Psychology professor comments on dream research on Fox News Channel
Janel Shoun |
The latest hot flick at the cinema Inception has many talking about dreams and our potential ability to control them.
Dr. Dale Alden, assistant professor of psychology in the graduate counseling program, was interviewed by Fox News discussing sleep research showing that therapy can help people suffering from intense nightmares turn their dreams into more pleasant experiences.
The interview on Fox’s Saturday, July 31, national newscast was prompted by a New York Times article on research done by Dr. Barry Krakow. Krakow’s studies showed that scripting – or dream mastery – conducted as part of image rehearsal therapy did work to ease the nightmares of women suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).
Dr. Alden, a neuropsychologist and licensed psychologist with a practice in Columbia, Tenn., believes Krakow’s research may be an early step in finding solutions to nightmares for all types of PTSD patients, such as military veterans and those who have suffered in a natural disaster.
“If the brain can learn to ‘run a tape’ of the traumatic event in both wakefulness and during sleep, then it can learn to run an alternative ‘tape’ that is more pleasant, less threatening, even healing,” said Alden.
Dr. Alden earned his master of science in counseling from Abilene Christian University, his doctorate in clinical psychology/neuropsychology from Virginia Tech University, and his specialization in neuropsychology/geropsychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
He teaches introduction to psychopathology, psychological assessment, and theories of behavior and learning for the Lipscomb graduate counseling program.