For veterans, an example of a PTSD nightmare usually involves the replaying of traumatic events they witnessed or took part in. Similar to civilians who suffer from PTSD, their nightmares could be a replay of the traumatic event, such as physical abuse or violence.
A nightmare usually involves replaying the traumatic event, feeling like they are right back there again. For veterans, this might mean re-witnessing horrific events or even deaths of people they witnessed while on combat missions.
Treatment of night terrors often involves anticipatory waking (Lask 1988, Maskey 1993, Galbiati et.al 2015 ) . In summary, PTSD nightmares differ from standard nightmares because the themes, or feelings are related to the traumatic experience. They have also started after the traumatic experience.
PTSD and Night Terrors
Approximately 96% of people with PTSD experience terrifying nightmares that are so vivid that they seem real. Unlike bad dreams, night terrors have physical manifestations such as thrashing, flailing, screaming, and even sleepwalking.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
REM Sleep Disturbances in PTSD: Hallmark or Not? Nightmares are primarily a REM sleep phenomenon, but they may also occur during NREM sleep in patients with PTSD (12). These dysphoric dreams often depict themes, images, and emotions that can be related to traumatic events.
Triggers can include sights, sounds, smells, or thoughts that remind you of the traumatic event in some way. Some PTSD triggers are obvious, such as seeing a news report of an assault. Others are less clear. For example, if you were attacked on a sunny day, seeing a bright blue sky might make you upset.
Engage in self-care: A healthy mind and body can better respond to and recover from traumatic stress reactions. Eat a balanced and healthy diet, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, avoid doing drugs and alcohol, and take adequate time to relax.
As your partner goes through treatment, there are several other things you can help them with to manage night terrors and reduce their frequency: Speak calmly but avoid waking them. A person may behave irrationally and violently during a night terror. Trying to wake them up can be dangerous but also futile.
Not surprisingly, PTSD sufferers often wake from sleep with the covers torn off, or may even find themselves on the floor. Some remember in precise detail what they've dreamt; while others wake with no memory of a dream, but have intense emotions of fear, horror or anger, as though the trauma has just occurred.
One possible medication for PTSD nightmares is the drug prazosin. Doctors normally prescribe it for high blood pressure, but they may prescribe it off-label to reduce PTSD nightmares. However, some side effects of prazosin include dizziness, headaches, drowsiness, weakness, heart palpitations, and nausea.
Nightmares may also represent a breakdown in the body's ability to process trauma. Fortunately, for most people trauma-related nightmares subside after a few weeks or months.
One of the main causes of crying in your sleep is past trauma. The reason that unresolved trauma or grief manifests in our sleep is due to our brains performing daily processing functions.
Women with PTSD may be more likely than men with PTSD to: Be easily startled. Have more trouble feeling emotions or feel numb. Avoid things that remind them of the trauma.
The re-experiencing symptom criteria of PTSD include intrusive memories of the traumatic event, and the avoidance symptom criteria include the inability to recall important aspects of the trauma.
This can sometimes be like watching a video of what happened, but flashbacks do not necessarily involve seeing images, or reliving events from start to finish. You might experience any of the following: seeing full or partial images of what happened. noticing sounds, smells or tastes connected to the trauma.
During a flashback, you may feel like you're living through the trauma again. Flashbacks are more than a memory — they can also involve the emotional and physical sensations you felt during a traumatic event. For example, if you were sexually abused, you might feel as though your abuser is physically there with you.
People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people.
PTSD causes your brain to get stuck in danger mode. Even after you're no longer in danger, it stays on high alert. Your body continues to send out stress signals, which lead to PTSD symptoms. Studies show that the part of the brain that handles fear and emotion (the amygdala) is more active in people with PTSD.
What Helps With PTSD Nightmares? You can make sure your bedroom is not too cold or too hot; start a nightly relaxation routine to prepare for sleep; ensure there isn't light in your room keeping you from sleeping deeply; exercise daily; talk about your dreams; and engage in Image Rehearsal Therapy (IRT).
Seek safety “spots” in their environment, in whatever room they may be in at the time. Children who sleep on the floor instead of their bed after a trauma do so because they fear the comfort of a bed will let them sleep so hard that they won't hear danger coming.
The pharmacological agent with the most evidence to support its use in the treatment of sleep disturbances in PTSD is prazosin. It is currently recommended by the Standards of Practice Committee of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for use in treating PTSD-associated nightmares.