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Sleep Medicine Clinics Mar 2024This article presents a comprehensive review of nightmare disorder, covering diagnosis, treatment approaches, guidelines, and considerations. It begins with an... (Review)
Review
This article presents a comprehensive review of nightmare disorder, covering diagnosis, treatment approaches, guidelines, and considerations. It begins with an introduction, defining the disorder and addressing its prevalence and psychosocial implications. The article explores assessment tools for diagnosis and then delves into psychological and pharmacologic treatment modalities, examining their efficacy and side effects. Considerations for optimizing therapeutic outcomes are highlighted, including medication versus psychotherapy, co-morbidities, cultural implications, and the use of technology and service animals. The review concludes by offering key recommendations for effective treatment and clinical care for individuals with nightmare disorder.
Topics: Humans; Dreams; Polysomnography; Psychotherapy; Comorbidity
PubMed: 38368059
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.10.011 -
The Journal of Comparative Neurology Dec 2020The presence of dreams in human sleep, especially in REM sleep, and the detection of physiologically similar states in mammals has led many to ponder whether animals... (Review)
Review
The presence of dreams in human sleep, especially in REM sleep, and the detection of physiologically similar states in mammals has led many to ponder whether animals experience similar sleep mentation. Recent advances in our understanding of the anatomical and physiological correlates of sleep stages, and thus dreaming, allow a better understanding of the possibility of dream mentation in nonhuman mammals. Here, we explore the potential for dream mentation, in both non-REM and REM sleep across mammals. If we take a hard-stance, that dream mentation only occurs during REM sleep, we conclude that it is unlikely that monotremes, cetaceans, and otariid seals while at sea, have the potential to experience dream mentation. Atypical REM sleep in other species, such as African elephants and Arabian oryx, may alter their potential to experience REM dream mentation. Alternatively, evidence that dream mentation occurs during both non-REM and REM sleep, indicates that all mammals have the potential to experience dream mentation. This non-REM dream mentation may be different in the species where non-REM is atypical, such as during unihemispheric sleep in aquatic mammals (cetaceans, sirens, and Otariid seals). In both scenarios, the cetaceans are the least likely mammalian group to experience vivid dream mentation due to the morphophysiological independence of their cerebral hemispheres. The application of techniques revealing dream mentation in humans to other mammals, specifically those that exhibit unusual sleep states, may lead to advances in our understanding of the neural underpinnings of dreams and conscious experiences.
Topics: Animals; Dreams; Electroencephalography; Humans; Sleep Stages
PubMed: 31960424
DOI: 10.1002/cne.24860 -
Sleep Health Apr 2021
Topics: Dreams; Humans
PubMed: 33685831
DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2021.02.001 -
Consciousness and Cognition Oct 2020
Topics: Dreams; Humans
PubMed: 32854064
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103006 -
Current Neuropharmacology 2020The cannabinoids, Δ9 tetrahydrocannabinol and its analogue, nabilone, have been found to reliably attenuate the intensity and frequency of post-traumatic nightmares.... (Review)
Review
The cannabinoids, Δ9 tetrahydrocannabinol and its analogue, nabilone, have been found to reliably attenuate the intensity and frequency of post-traumatic nightmares. This essay examines how a traumatic event is captured in the mind, after just a single exposure, and repeatedly replicated during the nights that follow. The adaptive neurophysiological, endocrine and inflammatory changes that are triggered by the trauma and that alter personality and behavior are surveyed. These adaptive changes, once established, can be difficult to reverse. But cannabinoids, uniquely, have been shown to interfere with all of these post-traumatic somatic adaptations. While cannabinoids can suppress nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, they are not a cure. There may be no cure. The cannabinoids may best be employed, alone, but more likely in conjunction with other agents, in the immediate aftermath of a trauma to mitigate or even abort the metabolic changes which are set in motion by the trauma and which may permanently alter the reactivity of the nervous system. Steps in this direction have already been taken.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Cannabinoids; Dreams; Fear; Humans; Memory; Pain; Sleep; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
PubMed: 31934840
DOI: 10.2174/1570159X18666200114142321 -
Issues in Mental Health Nursing May 2018
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Psychoanalytic Review Feb 2017This article links contemporary psychoanalytic theories of the dream, especially Bion's, with the work of the American video artist Bill Viola, who is deeply influenced... (Review)
Review
This article links contemporary psychoanalytic theories of the dream, especially Bion's, with the work of the American video artist Bill Viola, who is deeply influenced by altered states of consciousness and produces images of dreamlike quality. We discuss the oneiric and infantile roots of creativity and artistic inspiration, finally taking Viola's monumental artwork The Passing (1991) as paradigmatic of the artist's aesthetic and philosophical elaboration of the relationship between life and death.
