[Etiology and therapy of nightmares]

Theories and evidence on the aetiology of the 3 distinct forms of nightmares (REM nightmares, NREM night terrors, posttraumatic nightmares) are exposed. Depth psychological theories try an aetiological integration of the nightmare into their respective theories of dream formation, whereas empirical work stresses the personality-typical traits of nightmare sufferers. Clinical casework reports relate anxiety dreams to existing psychological and somatic pathology. Posttraumatic nightmares are repetitive mental reactions to heavy traumatic or life-threatening events. Nightmare therapy, insofar as it has become an independent variety of psychological intervention, uses drug medication, which is able to suppress the symptom of the sufferer when on the drug, whereas behavioural and insight treatment not only eliminate the dreams, but can have an enduring healing effect.