Nightmare disorder can cause many problems with sleep, mental and physical health, and daily functioning. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly identify the cause and take appropriate remedial measures to minimize the affecting problems. This helps you take better care of your sleep, protect your health, and maintain a quality life.
Nightmare disorder is a worrisome condition, absolutely not subjective
What is nightmare disorder?
A nightmare is a disturbing dream that involves a negative feeling, such as excessive anxiety or fear of waking you up. Nightmares are common in children, but they can happen at any age. Occasional nightmares are usually nothing to worry about.
Nightmares can begin in children between the ages of 3 and 6 and tend to subside after the age of 10. During adolescence and young adulthood, girls are more likely to have nightmares than boys. Some people even have nightmares as adults or throughout their lives.
Nightmares are common, but nightmare disorders are relatively rare. Nightmare disorder refers to a condition in which nightmares occur on a regular basis. It causes anxiety, disrupts sleep, creates feelings of dread at bedtime, and makes daytime activities difficult.
Nightmare disorder is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as repeated awakenings accompanied by the recall of frightening dreams. Usually associated with threats to safety, survival or physical integrity.
The specific DSM-5 criteria for nightmare disorder are as follows:
Repeated episodes of dreams are long, extremely unpleasant, and clearly remembered. Usually involves an attempt to avoid threats to survival, security, or physical integrity. Nightmares usually occur in the second half of the big sleep phase.
Upon awakening from a nightmare, the individual quickly becomes awake.
Causes episodes of distress or severe impairment in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning.
Symptoms that cannot be explained by the effects of medication or drug abuse.
Nightmares cannot be attributed to another mental disorder (such as delirium, post-traumatic stress disorder) or medical condition.
In addition, nightmare disorder was defined by time: acute (less than 1 month), subacute (1 to 6 months), chronic (more than 6 months). It is also defined by severity based on frequency: mild (less than once a week), moderate (several times a week), severe (nightly).
Causes of nightmare disorder
Nightmare disorder is thought to be closely related to insomnia, which often occurs during REM sleep. So far, despite many studies, the exact cause of this disease has not been determined.
However, experts say that some of the following factors may be involved in the triggering of nightmares:
1. Prolonged stress and anxiety
Prolonged stress is thought to be a possible factor in causing scary dreams. It can be pressure from many problems in life or traumatic experiences. Everyone’s stress tolerance is different. However, the death of a loved one often leaves a huge loss and causes terrible nightmares.
Prolonged stress can cause many people to experience frequent nightmares while sleeping
2. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Accidents, torture, sexual abuse are common causes of nightmares. In other words, people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to have nightmares on a more frequent basis.
3. Lack of sleep, insomnia causes nightmare disorder
Changes in work schedule or daily life can make sleep and wake times irregular. This has the potential to be disruptive and reduce hours of sleep. This will increase the risk of having nightmares. On the other hand, insomnia is also associated with many other neurological problems besides nightmare disorder.
4. Other mental health problems
Depression, along with a number of other mental disorders, has been shown to be associated with recurrent nightmares. In addition, nightmares also tend to co-occur with certain other medical conditions, such as heart disease and cancer. Most medical conditions or other sleep disorders that impair sleep quality can lead to nightmares.
5. Drug abuse
Certain medications, including those used to treat Parkinson’s disease, blood pressure medications, and antidepressants, have the potential to cause and prolong nightmares if taken for a long time. In addition, addictive substances and stimulants are also common factors that make you sink into endless nightmares.
Abuse of certain medications can also make nightmares more frequent
6. Other factors
In addition to the common causes mentioned above, a number of other factors may also be involved in nightmare disorder. Such as:
- About 7% of people who have frequent nightmares have a family history of the condition or sleepwalking.
- Nightmares have been linked to anxiety disorders, especially in adolescents.
- Daytime emotional conflicts often affect nighttime sleep and lead to nightmares.
- Nightmares may occur more often during pregnancy.
- For some people, reading or watching scary movies, especially before bed, can also be associated with nightmares.
Manifestations of nightmare disorder
In fact, you’re more likely to experience nightmares in the second half of your big night’s sleep. Nightmares may occur rarely or more often, even several times a night. Although nightmares can be brief, they keep you awake and make it difficult to get back to sleep.
A nightmare may involve some of the following:
- Your dreams are often vivid, realistic but very unpleasant. It tends to become more disturbing when the dream opens up about something.
- Dream plots often involve threats to survival or safety. However it can also have other topics of concern.
- The dream wakes you up.
- You feel anxiety, fear, anger, disgust, or sadness as a result of the dream.
- You feel sweaty, your heart pounding when you’re in bed.
- You can think clearly when you wake up and can recall the details of the dream you just had.
- The dream causes distress, making it impossible for you to fall back to sleep easily.
Nightmares are defined as a disorder only if:
Nightmare disorder can cause severe distress and impair mood
- It tends to appear often
- Causes distress or severely degrades mood during the day. Such as anxiety, persistent fear or anxiety before going to bed due to the fear of having another nightmare.
- Memory or concentration problems. You can’t stop thinking about the images that appear in the dream.
- Daytime drowsiness, lethargy, fatigue and low energy.
- Problems with functioning at school, work, or in social situations.
- Behavioral problems related to bedtime or fear of the dark.
A child with a nightmare disorder can cause significant sleep disturbance and anxiety for parents and caregivers. It is best to take the initiative to take your child to see a doctor for timely and proper diagnosis and treatment instructions.
