Parasomnias are undesirable physical or experiential events that occur in and around sleep. Treatments include reassurance in some cases, various forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and pharmacologic agents. Cognitive restructuring, imagery rehearsal, relaxation, hypnosis, desensitization, and anticipatory awakenings are some of the common CBT and nonpharmacologic interventions. Medications that are used belong to a wide variety of pharmacologic classes, such as α-blockers (prazosin), tricyclic antidepressants (imipramine and clomipramine), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, benzodiazepines (diazepam and clonazepam), anticonvulsants (topiramate and gabapentin), desmopressin acetate, and anticholinergic agents (oxybutynin and tolterodine). Data on efficacy are only available...MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

Results of a study reported in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggest that Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a greater risk for dementia than Veterans without PTSD, even those who suffered traumatic injuries during combat. Exposure to life threatening events, like war, can cause PTSD, and there are high rates among veterans. PSTD includes symptoms such as avoiding things or people that remind a person of the trauma, nightmares, difficulty with sleep, and mood problems... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

Medical terminology can be confusing for many patients, especially children. Have you ever suffered a medical nightmare like this? “Patient displays an acute communicable disease with an incubation period of 2 or 3 weeks and caused by herpesvirus, usually found in children. Manifestations include coryza, fever, malaise, and headache, followed in 2 or 3 days by the eruption of macular vesicles.” Chances are you have. The above paragraph is just a complicated description of a common childhood virus: chicken pox. In most cases doctors are happy to act as medical translators for their patients— explaining complicated medical terminology in every day language— but when it comes to written material, many medical publications rely heavily on industry jargon. It can be intimidati...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Andrew White returned from a nine-month tour in Iraq beset with signs of post-traumatic stress disorder: insomnia, nightmares, constant restlessness. Doctors tried to ease his symptoms using three psychiatric drugs, including a... (Source: OrlandoSentinel: Medical Research)

I have had especially vivid dreams all my life. The most common are dreams where I'm walking through the new house I've moved into - I could describe to you in detail every room, all the furniture, all the people I meet. The other recurring theme in my dreams is falling, or fear of falling - often in an elevator where the floor begins to peel away from the walls and flap like a rubber mat. And in fact, people with bipolar disorder are more likely than others to experience exceptionally vivid dreams and nightmares. And although night terrors are much more common in children than adults, adults with bipolar are far more likely than other adults to experience these. Bipolar Disorder and Dreams takes a look at the phenomenon of vivid dreams in bipolar disorder. Nightmares and Night Terrors d...

Michael Rich, MD, MPH, is Children’s Hospital Boston’s media expert and director of Children’s Center on Media and Child Health. Take a look at his blog archive or follow him on Twitter @CMCH_Boston. Michael Rich, MD, MPH Last week Rich commented on how to use kids’ want for toy weapons as a chance to discuss violence and make suggestions for more peaceful play.  This week he answers a reader’s question about the effect graphic death scenes in nature programming can have on very young children. Q: What are your thoughts on animal programs that show graphic killing that is in the wild, like Big Cat Diaries? My 4 year old loves animal shows and is interested in seeing this one, yet I am not sure this is appropriate content for his age. Please advise. -Nightmares in Na...MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

This article is a good example of reasonable criticism."Mindless hate," on the other hand, is a kind of irrational, emotionally-charged hate speech that places no value on facts, reason or logic of any kind. It is merely an emotional discharge, almost a kind of mental vomit that has been splattered across the online world. And it contains some of the most vicious hate speech that has ever been recorded in human history.I once read a post from a person who said, essentially, "I am sending out love to everyone on planet Earth!" From there, one Facebook Hater posted, "That must include the terrorists, too. So you love terrorists!" This was quickly followed by another Hater who chimed in, "I can't believe she loves terrorists! Terror lover!" From there, if you can believe it, the posts devolve...

Consequences of nighttime eating can include injuries like black eyes from walking into a wall or hand cuts from a prep knife, or dental problems from gnawing on frozen food.Upwards of 10 percent of adults suffer from some sort of parasomnia, or sleep disorder, like sleepwalking or night terrors. Some have driven cars or performed inappropriate sexual acts — all while in a sleep-induced fog. About 1 percent, mostly women, raid the refrigerator.References:Raiding the Refrigerator, but Still Asleep - NYTimes.com.Image source: A halo around the Moon. Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License. Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook. (Source: Clinical Cases and Images)

Summary of Recommendations: Prazosin is recommended for treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-associated nightmares. Level A Image Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) is recommended for treatment of nightmare disorder. Level A Systematic Desensitization and Progressive Deep Muscle Relaxation training are suggested for treatment of idiopathic nightmares. Level B Venlafaxine is not suggested for treatment of PTSD-associated nightmares. Level B Clonidine may be considered for treatment of PTSD-associated nightmares. Level C The following medications may be considered for treatment of PTSD-associated nightmares, but the data are low grade and sparse: trazodone, atypical antipsychotic medications, topiramate, low dose cortisol, fluvoxamine, triazolam and nitrazepam, phenelzine, gabapentin,...

