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Nightmare reduction in a Vietnam veteran using imagery rehearsal therapy.

Kate L Berlin, Melanie K Means, Jack D Edinger

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine October 1, 2010 DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.27940 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Case study Case report Peer reviewed
Sample size 1
Population Vietnam-era veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic nightmares
Intervention Imagery rehearsal therapy
Topics Dreaming
Keywords Humans Treatment outcome Dreams Stress disorders, post-traumatic Vietnam conflict Aged Veterans Male Imagery, psychotherapy
Key findings Imagery rehearsal therapy, which involves deliberately rewriting a nightmare and mentally rehearsing the rescripted scenario while awake, was associated with considerably reduced nightmares and greatly improved sleep quality in a Vietnam-era veteran with PTSD and chronic nightmares.

Abstract

Following exposure to traumatic events, approximately 19% of combat veterans develop posttraumatic stress disorder. One of the main symptoms of this mental illness is reexperiencing the trauma, which is commonly expressed in the form of chronic trauma-related nightmares. In these patients, nightmares can fragment sleep, decrease sleep quality, and even cause fear about going to sleep. One promising psychological treatment for chronic nightmares is imagery rehearsal therapy. Imagery rehearsal therapy presumes that nightmares are a learned behavior and that activating the visual imagery system may facilitate emotional processing of the trauma. This treatment involves deliberately rewriting a nightmare and mentally rehearsing images from the newly rescripted scenario while awake. Imagery rehearsal therapy has been found to reduce nightmares and associated distress. We present a case study demonstrating the use of imagery rehearsal therapy in a Vietnam-era veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic nightmares. Nightmares were considerably reduced and the quality of sleep greatly improved after treatment.

Comparable studies

Other case reports and case series on dreaming, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Lucid Dreaming as a Learnable Skill: A Case Study The author 1980 Case study n = 1
Lucid Dreaming as a Treatment for Recurrent Nightmares People with recurrent nightmares 2010 Case study n = 5
Treating Chronic Nightmares of Sexual Assault Survivors with an Intellectual Disability – Two Descriptive Case Studies Adults with learning disabilities suffering from post-traumatic nightmares 2006 Case study n = 2
Lucid dreaming: Correspondence between dreamed and actual events in one subject during rem sleep A lucid dreamer 1984 Case study n = 1
Lucid dreaming treatment for nightmares: A series of cases. Participants with nightmares 2003 Case series n = 8

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