NIGHTMARES

TYPES

Nightmares are divided into various categories:

• Repetitive dreams,such as post-traumatic hallucinations, represent an ongoing event, such as a motor car crash or war trauma, with multiple, or very similar ones.
• Recurrent dreamsmay represent conflicts or stressors over time. They, too, are mainly unpleasant.

SYMPTOMS

In the second half of the evening, you are more likely to have a nightmare. Nightmares can rarely or more regularly occur, sometimes multiple times a night. Episodes are brief, but it can be tough to force you to wake up and go back to sleep.

A nightmare may include these characteristics:

• Your dream remains comprehensive and vivid, and is very disturbing, sometimes becoming more alarming as the dream continues to develop.
• Your dream scenario is usually synonymous with dangers to security or life, but it may have other alarming concepts.
• You feel scared, nervous, furious, sad, or disappointed because of your dream.
• You feel warm or have a racing pulse when you are in bed. You can think well when you wake up and recall the specifics of your dream.

DIAGNOSIS

There are no standardized examinations administered to treat nightmare conditions. Even when recurring dreams cause you to feel sad or prevent you from getting enough sleep, nightmares are considered to be a disorder.

Your assessment could include:

• Test: You will have a physical test to assess any conditions which may lead to nightmares. If your repeated dreams reflect anticipatory anxiety, the doctor should refer you to a mental healthcare provider.
• Discussing signs: Your doctor may be concerned about sleep disorders in your family history. Your doctor might also question you or your partner about your sleep habits and, if suggested, speak about the possibility of other sleep disorders.
• Nocturnal Sleep Analysis (polysomnography): If your sleep is truly disturbed, your doctor may recommend an overnight sleep examination, which will help you determine if the nightmares are due to another sleep disorder. Sensors installed on your body will monitor and track your brain waves, blood oxygen, heart rate, and respiration, as well as the movement of your eyes and legs as you sleep.

TREATMENT

• Health counselling: If the hallucinations are associated with an underlying medical disorder, the underlying issue is the subject of treatment.
• Treatment of pain or anxiety: If a condition of mental health, such as stress or anxiety, tends to lead to hallucinations, your doctor can prescribe stress-reduction strategies, therapy, or treatment with a mental health professional.
• Rehearsal imaging therapy: Often used for people for PTSD-related dreams, imagining training therapy includes altering the ending of the recalled nightmare when awake, so it is no longer disturbing. You, instead, rehearse the new end in your head. This method will suppress nightmares frequency.
• Medicine: Drugs are seldom used for treating insomnia. Medication may also be prescribed for severe PTSD-related nightmares.