Nightmare and night terror

Nightmare
  • dream experience of a frightening nature
  • occurs usually in the second half of the night
  • occurs during REM sleep and
  • ends with waking up with a start
  • dream is remembered

Pavor nocturnus (night terror)

  • dreamer wakes up screaming and frightened
  • is covered with perspiration and breathing rapidly
  • disorientedness after awakening
  • inability to give any account of the dream
  • children may need 5-10 minutes before they recover and calm down
  • memory of incident has completely vanished by the next morning
These two types of anxiety dreams reflect the characteristic differences between an awakening from REM sleep and an awakening from deep non-REM sleep.

A person awakened from a REM sleep episode is immediately oriented and aware of the surroundings, whereas one awakened from deep sleep experiences a period of extreme drowsiness, disorientation, and limited memory function.

Pavor nocturnus in a child (video)

 

 

 

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