Seeking help for nightmares in adolescents

Abstract

Research indicates that adults suffering from nightmares rarely seek professional help for their condition. However, nothing is known about the help-seeking behavior in adolescents with frequent nightmares. In a sample of 100 adolescents (50 female, 50 male) with a mean age of 15.30 ± 0.80 years, it was found that none of them ever sought professional help for nightmares, even though 21 participants (15 females, 6 males) reported frequent nightmares (once a week or more often) and/or quite or very distressing nightmares. As nightmares are associated with a variety of mental problems in adolescents and can persist into adulthood, it seems very important to find ways to reduce the number of untreated nightmare sufferers in this age group.