Topics: Creativity; Dreams; Humans; Psychoanalytic Interpretation; Psychoanalytic Theory
PubMed: 28135156
DOI: 10.1521/prev.2017.104.1.111 -
Neuro Endocrinology Letters Sep 2020Nightmares are manifested by scary and devastating dreams. In severe cases, they are associated with sleep disorders, heart problems, permanent fatigue, high levels of... (Review)
Review
Nightmares are manifested by scary and devastating dreams. In severe cases, they are associated with sleep disorders, heart problems, permanent fatigue, high levels of anxiety, fear of falling asleep, or secondary cognitive deficits after sleep deprivation, and thus may increase vulnerability to the development of other mental disorders. Lucid dreaming, the dreaming experience, and the realization that one is dreaming are easy-to-learn techniques that can provide effective and significant relief.
Topics: Adult; Child; Dreams; Fear; Humans; Psychotherapy; Sleep Wake Disorders
PubMed: 33185995
DOI: No ID Found -
The Journal of Analytical Psychology Jun 2021This work originates from reflections on the observation of recurring themes in dreams of patients in psychoanalytic treatment during the most restrictive lockdown...
This work originates from reflections on the observation of recurring themes in dreams of patients in psychoanalytic treatment during the most restrictive lockdown period in Italy (March - May 2020). The authors focus on the peculiar dialogic state between consciousness and the unconscious that arose following a collective event such as that of the pandemic, which determined the activation of complex personal nuclei, compensatory effects of the unconscious psyche and new perspective functions. These latter aspects are interpreted with reference to the contributions of Erich Neumann, bringing a new psychological vision of the relationship between Man and Nature in relation to catastrophic events.
Topics: Adult; COVID-19; Dreams; Humans; Italy; Physical Distancing; Psychoanalytic Interpretation; Psychoanalytic Therapy; Telemedicine; Unconscious, Psychology
PubMed: 34231889
DOI: 10.1111/1468-5922.12672 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Dec 2020Dreams are internally generated experiences that occur independently of current sensory input. Here we argue, based on cortical anatomy and function, that dream... (Review)
Review
Dreams are internally generated experiences that occur independently of current sensory input. Here we argue, based on cortical anatomy and function, that dream experiences are tightly related to the workings of a specific part of cortical pyramidal neurons, the apical integration zone (AIZ). The AIZ receives and processes contextual information from diverse sources and could constitute a major switch point for transitioning from externally to internally generated experiences such as dreams. We propose that during dreams the output of certain pyramidal neurons is mainly driven by input into the AIZ. We call this mode of functioning "apical drive". Our hypothesis is based on the evidence that the cholinergic and adrenergic arousal systems, which show different dynamics between waking, slow wave sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep, have specific effects on the AIZ. We suggest that apical drive may also contribute to waking experiences, such as mental imagery. Future studies, investigating the different modes of apical function and their regulation during sleep and wakefulness are likely to be richly rewarded.
Topics: Arousal; Dreams; Humans; Sleep; Sleep, REM; Wakefulness
PubMed: 33002561
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.09.018