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As title, just wondering who stopped dreaming when they got DPD. Mine took a massive downturn, which I presume is due to poor sleep. Dreams happen within the REM phase of sleep, which is the last stage I believe, so if you had a dream you know that you had at least one full cycle so you could rest/recover and consolidate memories etc.

I only mention this because I have again been doing Wim HOF breathing before bed. I have got into it again and changed my technique a little, and every night the past week I have had dreams. Redditters appears to agree as there a few there stating the same results. No change to my DP I will add, bit it has been 10 days so I am not expecting miracles. Then I read this article:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/dream-catcher/201311/sleep-dreams-and-dissociation%3famp

There are some great lines in here that totally describe my day tos day experience of DP. "dissociative experiences may, in turn be linked to an influx, from internal and external sources, of too much information" "Memory systems cannot integrate the information so it floats around and issues into waking consciousness in disconnected fragments" "As the information overload escalates the self gets inundated and starts to buckle, which is of course extremely frightening for the individual" "That mental system that integrates new into existing information is sleep and dream dependent. So if the sleep and dream system is impaired so too will information processing systems be impaired and if they fail you will get information overload."

That last sentence rings true a lot. Everyday, ESPECIALLY social situations, is like information overload. I just cannot keep up, it's like my RAM is overloaded and the system crashes. I would add, this is just a small theory (one of many) but am hopeful that if I keep dreaming I may start to repair some of these overloaded systems that cause my DP

 

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I saw changes in frequencies of my dreams I could recall after depersonalization "came into mind", I could recall them much less. When I by accident tried clonazepam 2.5 mg with duloxetine prior to sleeping I woke up the next morning I felt that I had, had a sleep much more diffrent and of better quality than I used to. I felt much more present and energetic. So, To me there is no doubt that the sleep architecture in depersonalization is affected. Research into depersonalization is very underfunded and a sleep study of the sleep architecture have never been made. Sleep is almost controlled by small areas in the midbrain so it is very old and essential areas that is affected. These areas have never been scanned in depersonalization as they are to small to detect in a 3.tesla scanner. A 7.tesla scanner might see differences.

I would wish that this researcher into sleep and consciousness, Giulio Tononi could make a study of sleep in depersonalization. It likely have to be done in 15-20. patients to have a high validity.

His biography; http://centerforsleepandconsciousness.med.wisc.edu/people/tononi.html

His lab site; http://centerforsleepandconsciousness.med.wisc.edu/index.html

 

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Yes I definitely recalled less dreams after I got chronic DP. I would say, restful deep sleep has always been an issue for me. Which I guess would make me prone to experiencing anxiety therefor DP, but also perhaps prevent susceptible to poor recovery from emotional events.

I cannot say much for better sleep improving my symptoms as it is always generally quite poor so I wake up tired and achey. But I certainly feel the impact of my DP getting worse with a poor nights sleep. Giulio Tononi's work looks very interesting, it would be great if there was a study on DP and sleep architecture, I have no doubt it is part of it for me anyway, deep sleep/slow wave sleep has been a problem since DPD hit for me for sure

 

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Some mouths prior I got depersonalization I was in a crisis and I went to some therapy that included dream interpretations. So, I was very aware of my dreamlife. I could remember prior to the outset 2-3.dreams once a night. This changed after the outset to 2-3 once a month.

Giulio Tononi have mentioned dissociative states in a book he wrote with the late noble prize winner, Gerald Edelman as a state of disintegrations of networks. A poorly integrated "default mode network" has also be mentioned as central in the dissociative subtype of PTSD. So, it is a failure to integrated emotions, sensory input. If the role of sleep and dreaming is integration and organizing such daily input it might be affected by the daily state one is in. I don't think depersonalization is a sleep disorder but the state has affect on sleep.In major depression it is also highly affected.

 

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Another observation of late is a return of nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) (tmi sorry lol). This is something that again has been absent with DP over the years. And now I get it every morning.

It is supposedly a sign of the parasympathetic nervous system being active. And NPT is reduced in major depression as well. I am not saying the return of dreams and NPT is going to cure my DP. Or that the Wim Hof method is going to have positive effects on everyone's sleep. But my hunch at the moment is that they are good signs at least, and hopefully means I am getting deeper more restorative and healing sleep, which COULD help my DP symptoms