Naughty_always
~ Internal Happiness ~
There’s nothing quite so bone-chilling as being startled awake by a horrific nightmare. For some people, especially those who have experienced trauma, this is an all-too-frequent occurrence and one that keeps them from getting restful sleep. Image Rehearsal Therapy (IRT), developed by Maimonides Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Sleep Clinic founder Dr. Barry Krakow, is one way for post-traumatic nightmare sufferers to stop their chronic nightmares.
A Bad Night’s Sleep
According to Dr. Krakow, up to 25 percent of adults report having one or more nightmares per month. And while chronic nightmares are much more prevalent among those with trauma or mental illness, they also arise for approximately 8 percent of the general population, leading to insomnia and reduced sleep quality. Dr. Krakow says that among the myriad techniques out there, only IRT has been empirically proven to have an effect on controlling nightmares.
Dreaming as Learned Behavior
The theory behind IRT, a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is that nightmares are a bad habit that can be broken. The first step in treatment, which is comprised of four approximately two-hour sessions that total eight to nine hours of therapy, encourages patients to think about the negative impact that nightmares have on their sleep. By doing so, the patients can recognize that nightmares, and the consequent sleep problems like insomnia, are a learned behavior that they can positively alter with the right techniques.
The second component of IRT teaches nightmare sufferers about the human imagery system, teaching that elements of their dreams correspond to traumas they may have experienced. In this process, which resembles lucid dreaming, the dreamers evaluate their own nightmares for information that may help them emotionally process their traumas. Image rehearsal therapists teach their patients that nightmares serve a survival function by motivating dreamers to alter their behavior or lifestyle to avoid harm and that, in their case, this survival mechanism needs to be placed back in balance.
