Nightmares are a common and serious problem in psychotherapeutic practice, although they are seldom considered as independent mental disorders. There are some promising approaches to the treatment of nightmares, notably Imagery Rehearsal Therapy, a cognitive-restructuring treatment. The core of this approach is the modification of the nightmare script and repeated imagination of the new script....

OBJECTIVE This observational, longitudinal study of veterans with recent combat exposure describes the prevalence, severity and associations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, and nightmares over time. METHODS Eighty recent combat veterans recruited from Veterans Health Administration primary care settings met inclusion criteria including hazardous alcohol use and at least sub...

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may be highly prevalent in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and may exacerbate PTSD complaints. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine whether the prevalence of OSA was high in a sample of Dutch veterans with PTSD as compared to age- and trauma-matched controls, and whether OSA was associated with more severe PTSD complaints. METHODS We determi...

Prazosin is recommended for treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-associated nightmares. Level A. Image Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) is recommended for treatment of nightmare disorder. Level A. Systematic Desensitization and Progressive Deep Muscle Relaxation training are suggested for treatment of idiopathic nightmares. Level B. Venlafaxine is not suggested for treatment of PTSD-associa...

rehearsal treatment for nightmares in sexual assault survivors with PTSD. Dreaming 2004;14:195–206. [2] Neidhardt EJ, Krakow B, Kellner R, Pathak D. The beneficial effects of one treatment session and recording of nightmares on chronic nightmare sufferers. Sleep 1992;15:470–3. [3] Krakow B, Schrader R, Tandberg D, Hollifield M, Koss MP, Yau CL, et al. Nightmare frequency in sexual assault survi...

Sexual assault survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were assessed for frequency of nightmares, measured retrospectively on the Nightmare Frequency Questionnaire (NFQ) and prospectively on nightmare dream logs (NLOG). Retrospective frequency was extremely high, averaging occurrences every other night and an estimated number of nightmares greater than five per week. Test-retest re...

Two case studies are presented to demonstrate that children who experience trauma-related nightmares may benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy for this sleep problem. The treatment was adapted from the empirically supported adult treatment for chronic trauma-related nightmares: exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy (ERRT). Pretreatment and posttreatment nightmare frequency and sever...

The characteristics of nightmares of 48 male U.S. Vietnam war veterans with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as revised dream scripts developed in the course of Imagery Rehearsal therapy, were examined in relation to pretreatment symptomatology and treatment outcome. Features, content, and themes of nightmares and rescripted dreams were coded by 2 independent raters....

Post-traumatic stress disorder is related to a wide range of medical problems, with a majority of neurological, psychological, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, as well as sleep disorders. Although the majority of studies reveal the association between PTSD and sleep disturbances, there are few studies on the assessment of sleep disruption among veterans with PT...