Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for nightmare disorder.

Nightmare disorder is clinically significant and linked to post-traumatic stress disorder, other psychiatric conditions, and suicidality. Imagery rehearsal therapy and prazosin are leading treatments. The paper proposes using these treatments as first-line interventions for PTSD and as adjunctive therapy to reduce suicide risk in individuals with nightmares.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Interest in the treatment of nightmares has greatly increased over the last several years as research has demonstrated the clinical significance of nightmare disorder. This paper provides an overview of nightmare disorder, its clinical relevance, and the leading treatments that are available. In particular, the paper defines nightmare disorder and then summarize the recent literature examining the clinical relevance of nightmare disorder, including its relation to post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric conditions. The relation between nightmares and suicidality is also discussed. Recent findings on the treatment of nightmare with imagery rehearsal therapy and prazosin are then summarized. Lastly, the paper comments on potential future uses of nightmare treatment including using imagery rehearsal therapy or prazosin as a first-line intervention for post-traumatic stress disorder and using these treatments as an adjunctive therapy to reduce suicide risk in those at risk of suicide with nightmares.