Where do those little fruit flies come from? Do placebos really work? Croydon slugs' favourite vegCan anyone explain where the tiny flies come from that emerge when we open the lid of our food waste recycling box? From inside the box.John Tierney, Wirral, MerseysideWhen a mummy fly and a daddy fly love each other very much . . .Barney Chappell, London N13From tiny eggs.Martin Stubbs, London, N10These are almost certainly the pretty little golden-eyed fruit fly, of the genus Drosophila, much loved by biological researchers for their easily manipulated genetic material ("Cor, check out the chromosomes on that!"). They lay their minuscule eggs on fermenting fruit, are uncannily prescient at finding it, and, apart from a kamikaze tendency to suicide in wine glasses on sunny days, may be among ...

You may ask yourself: well... how did I get here?You may say to yourselfMy God!... what have I done?Letting the days go by/into the silent water-- Talking HeadsA woman in her late 30s was telling me about her work-life conflicts. She has a busy career, three children, and a husband who travels a great deal for his own job. She suddenly paused, recalling a recent, terrifying dream: She's on one of those moving sidewalks, and can't get off. Passing by on either side are scenes of herself, but living different lives with different people. Suddenly she recognizes the Grim Reaper standing at the end of the sidewalk, arms outstretched, awaiting her.She wakes up, screaming.You might think her dream sounds more typical of someone in the throes of "midlife." In fact, I think it reveals the need for...MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

Therapy may help people who suffer from chronic nightmares learn how to turn bad dreams into good ones. But some experts wonder if changing your nightmares robs the waking mind of crucial information. (Source: NYT Health)

Therapy may help people who suffer from chronic nightmares learn how to turn bad dreams into good ones. But some experts wonder if changing your nightmares robs the waking mind of crucial information. (Source: NYT)

Nightmares are increasingly being viewed as a distinct disorder, and researchers have empirical evidence that cognitive therapy can help reduce their frequency and intensity, or even eliminate them. (Source: NYT Health)

Conclusions Relations among sleep problems, indicators of inadequate sleep, and psychopathology are complex; accounting for potential confounding variables and considering sleep variables separately may clarify these relations. (Source: Journal of Pediatric Psychology)

She survived the nightmare, but three of her six children, as well as her husband, did not. In fact, Muzammil Akbar says, it was her husband Akbar Ali who had fed poison to their three eldest children before handing her a "handful of white tablets". (Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health)MedWorm Message: Register for MedMatcha, MedWorm's medical advertising network, and receive $5 free advertising.

This article originated on Care2.com. (Source: Psychology Today Relationships Center)

This weekend the latest movie opens from writer-director Christopher Nolan -- whose last blockbuster was The Dark Knight -- and explores the world of sleep and dreams in the thriller Inception. Early reviews of the film are quite favorable. Inception dwells on the layers of our subconsciousness, including sleep stages, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a dream thief named Dom Cobb. Cobb enters the minds of those deep in sleep to steal information from their dreams, and he is hired to plant an idea in a business competitor's mind to ruin his empire. Much of the movie is spent guessing -- both by the viewers and the characters -- what is a product of dream sleep, REM, and what is not. Research has revealed that dreams are much more than the byproduct of an active mind during periods of rest. ...

The story I am about to tell you is true, although it reads much like an episode of the TV show Law and Order or CSI. It begins with a beautiful and talented, celebrity victim and ends in a court room filled with forensic evidence. Along the way we have a popular uprising in favor of the accused, a midnight attempt to escape reach of the law and an exploration of the deep bond that a family has with their dog. Here is the way it might look on television.The setting is the quiet village of Shohola, in north eastern Pennsylvania. A pretty 26-year-old brunette is jogging near her father`s home. She is Vanessa Carlton, a singer-songwriter-pianist who's best known for her 2002 hit "A Thousand Miles." Her talent is confirmed by the fact that she has been nominated for three Grammy awards.Suddenl...

Eliza* was trying to get her struggling three year old daughter into her stroller when, to her horror, she heard herself saying words she had vowed never to utter - phrases her mother had used throughout Eliza's childhood. Despite all of her efforts to parent her own children very differently, Eliza found that those familiar sentences were the first to come into her brain and out of her mouth when she and her daughter were engaged in a difficult struggle.Once it was a girl's dream to be just like her mom. Now it's more like every woman's nightmare. Yet it happens to us all. Like Eliza we hear our mother's words leaving our own mouths, or we look in a mirror and catch a glimpse of a familiar expression - not our own - and, as we get older, we see surprising reflections of our mother stare b...