few years ago, I had surgery on my thumb, and I was put under anesthesia. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and suffer with feeling exhausted and tired all the time! When I had the surgery and woke up, I was the most alert and aware that I have been in years! It was like I no longer had the chronic fatigue! The state was surreal and lasted until I went to bed that night! I had no underlying emotional issues that I felt healed from, as I am in a good mental state, but just the feeling that I finally got a good nights sleep and was alert was amazing! I even told the doctor I wish I felt that good every day! I wonder how such experiences could help improve issues like chronic fatigue: like, is there a way to emulate that sort of sleep everyday by taking a pill? Going to a doctor for a mask to breathe in a gas wouldn't seem to be practical for everyday restorative sleep, but this is such an exciting idea to delve into!
Thank you so much for this article! I live in France and plan to research to see if any of this is going on here, hopefully to help some friends. I would be grateful for any leads.
Personally, I had such a great time under anesthesia during my first cataract removal - felt like I was chatting at a cocktail party with intelligent people - that I inquired what the preliminary anesthesia was: ketamine. Consequently, I had zero stress prior to the second cataract removal. I also often have spontaneous therapeutic dreams; my "inner shrink" reframes difficulties in a way that profoundly alters my awake state behavior in a beneficial way, but the only "drug" I take is melitonine...
This raises uncomfortable questions about how much of treatment actually lives in chemistry versus state. The parallels with exposure and imagery work make it harder to dismiss these reports as side effects. What’s striking is how little control seems required once the conditions are set. It suggests medicine may be underestimating the therapeutic leverage of internally generated experience.
Used thiopenthal for PTSD after a big earthquake in 1977. Very efficient. It was already an old technique (back in the '30). I wonder how Stanford tries to rediscover the wheel and how postdocs selfadmire.
As a graduate student at Vanderbilt University in the 60s, I took part in an informal "study" with mescaline. The drug had a profound effect on me, which I still remember with elation. I wrote up my experience and am happy to share it if the researchers in this article are interested. windbery@gmail.com
Not a new idea. Just better technology without the requirement, perhaps, of resorting to psychodelic substances with their sometimes uncertain outcomes. Still though seems to be a reflection of the boring real world we have created for ourselves.
I have complex PTSD, had a lot of LSD and psyllocibin forty years ago and have been tracking my dreams whilst in a recent course of therapy, hoping to receive some insight. Have to say most of my recent dreams still seem to revolve around school and work scenarios and are not particularly illuminating. However during this course I have been using Shadow work (Jungian) techniques, particularly to do with integrating my 'bad' side. This has resulted in a breakthrough in terms of the lessening of intrusive thoughts and visualisations and my activations are now minimal. Out of all the different therapies I have tried, Jungian analysis has been the most successful. I was hopeful that my dreams would somehow provide the key to unlocking my condition but I think it was in fact, self forgiveness. This change may also be in part attributable to me quitting alcohol in April, allowing a lot more mental clarity as I started processing a lot of buried emotions. In conclusion, I think a strong therapeutic framework where the subject is primed to 'move on' may be more effective than chemicals and dream analysis and may be a better gateway to activating a more profound change in condition... perhaps in conjunction action with these other methods. The experience of healing is always personal and it strikes me we need to conduct a lot more tests to see which of these therapies is actually doing the heavy lifting...😉
This sounds very similar in what can Happen in Yoga Nidra (deep trance Meditation) - where you can take something in to explore it, induce trance and then insert the subjects own words of how they like to be... There's often great insights n resolution even without the latter 🤔
How exciting that we finally have formal research going on with this! I think there's huge potential in exploring consciousness and trauma therapies through this lens. Also...love that they've called it the "Dream Team."
As a dreamer (oneironaut) I support thus. Is there a book?
Fascinating. Propofol, the precious milk, the dream inducing substance to take us far away for transformation. Yes please.
This is so interesting and promising! A few years ago, I had surgery on my thumb, and I was put under anesthesia. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and suffer with feeling exhausted and tired all the time! When I had the surgery and woke up, I was the most alert and aware that I have been in years! It was like I no longer had the chronic fatigue! The state was surreal and lasted until I went to bed that night! I had no underlying emotional issues that I felt healed from, as I am in a good mental state, but just the feeling that I finally got a good nights sleep and was alert was amazing! I even told the doctor I wish I felt that good every day! I wonder how such experiences could help improve issues like chronic fatigue: like, is there a way to emulate that sort of sleep everyday by taking a pill? Going to a doctor for a mask to breathe in a gas wouldn't seem to be practical for everyday restorative sleep, but this is such an exciting idea to delve into!
Thank you so much for this article! I live in France and plan to research to see if any of this is going on here, hopefully to help some friends. I would be grateful for any leads.
Personally, I had such a great time under anesthesia during my first cataract removal - felt like I was chatting at a cocktail party with intelligent people - that I inquired what the preliminary anesthesia was: ketamine. Consequently, I had zero stress prior to the second cataract removal. I also often have spontaneous therapeutic dreams; my "inner shrink" reframes difficulties in a way that profoundly alters my awake state behavior in a beneficial way, but the only "drug" I take is melitonine...
This raises uncomfortable questions about how much of treatment actually lives in chemistry versus state. The parallels with exposure and imagery work make it harder to dismiss these reports as side effects. What’s striking is how little control seems required once the conditions are set. It suggests medicine may be underestimating the therapeutic leverage of internally generated experience.
I have had multiple surgeries under anesthesia. No dreams.
I think using these serious drugs in an “off label” way is a totally dangerous path.
Two words: Michael Jackson
Used thiopenthal for PTSD after a big earthquake in 1977. Very efficient. It was already an old technique (back in the '30). I wonder how Stanford tries to rediscover the wheel and how postdocs selfadmire.
As a graduate student at Vanderbilt University in the 60s, I took part in an informal "study" with mescaline. The drug had a profound effect on me, which I still remember with elation. I wrote up my experience and am happy to share it if the researchers in this article are interested. windbery@gmail.com