Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Published : May 12, 2014 12:11 PM IST
Science seems to be catching up science fiction pretty soon. While recently, the USFDA approved a robotic arm for amputees called Luke which would be most the hi-tech prosthetic ever and is reminiscent of the robotic arm Luke Skywalker got after his father Darth Vader cut his hand off. Now scientists have devised a method of allowing people to be in full control of their dreams, which is something we saw in the Christopher Nolan blockbuster Inception. This is done by including the lucid dream phase of people, the Daily Mail reported. In the film, Di Caprio's character and his team infiltrate and control the dreams of their target to get vital information and even try to plant the seed of an idea in their mind.
Normally, people dream when they enter REM phase of sleep which is when dreaming usually takes place. Now when people have lucid dreams, they often experience awareness which in turn helps them control their actions and even manipulate the surrounding and scenarios within their dream world.
Now in this study, conducted at the JW Goethe University in Germany, 27 participants were asked to sleep and as they entered REM stage, a weak electric current was delivered to their scalps. The current stimulated the gamma activity in the brain's frontal and temporal regions which are the parts of the brain that are responsible for activating lucid dreaming. After the participants wake up, all of them reported lucid dreaming. Some were even capable of creating their own imaginary characters in the dreams!
There's hope that these dreams could help treat PTSD, since many sufferers continuously suffer from nightmares as a result of their condition. Through controlled lucid dreaming, those with PTSD can basically choose what to dream about or create imaginary scenes that could help them overcome their condition.
Dr. Voss said, 'Promoting gamma oscillations during REM sleep in post-traumatic stress disorder with re-emerging nightmares might trigger lucid dreaming and eventually enable active changes in dream content.'
What is PTSD?
Noticed as early as the 19th Century in soldiers and called by various names including battle fatigue, the term was formally recognised by 1980. Simply talking, PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder which affects people who have suffered some sort of traumatic event like a near-death experience, sexual abuse or serious injury. It's a serious mental condition which can be debilitating on many levels.
PTSD is a popular plot device in cinemas. In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark often suffered from anxiety attacks which were caused due to the events of the previous film The Avengers when he almost dies while trying to destroy the Chitauri (alien invaders) mothership with a nuclear missile. Even Bruce Wayne as a child and young adult was afraid of bats because of an incident when he was trapped in a well with bats (but being Batman he conquered that fear and even made that symbol to strike fear in others).
How is PTSD diagnosed?
According to psychotherapist Rachel Hercman, one is suffering from the condition only if the symptoms recur for a month. 'The initial symptoms are called Acute Stress Disorder and only if they continue for more than a month is the condition considered PTSD. Not all people who go through a traumatic event develop PTSD, but all those who had PTSD have been through a traumatic event.' There are a standard set of psychological tests to diagnose the condition which includes disturbing flashbacks, avoiding the memories of the event or high anxiety levels. Read more about PTSD
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