I have been diagnosed w/ mild depression and severe anxiety. I was wondering if that would hinder an LD, or mayb even make things better?
Who hasn’t got mild depression or severe anxiety these days?
Lucid dreaming will definitly not make it worse, and it will most likely not affect your chances of having one.
Many people are free and happy,
yes it can hinder LD ,
depression is just a sign you aren’t doing what you want to be,
figure out what that is, and take some good reasonable steps to do it, and then you will be happy !
like for me, I joined an online dating site and messaged lots of people, it took my mind off my emotions immediately, and made me feel happy 
When I was depressed (and still today, sometimes) I had a few rare dreams where I’m depressed and trying to hurt/kill myself 
(which doesn’t happen at all IWL). But in most of my dreams I’m ok, happy or neutral.
But in my LD’s I’m always happy and energetic, I feel free! 
It’s like the part of me that was depressed stayed asleep when I woke up in my dreams. It was like I was a more pure or true ME in my dreams, and that depresseion was something more… superficial, that only existed in my waking consciousness.
A very common cause of depression (Which most people experience from time to time) is serotonin deficiency. So I think investigating the chemical causes first would spare you a lot of effort (Imagine waking up in Thailand feeling just as depressed, but now knowing you just sold everything to afford moving here - Not so fun).
I did kno about serotonin being a factor (I do take 5htp tho). Depression is I believe half of a chemical inbalance in your brain and half wuts going on in ones life. The entire 15 mths my husband was deployed to Iraq was when I took a dive. It was the worst time of my life. But its not so bad now. So i’m hoping that the depression wouldn’t hinder it. I think mayb it might help, it may just give sum excitment to my life.
I had pretty severe depression about 7 or 8 years ago which lasted about 3 or 4 years, eventually I went to see the doctor, I was given medication called Fluox, and went to see a psychologist each week. I dont think the Fluox did anything to help me, but seeing the psychologist helped me a lot.
Your case sounds a bit different, mine was pretty much self confidence issues, social anxiety, that sort of thing.
What the psychologist said was what made me sad was automatic negative thoughts that just spring into my head but werent neccessarily true, and usually they were very general. For example, “I hate myself”, then I rated how much I believed it to be true, like 70%. Then I had to think of a rational response to the negative automatic thought, like “I like the music our band plays, I am good at making things and crafts, I help my friends out, I am smart(sometimes), and there are a few things I dont like but I can work on them”, and then rate how much I believe this rational response, which was always 100%. And it made me feel better. And I did this whenever I got negative thoughts in my head.
I had do do a few other things which I cant really remember but I think this activity was the thing that helped me most.
Not sure if this info will be useful to you but no harm in writing it down, someone may find it useful
I’ve been diagnosed with clinical depression. They haven’t told me how severe it is…although I can guess. Now that I think about it, I believe that it has some way affected my ability to LD. My normal dreams have become more…interesting lately. I just need to find the will to write down my dreams again. However I did have a LD a few days ago. And that brought my LDing confidence up a bit.
Now the reason I say it does affect my LDing or dreaming in general, is because it affect my sleep. My sleep patterns are all messed up because of the depression. My social worker said that in depression sleep is one of the last things that improve. So I still have a long way to go.
Now it affects my dreaming, but it doesn’t take it away completely.
It’s usually during the hard times of my life that my will to lucid dream drives me. Maybe as some kind of escape.
Definite yes to the question: when you are more relaxed, lucid dreaming is much easier to accomplish, especially if your the kind of person who really needs to focus to make it happen (like myself).
Guys, if you are depressed my first guess would be that you need to “think less” and “move about more”. Get active, get some social stuff going and find confidence within yourself. By exercising you release chemicals to make you happy after all… by exercising you can also improve your self-image, as well as your social capabilities/status.
Avoid, alter, accept or adapt to stress whenever it comes around. Hope everyone feels better soon . Don’t let your depression ruin your life, do what is necessary so you can enjoy your life because you only live once and there’s always a way, maybe you just haven’t found it yet. Keep looking! And damn… EXERCISE is key trust me. I would even go as far to say that lack-of-exercise is the cause for people reaching depressive states. Focus on your health for a change, your physical health… it can impact your mental health greatly.
Please consult your doctor before taking any of my advice 
First of Depression sucks… mild or otherwise… Like DreamDragon said, you don’t have to take antidepressants to get better… grins You’ve just got to learn how to deal with stress (and I’m not just talking 'zomgi’mgonnabelate stressed…I mean, mental, emotional, physical stress…), and of course exercise is a great way to do that…
If a health problem is stopping you from exercising… all is not lost! Just keep doing things that keep you busy and happy… and treat yourself from time to time…
RIGHT! To answer your question in hand.
