Post Traumatic Nightmares

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Nightmares, especially in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, are a grievous torture for those who suffer from it. The discussion on how to effectively treat this symptom is a big topic in research. Yet, there is no promising break-through in the development of a productive therapy for it. Some researchers found that Imagery Rehearsal Therapy can alleviate the issues of post-traumatic nightmares for some of the victims and also other concepts, like autogenic training, already accomplished small successes. Furthermore, some drugs have been tested to give ease to affected ones. However, other researchers found that neither medication nor cognitive therapy can treat the illness entirely. Additionally, there are a lot of limitations in the effectiveness …show more content…
They can be strange and really frightening. A fast heartbeat, crying or screaming in fear and disturbing thoughts are just some of the concomitant effects of these night-terrors (Hartmann, 1984). When we sleep, the stage of light sleep (REM-sleep) leads to bizarre dreams that are often about being chased by something, getting murdered or losing someone dear (Hartmann, 1984). Nightmares are usually rather rare but as a symptom of PTSD they are not usual. The content of post-traumatic dreams rather is a reflection of the actual trauma that was experienced and the frequency of occurrence is much higher. Often these dreams are recurring and make the affected one live through the desperate emotions caused by the catastrophe over and over again. Thus, sufferers are often scared of falling asleep, leading to insomnia and other health issues like depression (Hefez et aI., 1987; Ohayon and Shapiro, 2000). Of course, it is important to develop a cure for this torture, which, according to Davidson et al. (2001) is not defined until now. This paper aims to discuss several studies on the treatment of post-traumatic nightmares to find evidence for the hypothesis that nightmares, as a crucial symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, cannot be treated by any specific therapy. This is a relevant topic since it could not only help scientific progress in understanding the patterns of the illness better to …show more content…
However, in that field of research, there might be ways to find a proper therapy approach. Maybe a combined treatment with medication and several cognitive therapies might be a solution. Also, culture was not taken into account. It may be that for eastern cultures for example it is easier to use image or meditation techniques, while for western cultures medication might be more useful. So, perhaps therapies for post-traumatic nightmares have to be individual in
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