Nightmare disorder and affective problems
Nightmare disorder was assessed as a condition of concern. It not only affects health but also gives rise to many serious problems in life. The main influences include:
- Excessive daytime sleepiness can lead to difficulties at school or work. It even causes problems with everyday tasks, such as concentration and driving.
- Mood problems, such as anxiety or depression from negative dreams, continue to bother you.
- Resist going to bed for fear you’ll have another bad dream. This leads to a severe lack of sleep that leaves the body weak, fatigued, and exacerbates existing health problems.
- Suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.
Diagnosis of nightmare disorder
There are currently no standardized tests that are routinely performed to diagnose nightmare disorder. Nightmares are only defined as a disorder where disturbing dreams make you anxious or don’t get enough sleep. To diagnose a nightmare disorder, your doctor usually needs to consider your medical history as well as the symptoms you’re experiencing.
If you regularly experience nightmares, you should actively consult a doctor
- Exam: Your doctor will usually ask you to do a physical exam to identify any conditions that may be contributing to your nightmares. If recurring nightmares indicate underlying anxiety, your doctor may refer you to a mental health professional.
- Discuss the symptoms: Nightmare disorder is usually diagnosed based on a description of your experiences. Your doctor may ask about your family history of sleep-related problems. Your doctor may also ask you or your partner about the behaviors you experience while sleeping. Also discuss the possibility of other sleep disorders.
- Nocturnal sleep study: If your sleep is severely disturbed, your doctor may recommend an overnight sleep study to determine if nightmares are related to another sleep disorder. or not. Sensors placed on your body record and monitor your heart rate, breathing rate, brain waves, and blood oxygen levels. Along with that, it tracks eye and leg movements while you sleep. You may be videotaped to document your behavior during your sleep cycle.
How to overcome nightmare disorder
If you only have a few nightmares every now and then, treatment isn’t usually necessary. However, treatment may be needed if nightmares are distressing, disrupt your sleep, or interfere with your daytime activities.
Commonly used treatments include:
1. Medical care
It is necessary to clearly identify the cause of the sleep disorder in order to provide an appropriate treatment for each patient. Treatment options that may be prescribed by your doctor include:
- Medical treatment: Where nightmares are related to an underlying medical condition, treatment is aimed at the underlying problem. When the underlying medical condition is resolved, your sleep is less likely to be affected, avoiding nightmares.
- Treating stress or anxiety: Where a mental health condition, such as anxiety or stress, is contributing to nightmares, your doctor may recommend stress-relieving techniques, counseling, or treatment. with a psychologist.
- Rehearsal visualization method: Often used for people who have nightmares as a result of PTSD. This therapy allows the patient to relive the nightmares they experience upon awakening. However, they will rewrite it the way they want it so it’s no longer threatening. Then rehearse this new ending in mind to help reduce the frequency of nightmares.
- Medications: Medications are rarely used to treat nightmares. However, doctors may consider medication for patients with severe nightmares related to PTSD. Atypical antipsychotics and tricyclic antidepressants are the most commonly used.
In addition, a number of other therapies may also be beneficial. Consists of:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Exposure therapy
- Hypnosis
- lucid dream therapy
- Deep muscle relaxation
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
- Systematic desensitization
- Self-exposure therapy
2. Home Remedies
In addition to medical care, there are a number of home remedies that can help improve the effectiveness of your nightmare disorder treatment. Consists of:
– Form good sleep habits:
The habits before bed are considered very important for the quality of sleep. Your sleep will become smoother when your body receives the signal that it is ready to sleep.
There are many ways to help you relax before bed. For example, turn off electronic devices and do mind-soothing activities such as soaking in a warm bath, diffusing scents, reading a book.
In addition, meditation and yoga are also simple therapies that have a very positive effect on sleep. Your bedroom also needs to be clean, well-ventilated and quiet. Should use a night light with yellow light or keep the room dark when sleeping.
– Reassurance after having a nightmare:
It is not easy for you to immediately calm down after having a nightmare. At this point, it’s best to be patient and learn to breathe deeply. Then reassure yourself with arguments that negate the effects of nightmares.
Tell yourself that these nightmares are completely not real so it can’t hurt you. This action will help you prevent similar nightmares in the future.
– Actively rewrite the ending of the dream:
You can completely rewrite the plot or ending for the nightmares you encounter. What you need right now is the power of awareness. Slowly identify the details in the dream, then use your imagination to change it to your liking.
– Share dreams with others:
Sharing your dream with someone else can lessen your terror. Just like how you deal with fear, talk about it forcefully and you will no longer be haunted by vague nightmares.
Sharing dreams with others can help you reduce your fears, anxieties, and phobias
To do this, you need to find someone close enough to you and tell them about everything you experienced in your dream. Tell them what happened, who appeared in the dream, and what scared you.
– Stress management:
If stress and anxiety are a problem, deal with it. Practicing some simple activities at home can help reduce stress. For example, deep breathing, meditation, yoga, warm baths, aromatherapy, massage, etc. If you feel the need, you can seek help from a psychologist.
– Measures to create comfort:
Your baby may feel more secure when he sleeps with his favorite stuffed animal, comforter, or object of comfort. You can leave the door of the child’s room open at night so that the child does not feel lonely. Or when necessary, you can also suggest sleeping with your child if he feels comfortable.
Nightmare disorder has a significant impact on mental and physical health as well as quality of life. Therefore, you should actively consult your doctor for proper treatment instructions. In addition, incorporating home care measures is also a very important part of the treatment plan for this condition.
