Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2021
Jason G Ellis, Joseph De Koninck, Célyne Bastien
27 citations
Lucid Dreaming Training for insomnia (LDT-I) may help reduce insomnia severity, anxiety, and depression. In an open-label trial of 48 adults with Insomnia Disorder, participants completed four training modules over two weeks. One month later, insomnia severity, anxious symptomology, and depressive symptomology all showed significant reductions. The effect on insomnia severity was large. The authors caution that these preliminary results require further testing before LDT-I can be established as a non-pharmacological treatment for insomnia.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 15, 2025
Kristi E. Pruiksma, Katherine E Miller, Joanne L. Davis et al.
16 citations
An expert consensus panel reviewed treatment manuals for cognitive behavioral therapies for nightmares (CBT-N) tested in randomized clinical trials with adults. The panel developed guidelines for standardized implementation and terminology of CBT-N, addressing patient symptom presentations appropriate for treatment and components such as session length, relaxation training, stimulus control, sleep efficiency training, sleep hygiene, nightmare exposure, nightmare rescripting, and imagery rehearsal of rescripted dreams. The recommendations aim to clarify confusion caused by unstandardized nomenclature and implementation nuances, and are intended to be revised as new research evidence emerges.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2025
Yue Li, Jiaxing Tang, Gaopeng Chen
8 citations
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials involving 1,052 older adults with poor sleep quality found that meditation-based mind-body interventions (mindfulness, tai chi, yoga, and qigong) significantly improved sleep quality, depression, and anxiety compared to control conditions. No statistically significant effect on stress was observed. The authors conclude that these interventions can improve sleep quality in older adults but call for more evidence.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2025
Michelle Carr, Westley Youngren, Martin Seehuus et al.
6 citations
In a representative sample of 1,332 people, lucid dreaming was linked to poor sleep quality, stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. However, when nightmares were accounted for, nightmares alone explained the associations with poor sleep, anxiety, and stress. Both nightmares and the combination of nightmares with lucid dreaming were associated with increased depressive symptoms.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2025
Nathaniel R Choukas, Emily C Woodworth, Heena R Manglani et al.
2 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions improve sleep disturbance across healthy and clinical populations. A meta-regression of 40 randomized controlled trials found that these interventions produced significant reductions in sleep disturbance (standardized mean difference = -0.523) and in psychosocial factors such as stress and depression. Reductions in sleep disturbance were linked to reductions in stress and depression, suggesting these psychosocial factors may be important mechanisms. The analysis also indicates that participant and methodological factors play a role. Future research should include additional measures and examine longitudinal associations to identify the active ingredients of mindfulness-based interventions.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2024
Stanley Kam Ki Lam, Cherry Tin Yan Cheung, Edward K S Wang et al.
Nightmare disorder often persists over time and is linked to broader mental health problems. In a longitudinal study of 230 Hong Kong Chinese adults assessed twice over about six months, two-thirds (66.7%) of those with probable nightmare disorder at the start still met diagnostic criteria at follow-up. Those with the disorder were far more likely to screen positive for PTSD (82.1% vs. 18.3%) and used mental health services more often. Greater nightmare severity at baseline predicted worse subsequent self-rated mental health, lower self-esteem, and more PTSD symptoms. The findings suggest nightmare disorder is not merely a transient symptom but a persistent condition with public health implications.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2019
Thomas E Ellis, Katrina A Rufino, Michael R Nadorff
Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) reduced nightmare frequency and intensity and improved sleep and other symptoms, including suicidal ideation, in 20 adult psychiatric inpatients with multiple treatment-resistant conditions. No adverse reactions occurred. Because the study was an open trial without a control group, it cannot conclude that IRT specifically caused these improvements; larger controlled trials are needed.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2009
Mélanie St-Onge, Pierre Mercier, Joseph De Koninck
Imagery rehearsal therapy reduced nightmare frequency in children aged 9 to 11 with frequent primary nightmares. Twenty children without PTSD were randomly assigned to treatment or a waiting list. The treated group showed a significant decrease in nightmare frequency compared to the waiting-list group, and this reduction lasted over a 9-month follow-up. Effects on distress after nightmares could not be measured due to few nightmares, and overall nightmare distress was not significantly reduced. The therapy appears promising for reducing nightmare occurrence, though further research is needed to confirm its effect on distress.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine
January 1, 2006
Barry Krakow, Antonio Zadra
Chronic nightmares affect 5% to 8% of the general population and many trauma survivors. They may be a primary sleep disorder rather than just a symptom of psychiatric illness, so directly treating nightmares is a feasible approach. Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) has the strongest empirical support. This cognitive-imagery treatment is delivered over four roughly two-hour sessions. The article presents the main points and rationale for each session and suggests dismantling protocols to identify active ingredients of IRT, enabling flexible applications tailored to patients' needs.