I never found that depression effected my LDing… in fact, I found it a wuuunderful escape… Dreams are a great way to let off stream/stress/anger whathaveyou…
Sooo, no. grins Happy Lucid dreaming! And I truely truely TRUELY hope you feel better soon!!
hugs
I agree with both of you, Dream Dragon and Tundra. But every case is different! Some people don’t need meds, but other do 
It’s hard to excercise when you’re depressed, even knowing it helps you, you just don’t have the energy or the will. It really sucks because depression “attacks”, amongst other things, your will and strength to get better.
The thing is to find out what makes you better! And I do believe LD’ing is a great way since you can do whatever you want in a LD! 
nods I agree, just me being the person that doesn’t like any form of meds, I neglected to mention that… My apologies… 
Yea I guess different things work for different people, I personally found meds didnt help me, but I only tried one type, and if they did work I dont think they could cure what was wrong they would only relieve it temporarily, I also found exercise helped a little to get me focused on something else for that time but didnt get to the heart of the problem. Depression is about having negative thoughts that just pop into your head, sometimes on their own or sometimes something will trigger them, so to get to the heart of the problem you have to change your way of thinking
Hmm, not that you mention it…
Last year is when I had the majority of my LDs.
I’ve been here at LD4all for around 2 years.
Last year was a big change in my life, and I was so swamped with work and so depressed, but ironically, it was the year I had the most LDs.
So I don’t know, it could be a coincedence.
Depression DOES hinder LD’s.
Atleast, that’s my view on it, myself having depression. (self diagnosed)
of course it will hinder the LDing ability.
Just like depression would hinder your ability to run well, to learn, to think clearly or to play the piano.
And LDing is very related to your emotions so the effect will be more extreme than on running…
However, I suggest you don’t worry about how some doctor diagnosed you,
you have the power to change yourself into whatever you want to.
Link between depressed people and lucid dreaming? =/
It’s weird, when I first started my dreamwork, intensely, I was fairly happy then. I had vivid and inspiring dreams. But since then it’s slowly gotten to the point where I actively have to try really hard to achieve a vivid dream and remember it. In ways I have gotten sadder, since then. So the way I see it now… is that for me alteast, depression hinders my dreamwork. But maybe that just an excuse and I would like depression to be the reason.
I think it's best not to belive in sadness effecting your dreams.Medication in my opinion is not dealing with the core problem you have. In some situations, it can be beneficial - but only in the SHORT TERM. So, essentially I don’t see how medication is really a solution… its more of a band aid - the thing is, depression doesn’t fix itself. You need to look at the problem, and figure out what options you have to, over time, MAKE your wound heal. Meds can only do so much… they also take a lot away from you (maybe your energy or desire to do things – the exact thing which is needed for you to be able to actually get better).
This is where exercise comes into play. I simply request that you admit to yourself the many many many many benefits a person receives from a proper exercise routine and healthy diet (I am referring to weight lifting - not just cardio). I’ll just state a few quickly for you:
a). You’ll have more energy.
b). You’ll feel younger.
c). You’ll look better.
d). You’ll be nicer to people - and others will be nicer to you in return.
e). You’ll receive ALL the many benefits that come from people having more interest in you. Friends, dates 
, a social life filled with people you actually WANT to be around - you’ll find positive people attract other positive people, and negative people will look at you as if your out to get them or something because your not “in the hole” with them lol.
f). You’ll realize your ability to accomplish anything.
g). You’ll become a role model for others - and you can even help them.
h). You’ll feel happier, due to chemical release, but also due to all the above points.
One good thing will happen, and another good thing will stem from that… it’s an endless swarm of GREAT things that are able to happen for you - if you just think about what your really doing to your PRECIOUS (one-per-person) body. If your body is unhappy, it will translate this to your mind which, will make you go crazy… literally…
1). Realize there is always a way, you just have to work harder than others, sometimes - but other things will come easier.
2). Accept that you absolutely HAVE to take action, or nothing CAN POSSIBLY change (DO NOT RELY ON “LUCK”).
3). Ignore negative people… they are like “black holes” that will suck the life out of you… learn to detach yourself from these people… or if you can, literally RUN away from them.
If anyone is reading this and is actually depressed about something, please PM me and I’ll see if I can give you some pointers because - I was once horribly depressed, but now I feel like I’m on top of the world and it hasn’t changed since over a year now… but… one more thing, occasionally things happen that are out of our control, there’s nothing that can be done about it… so instead focus on things you can control. It’s inevitable you’ll feel sad or even depressed occasionally, but you can be happy maybe 90% with the right mindset and… maybe just a tiny bit of luck. Think of luck as a bonus - don’t expect it or rely on it, just be happy about it when your fortunate enough for it to come along without any hard work on your part.
Also… all the points I mentioned above will enhance your ability to lucid dream (hehe, now I’m more on topic 
)