Sleep Disorder-Night Terrors Disorder
Sleep terrors are classified as a parasomnia — an undesirable behavior or experience during sleep. Sleep terrors are a disorder of arousal, meaning they occur during N3 sleep, the deepest stage of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Another NREM disorder is sleepwalking, which can occur together with sleep terrors.
Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: PW205
Diagnosis: Sleep Terror Disorder
US Patients: 36.9% at 18 months but 19.7% at 30 months; in adults, 2.2%
World Patients:
Sex Ratio: B+; G; adults, no difference
Age Onset: at age 3½, one per week; frequency tapers off
Brain Area: high voltages in electroencephalography, higher heart rate and muscle tone; frontal lobe epilepsy, thalamic lesions,
Symptoms: 1-10 minutes in the first 3-4 hours of non-REM (early) sleep; usually happen in delta (slow-wave) sleep.
Progression: sit up and yell, time of autonomic arousal (speed-up)seem awake but are confused, sleepwalking, low blood sugar
Causes: PTSD, mental disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, higher frequency among relatives, asthma, constricted nasal passages
Medications: tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines
Therapies: Children usually do not need treatment, diminish with age. Hypnosis may help. Better sleep habits.
Youtube Video:
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Youtube Video:
How to Stop Night Terrors
Amazon or Library Book: The Nightmare Dictionary
Click the book to link or order from Amazon.
4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED
The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis
Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.
- Behavioral and psychological treatments for NREM parasomnias: A systematic reviewby Jennifer M Mundt on September 16, 2023
CONCLUSIONS: This review highlights the wide breadth of behavioral and psychological interventions for managing NREM parasomnias. Evidence for the efficacy of these treatments is limited by the retrospective and uncontrolled nature of most research as well as the infrequent use of validated quantitative outcome measures. Behavioral and psychological treatments have been studied alone and in various combinations, and recent publications suggest a trend toward preference for multicomponent...
- Associations between parental relationship dissolution and child sleep: A systematic reviewby Émilie E M Lannes on June 30, 2023
Parental relationship dissolution is considered one of the most common adverse childhood experiences. Although sleep is crucial for healthy development of children and very sensitive to environmental changes, it is poorly studied in the context of parental relationship dissolution. The aim of the current study was to systematically review and critically assess the existing literature on the associations between parental relationship dissolution and child sleep (0-18 years old; registered on...
- Case report: Evolution of catatonic mutism and psychotic symptoms in an adolescent with Down syndrome: transition from Down syndrome disintegrative disorder to anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitisby Yuki Minamisawa on June 26, 2023
During her first year of junior high school, a 12-year-old Japanese girl with Down syndrome experienced dizziness, gait disruption, paroxysmal weakness in her hands, and sluggish speaking. Regular blood tests and a brain MRI revealed no abnormalities, and she was tentatively diagnosed with adjustment disorder. Nine months later, the patient experienced a subacute sickness of chest pain, nausea, sleep problem with night terrors, and delusion of observation. Rapid deterioration then developed with...
- Night Terrorsby Ngoc L. Van Horn on January 1, 2023
Night terrors are a common preschool-aged sleep disorder in which a child quickly wakes up from sleep in a terrified state. For the majority of these episodes, the child will not have any recollection of this event ever happening.