Understanding Nightmare Disorder and A brief overview of required Psychological Interventions

Abstract

Nightmare disorder is a mental health condition characterized by repeated occurrences of extended, well-remembered, dysphoric dreams, often involving themes of threat, that result in awakening from sleep and significant distress and impairment. Research points to factors such as traumatic experiences, childhood adversities, suppression of thoughts, maladaptive beliefs, other medical conditions such as sleep apnea. Psychological treatments for nightmare disorder can have three approaches, treatments that emphasize on the subjective meaning of nightmares, the pathologic repetition of the nightmares and maladaptive beliefs about nightmares.

Keywords

• Nightmare disorder
• Psychological treatments
• mental health problems

References

1. 1. VandenBos GR, editor. APA dictionary of psychology (2nd ed.). Washington: American Psychological Association; 2015
2. 2. Aetiology and treatment of nightmare disorder: State of the art and future perspectives - PubMed.
3. 3. Spoormaker VI. A cognitive model of recurrent nightmares [Internet]. Uni-heidelberg.de. [cited 2024 Apr 13]. Available from: https://archiv. ub.uni heidelberg.de/volltextserver/8436/1/40_Spoormaker.pdf
4. 4. Blagrove M, Farmer L, Williams E. The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well-being. J Sleep Res [Internet]. 2004;13(2):129–36. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2004.00394.x
5. 5. Nightmare Disorder, Psychopathology Levels, and Coping in a Diverse Psychiatric Sample - PubMed (nih.gov).
6. 6. Andrews S, Hanna P. Investigating the psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between nightmares, suicide and self-harm. Sleep Med Rev [Internet]. 2020;54(101352):101352. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101352
7. 7. Standards of Practice Committee, Aurora RN, Zak RS, Auerbach SH, Casey KR, Chowdhuri S, et al. Best practice guide for the treatment of nightmare disorder in adults. J Clin Sleep Med [Internet]. 2010;06(04):389–401. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.27883
8. 8. Nadorff MR, Lambdin KK, Germain A. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for nightmare disorder. Int Rev Psychiatry [Internet]. 2014;26(2):225–36. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2014.888989

9. 9. Krakow B, Kellner R, Pathak D, Lambert L. Long term reduction of nightmares with imagery rehearsal treatment. Behav Cogn Psychother [Internet]. 1996 [cited 2024 Apr 13];24(2):135–48. Available from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioural-and-cognitive-psychotherapy/article/abs/long-term-reduction-of-nightmares-with-imagery-rehearsal-treatment/9DD1EFF-714C207C5D71E4BD08B6A3427
10. 10. Gill P, Fraser E, Tran TTD, De Sena Collier G, Jago A, Losinno J, et al. Psychosocial treatments for nightmares in adults and children: a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry [Internet]. 2023;23(1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04703-1