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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by Elizabeth on February 10, 1999, at 17:50:05
Do other people have a lot of trouble remembering dreams when taking antidepressants? If so, how do you deal with it, or does it just not bother you?
Does anyone know of a way to enhance one's dreams or make them more vivid/memorable?
(I'm taking a class on sleep and dreaming, and the current homework exercise is to do basically a mental status exam on your dreams over the next two weeks, except I don't think I'm going to remember a single one during that time. I've tried using the standard techniques and nothing seems to be working so far.)
Thanks.
Posted by Shelley on February 11, 1999, at 19:37:14
In reply to A(-nother) sleep problem; help?, posted by Elizabeth on February 10, 1999, at 17:50:05
> Do other people have a lot of trouble remembering dreams when taking antidepressants? If so, how do you deal with it, or does it just not bother you?
>Yes. I don't know how to help but I certainly understand your frustration.....I always thought I was just a total alien because I didn't "dream." Then, I realized I'm still an alien, and that not dreaming is one of the side effects I have to live with when I take SSRIs. Like loosing your sex dive, well, keep trying....
Posted by Elizabeth on February 17, 1999, at 0:27:46
In reply to Re: A(-nother) sleep problem; help?, posted by Shelley on February 11, 1999, at 19:37:14
> Yes. I don't know how to help but I certainly understand your frustration.....I always thought I was just a total alien because I didn't "dream." Then, I realized I'm still an alien, and that not dreaming is one of the side effects I have to live with when I take SSRIs. Like loosing your sex dive, well, keep trying....
SSRIs aren't supposed to be nearly so bad for killing dreams (so to speak!) as MAOIs; quite a lot of people say they have vivid dreams on SSRIs, in fact. On the other hand, I've never had any sexual problems with MAOIs (took Nardil for a while too), so I guess it's a question of which is more important to you.... (Not that I had a choice: the SSRIs don't seem to work for me, which is odd since Prozac helped quite a lot when I was a teenager.)
-elizabeth
Posted by Victoria on February 20, 1999, at 17:30:29
In reply to Re: A(-nother) sleep problem; help?, posted by Elizabeth on February 17, 1999, at 0:27:46
I rarely remember dreams, on or off medication. I recently tried a journalling technique that was amazingly effective, to my surprise, in generating vivid and useful dreams. The idea is to start up a dialogue with your dreams by choosing one problem or issue and asking your dreams to "comment" on it. You do this by, just before you go to sleep, writing a brief (1-2 sentence) statement of the problem or issue and then writing a one-sentence question about the issue to your dreams. It sounded a bit hoky to me, but I gave it a try. Nothing happened the first night, but the second night I had a very powerful dream (which unfortunately woke me in the middle of the night: not good for my insomnia). The dream has been very useful in therapy, but was so powerful and painful that I haven't repeated the technique since (and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a supportive situation in which to deal with what dreams may come). But I've remembered a couple of other useful dreams since (without the technique or waking at night). There's no way of telling if it will work for anyone else, but that was my experience.
Posted by Elizabeth on February 25, 1999, at 17:02:20
In reply to Re: A dream journal technique that worked for me, posted by Victoria on February 20, 1999, at 17:30:29
> I rarely remember dreams, on or off medication. I recently tried a journalling technique that was amazingly effective, to my surprise, in generating vivid and useful dreams. The idea is to start up a dialogue with your dreams by choosing one problem or issue and asking your dreams to "comment" on it. You do this by, just before you go to sleep, writing a brief (1-2 sentence) statement of the problem or issue and then writing a one-sentence question about the issue to your dreams. It sounded a bit hoky to me, but I gave it a try. Nothing happened the first night, but the second night I had a very powerful dream (which unfortunately woke me in the middle of the night: not good for my insomnia). The dream has been very useful in therapy, but was so powerful and painful that I haven't repeated the technique since (and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a supportive situation in which to deal with what dreams may come). But I've remembered a couple of other useful dreams since (without the technique or waking at night). There's no way of telling if it will work for anyone else, but that was my experience.
I like this idea...I'll try it.
I did have an interesting experience with Xanax: a sort of rebound at the end of the night allowed me to remember a dream with some clarity. Unfortunately, Xanax only worked very well (middle/terminal insomnia) for that one night!
-elizabeth
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