Seeking professional help for nightmares: a representative study

Schredl, Michael

doi:10.4321/s0213-61632013000400004

Cited by 21 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…14 Among the findings that increased nightmare frequency is correlated with a higher probability to seek professional help, 14,15 no effects of gender, age, and education on this variable were reported. 15,16 If professional help was sought, only 31.76% of the respondents rated it as beneficial, 16 and the percentage (19%) was even lower in the online study of nightmare sufferers.…”

Section: -9mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…15,16 If professional help was sought, only 31.76% of the respondents rated it as beneficial, 16 and the percentage (19%) was even lower in the online study of nightmare sufferers.…”

Section: -9mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13][14][15][16] In an online study of nightmare sufferers (n = 335), only 29.6% of the respondents reported that they had asked a health care provider for help. 13 Even lower figures were reported for persons of a representative sample having nightmares at least once a week (15.19%) 15 or students with relevant nightmare disorder symptoms (11.11%).…”

Section: -9mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, nightmare sufferers also rarely seek help for their problem on their own initiative. [13][14][15][16] In an online study of nightmare sufferers (n = 335), only 29.6% of the respondents reported that they had asked a health care provider for help.13 Even lower figures were reported for persons of a representative sample having nightmares at least once a week (15.19%) 15 or students with relevant nightmare disorder symptoms (11.11%).14 Among the findings that increased nightmare frequency is correlated with a higher probability to seek professional help, 14,15 no effects of gender, age, and education on this variable were reported. 15,16 If professional help was sought, only 31.76% of the respondents rated it as beneficial, 16 and the percentage (19%) was even lower in the online study of nightmare sufferers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13][14][15][16] In an online study of nightmare sufferers (n = 335), only 29.6% of the respondents reported that they had asked a health care provider for help.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Interest in Information about Nightmares in Patients with Sleep Disorders

Schredl

Dehmlow

Schmitt

2016

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Study Objectives: Despite the considerable prevalence of the nightmare disorder and its burden on the patient, nightmares are underdiagnosed and undertreated, even in sleep centers. Methods: A total of 1,125 patients in a sleep center undergoing routine diagnostic procedures for their sleep disorders completed a questionnaire about nightmares. Results: About 20% of the sample indicated an interest in more information about nightmare etiology and nightmare therapy-even patients who had never sought professional help previously. Conclusions: From a clinical viewpoint, health care professionals should be encouraged to ask about nightmares and, as a first step, internet-based selfhelp programs should be implemented for this patient group. Keywords: nightmare disorder, imagery rehearsal therapy Citation: Schredl M, Dehmlow L, Schmitt J. Interest in information about nightmares in patients with sleep disorders. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(7):973-977. I NTRO DUCTI O NNightmares are defined as extended, extremely dysphoric, and well-remembered dreams that usually involve threat to survival, security, or physical integrity.1 Nightmares are experienced occasionally by many persons during their lifetime, 2 i.e., for the clinical context, it is important to differentiate between nightmares that occur rarely and the presence of a nightmare disorder (which includes the criteria that nightmares cause clinically significant distress and/or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning).1 The nightmare disorder prevalence in the general population is estimated to be about 5%, 3 and about 30% in a patient group with various mental disorders. 4 The etiology of nightmares is best explained by a disposition-stress model 5 and effective treatment strategies, like Imagery Rehearsal Therapy, are available.6 Nightmares are also of special importance in a clinical context because nightmares are an independent predictor of suicidal ideation and suicide. 7-9Despite the considerable prevalence of the nightmare disorder 3 and its burden on the patient, 10 nightmares have been rarely diagnosed and treated, even in sleep clinics: Krakow reported that 16.3% of sleep-disordered patients (n = 718) also have a salient nightmare condition that normally would not have been diagnosed if they had not specifically asked for it as part of this research project.11 Comparable results were reported by Schredl et al., 12 who found that 13.4% of the patients undergoing diagnostic procedures for various reasons in a sleep laboratory (n = 4,001) reported nightmares at least once a week, whereas a diagnosis of a nightmare disorder was given to only 1.6% of the sample. On the other hand, nightmare sufferers also rarely seek help for their problem on their own initiative. [13][14][15][16] In an online study of nightmare sufferers (n = 335), only 29.6% of the respondents reported that they had asked a health care provider for help.13 Even lower figures were reported for persons of a representative sample having nightmares at least once...

show abstract

Section: -9mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…15,16 If professional help was sought, only 31.76% of the respondents rated it as beneficial, 16 and the percentage (19%) was even lower in the online study of nightmare sufferers.…”

Section: -9mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: -9mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13][14][15][16] In an online study of nightmare sufferers (n = 335), only 29.6% of the respondents reported that they had asked a health care provider for help.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Interest in Information about Nightmares in Patients with Sleep Disorders

Schredl

Dehmlow

Schmitt

2016

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Nightmares

Schredl¹

2018

Researching Dreams

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Interest in telephone nightmare counselling in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background and objective Nightmares are typically underdiagnosed and undertreated, even though frequent nightmares are quite common in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders. Based on a previous study, we investigated whether patients would respond if they were specifically asked whether they would be interested in telephone counselling about nightmares and nightmare treatment. Materials and methods The present study included 537 patients with sleep-related breathing disorders who completed a nightmare questionnaire and—if interested—provided their contact data for a telephone counselling session. Results Of the total patients, 5.40% were interested in the telephone counselling. Most of these patients had never sought help for their nightmare condition before. This percentage is much lower than in a previous study, possibly due to the higher time expenditure related to the new consent procedure. Conclusion The findings indicate that patients with nightmare problems can be reached with this approach even though they have never sought professional help before. In order to minimize the threshold, it would be desirable to have clinical in-house nightmare counselling, which would not require a detailed study information brochure and informed consent.

show abstract

Seeking professional help for nightmares: a representative study

Cited by 21 publications

References 24 publications

Interest in Information about Nightmares in Patients with Sleep Disorders

Interest in Information about Nightmares in Patients with Sleep Disorders

Nightmares

Interest in telephone nightmare counselling in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About