This case study demonstrates how relational hypnotherapy combined with lucid dreaming suggestions transformed recurring waking nightmares caused by sleep paralysis into preferred dream experiences in a 62-year-old male patient.
Key Findings
Background
Sleep paralysis affects approximately 20% of the population and is commonly associated with vivid, fear-provoking hallucinations.
SP hallucinations include experiences such as being threatened or attacked by home invaders and paranormal encounters like alien abductions.
SP is a common symptom of narcolepsy, a disorder that disrupts regular sleep cycles and causes sleep deprivation.
SP is understood as a form of temporary muscle paralysis occurring during the transition between REM sleep and wakefulness.
Background
Little to no research has previously explored the connection between hypnosis and lucid dreaming as a means of altering sleep paralysis.
Clinical hypnosis has been used to treat SP, but the combination with lucid dreaming suggestions represents a novel approach.
The paper identifies a gap in the literature specifically regarding hypnosis and lucid dreaming as a combined intervention for SP.
This case study is presented as an attempt to illuminate this underexplored therapeutic combination.
Background
Lucid dreaming has been shown to reduce nightmares and distress and improve sleep quality.
Lucid dreaming is defined as an individual's ability to realize they are dreaming.
The paper cites existing evidence that lucid dreaming reduces nightmares and associated distress.
Improved sleep quality is noted as an established benefit of lucid dreaming interventions.
Methods
Relational hypnotherapy combined with lucid dreaming suggestions was used to treat a 62-year-old white male suffering from recurring waking nightmares due to sleep paralysis.
The patient's SP manifested as recurring waking nightmares that affected his overall mental health.
The therapeutic approach used was relational hypnotherapy, a specific modality of clinical hypnosis.
Lucid dreaming suggestions were incorporated as part of the hypnotherapy intervention.
This is a single case study (n=1), limiting generalizability of findings.
Results
Lucid dreaming interventions included within hypnotherapy were able to transform waking nightmares into preferred dream experiences.
The case study demonstrated that lucid dreaming suggestions can be successfully incorporated into hypnotherapy sessions.
The outcome described is a transformation of the distressing SP episodes into preferred dream experiences.
The paper discusses how the lucid dreaming experience itself served as the mechanism of change within the SP context.
No quantitative outcome measures or statistical data are reported, as this is a qualitative case study.
What This Means
This research presents a single case study of a 62-year-old man who suffered from sleep paralysis — a condition where a person temporarily cannot move while falling asleep or waking up — which caused him recurring frightening waking nightmares that harmed his mental health. His therapist treated him using relational hypnotherapy combined with suggestions designed to help him achieve lucid dreaming, which is the ability to become aware that one is dreaming while still in the dream state. The combination of these two approaches aimed to help the patient recognize and take control of his frightening sleep experiences.
This research suggests that when lucid dreaming techniques are embedded within hypnotherapy, patients experiencing sleep paralysis-related nightmares may be able to transform those frightening experiences into more positive or at least less distressing ones. The study highlights a largely unexplored therapeutic territory, as while hypnosis has been used for sleep paralysis before, and lucid dreaming has separately been shown to reduce nightmares and improve sleep quality, very little prior work had combined the two approaches.
Because this is a single case study involving one patient, the findings cannot be broadly generalized to all people with sleep paralysis or similar conditions. However, it provides a practical framework and clinical rationale for future research to investigate whether this combined approach could be effective for larger groups of people suffering from sleep paralysis, nightmares, or related sleep disturbances.
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Ramos C. (2026). Relational hypnotherapy, lucid dreaming, and sleep paralysis: A case study.. The American journal of clinical hypnosis. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.2026.2661649