Increased Mastery Elements Associated With Imagery Rehearsal Treatment for Nightmares in Sexual Assault Survivors With PTSD.
Anne Germain, Barry Krakow, Brigitte Faucher, Antonio Zadra, Tore Nielsen, Michael Hollifield, Teddy D. Warner, Mary P. Koss
Dreaming December 1, 2004 DOI: 10.1037/1053-0797.14.4.195 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 44 |
| Population | Female sexual assault survivors with chronic nightmares |
| Intervention | Imagery rehearsal therapy |
| Measures | standardized dream coding system, multidimensional mastery scale |
| Topics | Dreaming PTSD |
| Citations | 78 |
| Key findings | New dreams scripted during imagery rehearsal therapy contained significantly fewer negative elements and more occurrences of positive elements and mastery-related content compared to original nightmares, suggesting mastery plays a role in nightmare reduction. |
Abstract
Exposure, abreaction, and mastery have been proposed as the therapeutic processes of nightmare (NM) reduction. Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) effectively reduces NMs but involves minimal exposure and abreaction. The authors investigated the use of mastery in the scripting of new dreams (NDs) elaborated during IRT. NM an dN D reports were collected from 44 female sexual assault survivors with chronic NMs during their initial application of IRT. Mastery was assessed with a standardized dream coding system and a multidimensional mastery scale. NDs contained significantly fewer negative elements and more occurrences of positive elements and mas