Cutting Edge Dream Research

Exploring the connections between dreams and brain functions scientifically. It's simple really - just tell us your dreams and we'll do the rest! We are specifically interested in the details of memorable dreams induced by anti-depression medication and other brain specific drug delivery prescribed medication.

Neuropharmacology Insights

Drawing upon NPA pharmacology training (DNF) while working for 2 years as a dispensing technician in London and a decade+ studying human behaviour and consciousness (2 years economics & international development with the OU, 8 years PPE/Psychology with UHI & counting), a preliminary investigation into the effects of anti-depression medication upon dream experiences yielded a surprising result which could prove a prodromal insight into the relationship between  dreams and clinical symptomatology - this could lead to psychological interventions for mental health and well-being hence the aim is to see if this result can be replicated consistently across a larger scale PhD level study.

1. Dreams as prodromal symptoms: Contemporary studies have identified the potential of dreams as early warning signs with patients reporting disrupted dreams up to one year before other disease symptoms emerge. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keac655 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102634 An October 2024 systematic review of studies on the potential prodromal nature of dreams https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1461495 concluded "there are still too few studies available to understand the basis of this relationship [between dreams and clinical symptomatology]" hence the demonstrable "gap in literature" that warrants this PhD dissertation proposal as part of a PhD in Clinical and Health Psychology.

2. Systematic Reviews: A systematic review published in Sleep Medicine Reviews examined the impact of antidepressants on dream content in both depressed and non-depressed individuals. The review found that certain antidepressants can indeed cause vivid or strange dreams https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1087079212000500

3. Effects on Sleep Architecture: Research published in Current Psychiatry Reports highlights that the effects of antidepressants on sleep can vary depending on the type of medication, dosage, and duration of treatment. Some antidepressants, particularly those with activating effects like fluoxetine and venlafaxine, may disrupt sleep and lead to vivid dreams https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11920-017-0816-4

4. Adverse Effects on Sleep: Another study in the journal SLEEP reviewed the adverse effects of 21 different antidepressants on sleep during acute-phase treatment for major depressive disorder. It found that sleep disorders, including abnormal dreams, were among the most commonly reported side effects https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsad177

In the field of psychology, the subfield of oneirology (/ɒnɪˈrɒlədʒi/; from Ancient Greek ὄνειρον, oneiron, "dream"; and -λογία, -logia, "the study of") is the scientific study of dreams...

...we aim to do so by exploring people's perceptions of dreams-induced-by-prescriptions because we know how medicines like SSRI anti-depressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) work on a neuronal level so we can compare such neuropharmacological information to people's 'qualia' - the introspectively accessible, phenomenal aspects of perception - in this case - the recall of dreams.

Describing dream recall can be a challenge though; the description of "six people and a dog walking as waves break on a rocky shoreline as two seagulls fly over" relates to the video behind this text, but using that limited definition would conjure up different mental images without the video. Headland or bay? Altitude and types of seagull? Twilight? Colours and hues? How many waves? Speed of waves? Ebbing or waning tide? Cardinal direction? Force? Type, shape and number of rocks? Where is all this in relation to you? Near/far, below/above?..etc. e.g. Google's tool gives 987+ words for describing waves https://describingwords.io/for/waves!

Since, by definition, qualia are subjective, conscious experiences that cannot be fully described or communicated or fully conveyed verbally - and because we cannot copy and paste videos of our dreams - we ask that you simply try your best to be as descriptive as possible. 🙏

NB: Experience-taking of video games is where first-person graphical perspectives are rendered from the viewpoint of the on-screen avatar (deictic centre of a player's character). Similarly, we conjure perspectives with our imagination when immersing our selves in any story be it a radio play or a good book - we imagine scenes being enacted from our own projected deictic centre. In recalling a dream, it is therefore helpful to rely on this same deictic perspective to render the narrative of dreams recalled: Deixis derives from Ancient Greek - δεῖξις (deîxis, “pointing, indicating, reference”) and δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “I show”) and forms an important part of linguistics and pragmatics, serving to interpret speech in context. In dream recall, this deictic perspective is our dream avatar or exteroceptive–interoceptive-point-of-experience* - or simply put - the dynamic viewpoint from whence we recall the full context of our dreams i.e. in dreams we perceive the contexts of environments around our dream deictic centre, and as we move though our dreams there is changing contextual information about the sound, shape, size, location, colour, texture, proximity etc of environmental factors (rooms, mountains, hedgerows, buildings, harbours, other actors etc, etc, etc,). Consequently, in addition to telling the story of the dream avatar - describing the dream environment itself is equally important to our research.

If there are multiple episodes to your dream, please try to delineate their sequence.

Good luck and enjoy the process! 🙏

*interoception is the collection of senses providing information to the organism about the internal state of the body. Exteroception is any form of sensation that results from stimuli located outside the body and is detected by exteroceptors, including vision, hearing, touch or pressure, heat, cold, pain, smell, and taste. Dreams can be immersive multisensory environments that encompass exteroceptive–interoceptive-like experiences.

Recalling Dreams

the sciencey bit

PhD CONTACT

psychology@14008140.online

Neuropharmacology is the study of how drugs affect function in the nervous system, and the neural mechanisms through which they influence behaviour. There are two main branches of neuropharmacology: behavioural and molecular. Behavioral neuropharmacology focuses on the study of how drugs affect human behaviour (neuropsychopharmacology), including the study of how drug dependence and addiction affect the human brain.

Molecular neuropharmacology involves the study of neurons and their neurochemical interactions, with the overall goal of developing drugs that have beneficial effects on neurological function.

Both of these fields are closely connected, since both are concerned with the interactions of neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, neurohormones, neuromodulators, enzymes, second messengers, co-transporters, ion channels, and receptor proteins in the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Qualia descriptions of medication-induced dreams will be compared to these neural mechanisms to ascertain whether any patterns can reveal prodromal information