Nightmare Distress as a Risk Factor for Suicide Among Adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder
Nature and Science of Sleep September 1, 2022 Tian‐He Song, Tingting Wang, Yun‐Yue Zhuang et al. 13 citations
Adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience more frequent nightmares and greater nightmare distress than healthy peers (22.0% vs 6.1% reporting nightmares at least once per week). Among those with suicide risk, over half (51.6%) had frequent nightmares, compared to about a third (30.7%) without suicide risk. Nightmare distress, along with female gender, junior grade, recurrent depressive episodes, and severe depressive symptoms, independently and significantly predicts suicide risk. The findings indicate that nightmare distress is an independent risk factor for suicide in adolescents with MDD, suggesting that addressing nightmares may be important in suicide prevention for this population.