Nightmares make us feel fear, anguish and wake us up with a start, and when they become chronic, they begin to seriously affect a person’s sleep quality, even as they influence their daytime performance. effective techniques to address this phenomenon.
At some point in our lives, we all had nightmares, so we’re talking about a known phenomenon. It is a non-pathological phenomenon that poses no problem, apart from the feeling of discomfort, however, when these unpleasant dreams become recurrent, they are considered a sleep disorder.
- In the main diagnostic classification manuals nightmares are considered as a parasomnia that involves the repetition of dreams that cause intense fear.
- Usually occur during the REM phase and their content is threatening to the person.
When nightmares become chronic, they have important consequences on the quality of sleep, causing suffering from insomnia, fear of sleep or fear of the dark, in addition, it is likely that the person develops behaviors that make it difficult to sleep, such as leaving the lights on or sleeping at irregular hours.
While we still lack sufficient scientific knowledge to determine the cause and origin of nightmares, factors have been identified that influence their onset.
Imagination test therapy is one of the most studied procedures and has provided the best results in the treatment of nightmares, it is a cognitive technique based on modifying the content of sleep.
The goal is to consciously change some of the details of the nightmare, that is, make the dream a pleasant story, in this way the person is able to take control of the sleep events and modify them.
First, it is necessary to change some of the beliefs that the person may have about nightmares, we must convey to him the idea that nightmares are not something uncontrollable, but an acquired habit that can change.
On the other hand, it is important for the person to understand that once nightmares become chronic, they are no longer useful and useless, so it is time to treat them, to modify them during the vigil so that they become something more pleasurable.
The next step is to evaluate the person’s ability to imagine scenarios in a lively way, for this you have to ask him to practice a pleasant imagination creating pleasant scenes in his mind.
In addition, techniques should be taught to control the appearance of unpleasant images when viewing them.
At this point, the person is asked to select the nightmare to work with by writing a story, then we should encourage them to change everything they want in their content and rewrite it, describing in detail this new sequence of images.
Finally, she should take care of dedicating between 5 and 20 minutes a day to mentally review the modified story, the idea is that by repeating this change when waking up, the person can pursue sleep out of continuity.
If the person is consistent in applying the technique, nightmares will improve quickly with results that will be maintained over time; In addition, it will improve sleep quality and decrease the discomfort felt by the person, combined with nightmares.