How nightmares can be defeated

Defeat nightmares in self-direction with special therapy

05/30/2012

About five percent of Germans regularly suffer from nightmares. Affected people often describe their nightly horror trips as very cruel and threatening, so many are afraid of falling asleep. Specialized therapies can show ways in which those affected can direct themselves and the nightmare loses its horror.

Nightmares are characterized by strong negative feelings
For Sabine S., falling asleep every evening is a torment. „In the last two years there has hardly been a night without nightmares“, she reports. Waking up with a sweat bath is also nothing out of the ordinary for the Executive Assistant. Mostly she dreams of being in a white empty room without windows and doors. Suddenly, walls, ceiling and floor would move towards each other, so that the room becomes ever narrower. „Most of the time I wake up just before I get crushed. I'm scared to death then“, says Sabine S. It often takes hours before she calms down again. Just like them, according to studies, about five percent of Germans regularly suffer from nightmares.

„Typical of nightmares is that they are associated with strong negative emotions“, explains expert Johanna Thünker from the University of Düsseldorf. In addition to fear, strong disgust, shame or anger also occur. „These emotions become stronger as the nightmare progresses, so you usually wake up.“ Those affected can usually remember in detail the content of the nightmare, because they are experienced very intensively and act on existential dangers. „You or a close person is threatened with death, you are persecuted, abandoned or your own self-esteem is attacked, for example because you fail miserably“, reports Thünker. Professor Michael Schredl from the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim emphasizes: „Nightmares in themselves are nothing bad.“ Only when they occur frequently can health be damaged. „If you have nightmares at least once a week over a period of about six months, this is a clue to a possible nightmare disorder. Then action is announced.“

Due to nightmares fear of falling asleep
Many affected people would consciously or unconsciously hesitate to fall asleep out of fear of nightmares, explains the director of the Institute for Consciousness and Dream Research in Vienna, Brigitte Holzinger. However, this behavior leads to a vicious circle, from which breaking out is difficult. Due to the lack of sleep, one's own mood deteriorates, concentration and efficiency decrease and in the long term even cardiovascular diseases can occur. „Often nightmares occur in people who have experienced something traumatic or are in a stressful and stressful life situation“, says Holzinger. According to scientists, it is probably primarily sensitive and creative people who are at risk. Four- to twelve-year-old children also have more nightmares. „Presumably, it's because they're going through an exciting phase of development, where they are constantly learning something new.“

Treat Nightmares with Imagination Therapy
Although nightmares are a separate disease recognized by the health insurance companies, they often occur in combination with other mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders.

Experts often use so-called Recreational Therapy or Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) to treat nightmares. „The victim assumes the role of the director and invents a new ending that is less frightening“, explains Thünker. The person concerned first writes down his nightmare in detail. On this basis, the anxiety-causing elements are worked out with the help of the therapist. In the next step less frightening alternatives are worked out, with which the fear elements of the nightmare are replaced. The new dream version should fit the old one. „For example, a dark parking garage turns into a well lit, and the alleged pursuer takes a different route“, explains Thünker. Then the person in charge writes down the new alternative dream and introduces himself several times a day to transfer it to the nightmare. „The IRT method has so far the highest success rate“, Schredl reports. Affected would rarely dream the new dream version in detail. „But the original nightmare occurs only in a weakened form and not so often“, explains Thünker. (Ag)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann