Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
September 10, 2026
Gustavo Garrido, Kenzo Donato, João Victor Gonzalez et al.
Sleep paralysis is a REM-sleep parasomnia which manifests as a temporary inability to perform voluntary muscle movements during the sleep-wake transition. Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear, anxiety, and related behavioral disturbances. Notably, lifetime prevalence of sleep paralysis is elevated among psychiatric populations. The purpose of this review and meta-analysis was...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
January 22, 2026
Amanda Radtke, Zahari N. Tchopev, Philip Cushman et al.
Nightmare Disorder (NDO) is an underdiagnosed sleep disorder causing significant impairment, particularly in active duty U.S. military personnel who experience unique stressors. Despite 59.28% of referred service members reporting nightmares and 19.76% screening positive for probable NDO, baseline diagnosis rate was only 0.60%. Our quality improvement project aimed to improve identification and...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
September 1, 2022
Nanke Cui, Marjolein A Van Looij, Kristel M Kasius
Sleep paralysis is a period of paralysis at either sleep onset or upon awakening and is often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations. We report a case of a 32-year-old healthy men with a history of mild positional obstructive sleep apnea and sleep paralysis. The positional sleep apnea was successfully treated with the Sleep Position Trainer. Remarkably, he did no longer experience episodes of...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
August 1, 2022
Helene Vitali, Claudio Campus, Valentina De Giorgis et al.
The mechanisms involved in the origin of dreams remain one of the great unknowns in science. In the 21st century, studies in the field have focused on 3 main topics: functional networks that underlie dreaming, neural correlates of dream contents, and signal propagation. We review neuroscientific studies about dreaming processes, focusing on their cortical correlations. The involvement of...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
April 1, 2021
Greta Mainieri, Jean-Baptiste Maranci, Pierre Champetier et al.
40 citations
To determine the polysomnography characteristics during sleep paralysis, false awakenings, and lucid dreaming (which are states intermediate to rapid eye movement [REM] sleep and wake but exceptionally observed in sleep laboratory). In 5 participants, we captured 5 episodes of sleep paralysis (2 time marked with the ocular left-right-left-right code normally used to signal lucid dreaming, 1...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
November 15, 2020
Caroline Sierro, Wendy Leslie, Benjamin Putois
Sierro C, Leslie W, Putois B. Long-term effects of treatment for chronic nightmares: is imagery rehearsal therapy robust in the COVID-19 pandemic? J Clin Sleep Med. 2020;16(11):1993.
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
June 15, 2020
Valentina Gnoni, Sean Higgins, Alexander David Nesbitt et al.
12 citations
Unpleasant dreamlike mentation can occur during non-rapid eye movement parasomnias, leading to associated panic attacks. The mentations are rarely remembered and are likely underreported. However, they may lead to significant personal distress and, if not addressed, may contribute to poorer clinical outcomes. Cotard le délire de negation are very rare nihilistic delusions, historically...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
June 15, 2018
Timothy I Morgenthaler, Sanford Auerbach, Kenneth R Casey et al.
Nightmare disorder affects approximately 4% of adults, occurring in isolation or as part of other disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and can significantly impair quality of life. This paper provides the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) position regarding various treatments of nightmare disorder in adults. A literature search was performed based upon the keywords...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
March 15, 2018
Michael Schredl, Anja S. Göritz
Even though the common diagnostic criteria (ICSD-3, DSM-5) acknowledge that nightmares do not only contain anxiety/fear (definition of the ICD-10) but also other emotions such as grief, disgust, and anger, the definition of a nightmare still focuses on threats to survival, security, or physical integrity. However, empirical studies on nightmare content in larger samples are scarce. The current...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
January 15, 2018
Franziska Di Pauli, Ambra Stefani, Evi Holzknecht et al.
Few studies have addressed dreaming in patients with sleep apnea. We hypothesized that respiratory events and subsequent oxygen desaturation act as an important physiological trigger and may thus influence dream content in patients with a sleep-related breathing disorder. Seventy-six patients (28 women, mean age 54 years, range 20-82) who underwent polysomnography because of suspected sleep...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
July 15, 2016
Michael Schredl, Lara Dehmlow, Judith Schmitt
Despite the considerable prevalence of the nightmare disorder and its burden on the patient, nightmares are underdiagnosed and undertreated, even in sleep centers. A total of 1,125 patients in a sleep center undergoing routine diagnostic procedures for their sleep disorders completed a questionnaire about nightmares. About 20% of the sample indicated an interest in more information about...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
July 15, 2015
Michael R Nadorff, Danielle K Nadorff, Anne Germain
Nightmares are a robust and modifiable predictor of increased suicidality and poor psychiatric outcomes, yet nightmare screening and treatment remain rare, even in sleep centers. This paper aims to examine what proportion of nightmare sufferers have discussed nightmares with a healthcare provider, as well as possible explanations for low rates of nightmare complaints. The present study utilized...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
April 15, 2015
Maria-Lucia Muntean, Claudia Trenkwalder, Arthur S Walters et al.
To clarify whether motor behaviors and/ or vocalizations during REM sleep, which do not yet fulfill diagnostic criteria for REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and were defined as REM sleep behavioral events (RBEs), correspond to dream enactments. 13 subjects (10 patients with Parkinson disease [PD] and 3 healthy controls) originally identified with RBE in a prospective study (DeNoPa cohort) were...
Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
January 15, 2015
Gilbert Seda, Maria M Sanchez-Ortuno, Carolyn H Welsh et al.
In this meta-analysis, we compare the short-term efficacy of prazosin vs. IRT on nightmares, sleep quality, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Reference databases were searched for randomized controlled trials using IRT or prazosin for nightmares, sleep disturbance, and/or PTSS. Effect sizes were calculated by subtracting the mean posttest score in the control group from the mean...