[Etiology and therapy of nightmares].
F Strunz
Fortschritte der Neurologie · Psychiatrie October 1, 1987 DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1001834 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Humans Personality Dreams Psychoanalytic theory Sleep stages Stress disorders, post-traumatic |
| Key findings | The authors distinguish three nightmare forms with different proposed aetiologies: REM nightmares, NREM night terrors, and posttraumatic nightmares. They argue that depth psychological theories integrate nightmares into dream-formation theory, empirical work stresses personality traits of sufferers, and clinical casework links anxiety dreams to psychological and somatic pathology. For treatment, they contend that medication suppresses symptoms only while taken, whereas behavioural and insight treatments can eliminate dreams with enduring healing effects. |
Abstract
Theories and evidence on the aetiology of the 3 distinct forms of nightmares (REM nightmares, NREM night terrors, posttraumatic nightmares) are exposed. Depth psychological theories try an aetiological integration of the nightmare into their respective theories of dream formation, whereas empirical work stresses the personality-typical traits of nightmare sufferers. Clinical casework reports relate anxiety dreams to existing psychological and somatic pathology. Posttraumatic nightmares are repetitive mental reactions to heavy traumatic or life-threatening events. Nightmare therapy, insofar as it has become an independent variety of psychological intervention, uses drug medication, which is able to suppress the symptom of the sufferer when on the drug, whereas behavioural and insight treatment not only eliminate the dreams, but can have an enduring healing effect.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming | 2019 | Review | |
| Sleep and dreaming are for important matters | 2013 | Review | |
| Nightmare Disorder and Isolated Sleep Paralysis | 2020 | Review | |
| My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? | 2019 | Review | |
| Dream Recall: State or Trait Variable? Part I: Model, Theories, Methodology and Trait Factors | 1996 | Review |